water changes

[reckless]

hello all,

my new tank (had water, rocks and sand plus critters straight out of the sea) started spiking 2 days ago and i was informed by some of the members that the reason it spiked was because i did not have enough rocks in the tank. so they recommended adding more rocks and doing daily water changes till the tank settled. i have done 2 fifty percent water changes so far over the last two days and the ammonia level is going down, my question is .....

1) can i do 2 water changes a day to bring the ammonia levels down quicker...

sincerely,

robin

[Europa]

You want the ammonia to spike to get the cycle going, doing large water changes at this point can delay the cycle. There shouldn't be any livestock in the tank during the cycle because the ammonia can kill them. I would remove the livestock and let the cycle run its course, not doing any water changes during this time period. Once ammonia is undetectable and nitrates are present, you can do a large water change and start slowly stocking the tank.

[reckless]

thanks for the reply, all the contents of the tank came straight from the sea so i was told that the tank already had established bacteria just not enough hence the spike, so in a previous tread i was told to do water changes everyday till it settled...

so i was wondering if 2 water changes a day would make a difference...

sincerely,

robin

[Mike O'Brien]

If you are trying to keep the life on the rock alive, then the water changes will be fine. With the water you have you can do as many changes as you want without a problem.

I don't agree with the 1.5 lb/gal rock thing. I only use about 0.5 lb/gal. I know many who use less than that, and even some with no rock at all. It just depends how you run the tank. If you want to rely on the rock for filtration, more is better. With a good skimmer and the tank set up so the waste material actually gets to the skimmer, you don't need as much.

[reckless]

thanks again mike.... will let you know how it works out

[Mike O'Brien]

Cool.

[reckless]

with the ammonia still spiking, and i have been doing daily water changes with salt water from the sea, siphoning all dead stuff off the bottom of the tank etc... can i use a product from seachem called prime as they claim it wil detoxify ammonia and not affect the natural cycling of the tank???? this way nothing else will die in the tank and i hope speed up the cycling???

sincerely,

robin

[Mantis]

Why add unnatural now let the cycle start. are you saying there is livestock in the tank?

[Europa]

Prime is a scam. You can't rush the cycle. Personally, I would take those creatures back to the ocean and let the tank cycle naturally and not worry about water changes until ammonia is zero and nitrates are present.

[reckless]

gentlemen, i have realised i cant rush nature, the critters are going back to the ocean in the morning..... no matter how many or how frequently i do water changes with fresh salt water the ammonia levels are still off the charts.... this is a learning experience for em and i really appreciate the input from the forum as otherwise i would have had problems later on..... duly noted...

sincerely,
robin