weird water problems

[Landshark18]

I cannot seem to get my 35 gal in check. Its been 5 months and i'm still getting ammonia spikes! A few days ago everything had been fine but i did a small water change(less than 10%) to get rid of some nitrates and now the ammonia is through the roof and the water has this weird clear opaque look to it. I can't even see through to the other side! I used good water so i know its not that. Does anyone know what the heck is going on? I have all my critters in my 10 gal quarantine but want to get them back in ASAP as soon as i know how to fix this prob.

[skeeter_ca]

What is your tank setup like?

[Landshark18]

i prob have 2-2.5 in of crushed coral for my bed with about 15lbs of live rock. one 15 w aqualight, 60 gal filter, powerhead, 2 damsels, 2 turbo snails, 2 pep shrimp.

[Landshark18]

please help! i dont know what to do!

[salreus]

how long did you wait after making your water did you add it to your tank? does your new water match your tank water in ph,sg,temp?

[Landshark18]

i waited a week before adding it. The water was not the same temp, pH, or exact salinity though.

[Landshark18]

should i do water changes or just let it cycle?

[salreus]

it is possible that when you add the water that the difference might kill off some things and that might cause a ammonia spike. Your replacement water should match your tank parms. unless you are making less that 1% changes.

[skeeter_ca]

Is this the 35 or the 75 tank. You state you have a 60 gal filter. Is this a hang-on-back power filter. It sounds as though you don't have enough surface area for bacteria to occupy. Without enough surface it takes alot longer for bacteria to catch up and consume the ammonia. You didn't say you had an undergravel filter so i will assume you don't. IMO the crushed coral on the bottom is just acting like a nutrient trap. If there is no flow through it it will cause problems. A fine sand would be better. You should probably add more LR or get a powerfilter that can be used as a biological filter. More light of a good spectrum would be better also.

[Landshark18]

thanks, and your'e right, i have the 60 gal filter on my 35 hex but the crushed coral is not getting a lot of flow. If i place my powerhead towards the bottom would that help? should itry running an undergravel filter as well?

[Landshark18]

or do you think it would be worth it to just start over with sand instead? My roomate has a 30 gal with sand and has never had any probs. I'm tired of dealing with this. I can't even get fish bc my tank is never stable! let me know what you would do.

[angelsj247]

the undergravel would be hard to put in since you have the crused coral in already. id say take it out and start with sand.

[skeeter_ca]

Yeah, remove all the crushed coral and start with some fine sand. Undergravel filters are way more of a pain than there worth, especially as the tank gets older. I would only put in about 1" of fine sand unless you want to go with a Deep Sand Bed (DSB)system. Then i would install about 4-6". If your tank is tall it will look OK but if it is a shallow tank i would go with the shallow bed otherwise the sand will use up alot of space in your tank. The DSB will also help keep nitrates down once it becomes mature. Also add more live rock, the extra surface area will reduce ammonia spikes.

[artis]

I'm just curious. Did you test the water before you added it? Probably not it, though, assuming your roomate and you get the water from the same source.

[NCreefwannabe]

I would test the water. My cousin has had florida crushed coral for 7 years with no problems ever. He has minimal flow for his coral. I actually just got some from him the other day to seed my sand. I like how his looks better than the sand and theres a zillion worms and bugs crawling around now.

Before you tear apart the tank to clear out the crushed coral, I would test your water your using. It probably already has ammonia in it.

[Landshark18]

it does have ammonia in it but i have been using store water now for a while so my tap water is not a very likely culprit at this point. My roomate gets his water from the tap and treats it with no probs though. He has a healthy anemone too.