help with water parameters

[jayreefer]

what is the best way to fix my water i've noticed my GSP and BSP wont all open. the mushrooms seem to be thriving my leather coral is doing great all the fish seem great???? not sure what to do now i have changed about 15 gallons of fresh ro/saltmix well here is the latest results of water test any ideas would help a lot!!!! also if anyone lives in nj and is interested in frag trading plz contact me!!!
ph-8.2
ammonia-.025
nitrate-20 ppm
nitrite-0 ppm
kh-12 Dkh
calcium-450 ppm
phosphates-0.2 ppm
gh-3 Dgh
Thanks again for any ideas !!!!!

[DocG]

ammonia-.025

Looks like the ammonia is the culprit.
How old is your tank? From your profile it looks like it is a well established tank. Is there anything that happened lately to cause this mini-cycle. Such as a missing (dead) fish or a sudden increase in bioload or anything of that nature?

You could go out and get some of Seachems Prime. This stuff will change your ammonia into the less toxic form.

[jayreefer]

Tank was moved in august i have had the 37 for about a year previously it wa a 20L i did put 2 new coral in recently 1 mushroom rock and 1 Galaxia.
could i stand to lose a fish? I have 5 small fish in tank 1 Maroon clown,1 tomato clown and 3 damsels

[DocG]

I would definately get some Prime (or Amquel or some kind of ammonia neutralizer) and put it in. The other thing that I recommend is an ammonia alert badge made be seachem. You just hang it in your tank and it changes colour when the ammoinia rises. I know this little beauty has saved my fish before.
Here is a link to show you what it is:
http://mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/...c92+1068604566
Also, do you have a hospital tank (a rubbermaid container works well) set up. If not - get one now. Its not a bad idea to get some water ready in a pail so you can transfer it over to the hospital tank if needed or use the prepared water for a water change. In a hospital tank you do always have to be vigilant about ammonia but (because there is no live rock or little critters in there you don't get a massive die off that causes the ammonia to skyrocket and cause a huge crash) it is much easier to keep the ammonia under control.

[Ninong]

what is the best way to fix my water i've noticed my GSP and BSP wont all open. the mushrooms seem to be thriving my leather coral is doing great all the fish seem great???? not sure what to do now i have changed about 15 gallons of fresh ro/saltmix well here is the latest results of water test any ideas would help a lot!!!! also if anyone lives in nj and is interested in frag trading plz contact me!!!
ph-8.2
ammonia-.025
nitrate-20 ppm
nitrite-0 ppm
kh-12 Dkh
calcium-450 ppm
phosphates-0.2 ppm
gh-3 Dgh
Thanks again for any ideas !!!!!

Hi Jayreefer, welcome to Reefland!

Your water parameters are really not that bad. You might want to work on reducing your nitrates to <10 ppm and your phosphates to undetectable but other than that everything looks great. Your ammonia, however, is certainly higher than 0.025 ppm as that reading is far too low to be credible. What test kit are you using that is capable of measuring ammonia that low? Salifert, for example, stops at 0.5 ppm and anything under that is simply referred to as <0.5 ppm.

Most freshly mixed saltwater will measure between 0.1 and 0.25 ppm total ammonia, which is not a problem even if you are doing a fairly large water change in an established tank although it is always better to let it age for at least 24 hours first.

[jayreefer]

Right my bad amm-0.25

[Ninong]

DocG,

SeaChem's Ammonia Alert is incapable of measuring total ammonia of 0.025 ppm. It's lower limit is 0.02 ppm NH3 which is 0.25 ppm total ammonia (NH3 + NH4+) at 8.3 pH. Jayreefer's ammonia measurement is 10 times lower than the lowest SeaChem claims their product can detect. In fact, their ads usually say "as low as 0.05 ppm free ammonia (NH3)" which would be 0.625 ppm total ammonia at 8.3 pH. http://www.seachem.com/seachemframeset.html

[Ninong]

Jayreefer,

OK, so your ammonia is ten times higher than you first posted but it's still not a problem. I'm curious which test kit you are using? It's quite possible that your test kit is not even capable of measuring 0.25 ppm total ammonia with any degree of accuracy. The only thing toxic is the NH3, not the ammonium (NH4+), and at 0.25 ppm total ammonia you have 0.02 ppm NH3.

It would be better if you could reduce your total ammonia to <0.20 ppm but it's not a problem even if it is exactly 0.25 ppm. Most people just don't realize that their true total ammonia is not undetectable, it's usually at least 0.1 ppm but their test kit is not capable of accurate measurement at those levels.

[jayreefer]

sorry that was my mistake in the decimal point btw check out my noob reef pics in my gallery!!

[jayreefer]

the test kit i am using is the aquarium pharmicuticals inc kit and the reading was 0.25 sorry for the debate ok so does anyone have any other ideas to help my GSP and BSP open and thrive again???? :eek3:

[Ninong]

sorry that was my mistake in the decimal point btw check out my noob reef pics in my gallery!!

OK, I checked out your gallery pics. Instead of another canister filter, you should consider replacing your SeaClone skimmer with a better skimmer. I don't believe a SeaClone is capable of handling a 37-gal tank. If will be difficult to keep your nitrates below 20 ppm with a canister filter and a SeaClone skimmer.

[DocG]

Nice pics.

In your tank the ammonia should be undetectable by your test kit.
It is probably a mini-cycle and in all likely-hood not particularly dangerous. I would definately keep a good eye on it till everything settles back to zero.

I am assumeing GSP and BSP mean grean and brown star polyps. I had the same problem with my GSP's before and freeked right out. After a time (about 1 - 2 weeks) they opened up, multiplied like crazy and looked healthier then ever.

I did a fair bit of searching on the web and discovered that this is a fairly normal phenomenon and not really terribly alarming. I understand that they can be somewhat picky about water flow. They like a moderate flow.

The best advice is to be patient and not get too concerned yet.
You usually cause more harm then good by freaking out and changing too many things too drastically (been there).

It is very unlikely that you will lose your polyps as they are very hard to kill.

[jayreefer]

thanks doc for the pat on the back and calming words yes it has happened to me befor with the polyps but i just get nervous hope it works itself out ok will keep you guys posted and will put up more pix soon!!!