help me

[Jimmy169]

does any one know how to make my amonia go down?
i have tryed watter changes and putting this filter pad in it. my tank has been stedoly at .25 for the past 6 weeks andnothing is diying so i dont know what to do any ideas?

info on my tank:
60g
running for 1.5 years
has 20g sump with 3g refugium
protein skimmer
Temp is kept at 78
levels to come tonight when i get home

o and nothing in my tank is acting weard everything is growing and acting fine i just want to get it bacl to normal so that i can put more reef in it



so i got of work and whent and bought an amonia tester from pet co and it seems to tell me that everything is ok but the coller was actually brighter than what the card sead ao i am going to buy a diffrent test kit tonight, but i do think my test kit is bad

[jason142]

Just keep doing frequent water changes. What changes or additions have you made to the tank and try to make sure that nothing is in your tank that has died.

[Jimmy169]

i have been doing watterchanges weekly. they have been 15 gl watter changes and the only thing that dies was my clam and that was after the increse

[manofcoral]

Try running some carbon. If you do not want to buy a reactor, fill one of the small mesh bags with some and let it sit in your filter,sump,even you tank. This might make a very big difference.

[Rob619]

new test kit? maybe your testkit is jacked.. i tried the same thing and when i used a different kit it helped show the right result

[bpro32]

new test kit? maybe your testkit is jacked.. i tried the same thing and when i used a different kit it helped show the right result

1.5 year old systems shouldn't have ammonia unless something died and is still in the tank. I agree with what Rob said, get a new test kit or take it into the lfs to have them test it.

If in fact there is ammonia, a 40-50% water change may be needed, and dose some amquel+

[fishtankcrazy]

You really only need to be doing about 10% water changes a week. Which would be about 8 gallons, rather than 15 gallons you are currently doing. Do 15 or 16 gallon changes if you are changing water every two weeks.

Are you running at least 1lbs of live rock per 1 gallon of water? If you don't your tank chemistry may not stay stable unless you are running bio balls.

How much food are you feeding? What type of food and what type of fish?

Is your protein skimmer skimming correctly? Might need to clean it out good and also clean the pump...

In your sump do you use a sock / filter pad to capture waste food / debris? If so do you clean / replace this pad at least once a week?

Do you turn off your return pump while feeding so waste food doesn't go into the sump / sump filter sock and just rot?

It is possible that your test kit is bad. My old aquarium pharmaceuticals one thinks I have .25 ammonia when I don't. What type of test kits do you use? How old are they? I recommend Salifert, its one of the better brands.

Do you use carbon? If so it needs to be replaced at least every 30 days minimum. I use synthetic carbon which lasts 3-6 months. Is it passive or active meaning is it just in your sump or is all water forced to hit it?