HELP! Not sure what happened...

[nema]

I added a LTA to my tank last night after confirming that my Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrate where 0. The 'nem is looking great even today, fully inflated but floating around looking for a home still (seeing as how it hasn't been 24 hrs im not worried yet).

BUT. I checked my levels this morning an my ammonia jumped to .25 ppm (nitrate/nitrite are still 0).

Is this part of the process of my tank acclimating the LTA or is something going wrong?


Params as of this morning:
Ammonia .25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Sg 1.024-1.025
Temp 77-78
PH 8.4
Calcium - ~440
24 gallon nano
Protein skimmer and heater installed
Live Rock and Live Sand
2 emerald Crab, 2 hermet crab, 4 turbo snails.


I'm at work right now, but i plan on a water change again when I get home, would it be ok to shoot for 50% change this time instead of 25%?


I originally was using tap water with the softener additive but last week i decided to start using RO water from the store and plan on possibly going forward with RO if i can keep the costs down.

 

[Fishfiles1]

i would do a W/C, did you add the water from the bag into the tank, that could if had ammonia in it

 

[OrionGirl]

Anytime you add an animal, you increase the ammonia produced. That means the bacteria colony needs some time to grow to once more keep the ammonia levels at 0. Water changes to prevent the levels from getting high are appropriate. With small tanks, they're critical since there is so little volume to dilute the waste.

 

[nema]

Yea I was reading more just now and its seeming like my bacteria was perfect for what i was housing but now it needs to grow to accomidate the bioload. Should I do the water changes daily for the next week or just tonight and see how it plays out?

 

[nema]

Yea I did add that water, I did a float acclimation for temp then did the drip acclimation for 1.5 hours so that water mixed in at some point.

 

[OrionGirl]

The amount of ammonia in the bag was unlikely to be high unless the store sucks or the animal was in the bag for a long time.

Water changes to manage the level will be good. Monitor and keep it from getting above .5 ppm. Bacteria will catch up fairly quickly with the new food source so long as other conditions are stable.

 

[greech]

Your tank sounds to be too new for a LTA. Floating and not planting their foot is common with LTAs even in an established tank. They are not a novice anemone. While I don't believe the the general rule of 6 months to a year before adding a hosting anemone may not be applicable to every situation, a freshly cycled tank is really no place for these nems.

I would suggest returning the nem but if you are set on keeping it, I would turn off all flow in the tank, dig a hole in the sand near a bottom rock and place the nem in it. Give it a couple of hours to try and plant its foot before turning the pumps back on. Repeat after the tank runs again for a while. Your immediate concern is the nem getting sucked into powerheads or filters if the hem won't plant its foot.

Don't feed it anytime soon.

 

[nema]

I just did the water change and waited 3 hours and redid my tests. I dont have a test for Magnesium or Alkalinity yet, but i'll pick them up tomorrow.


pH - 8.4
Ammonium - now between .25 and 0 (was .25)
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - now between 5 and 0 (was 5)
Calcium - between 460-480
Phosphate - 0




Im running the JBJ Nano 24 gallon which comes stock with the 50/50 36 Watt CF lights. Multiple LFS told me that the lights should be strong enough for a nem. Seeing as how i have algae growing on my sand that there must be photosynthesis happening at that level.

 

[OrionGirl]

Yikes, hadn't realized this was a new system...yeah, that's not good if the anemone still has attached. Reduce flow until it attaches, and be prepared for it to move around a lot when the flow is back on.

 

[greech]

Mag, calcium and alk are not important right now and you should definitely not be trying to adjust them. Focus on getting the tank through this cycle but be careful not to swing temperature and specific gravity too much by doing water changes in the process.