Lower Ammonia Concentrate In 55 Gallon Saltwater Tank

[volcanicreaction]

My Temperature Is About 79 Degrees F. Ph Around 8.4 To 8.6 .

My Ammonia Is .25 ( My Test Cards Says This)


I Would Like To Get My Tank To 0 If Possible. My Nitrites, Nitrates Are 0.


I Have The Following Fish And Invertabrates: 2 Blue Damsels. 2 Clownfish, 1 Diamond Goby, 1 Cc Starfish , 1 Miscellaneious Starfish ( Small Body , Long Legs).

I Have 5 Pieces Of Live Rock Right Now( Plan To Get More In The Near Future).

I Have A 3 Or 4 Inch Sand Bed Which Was Put In About 3 Weeks Ago. ( Switched From Rock To Sand )


I Have A Protien Skimmer, Powerhead, Canister Filter Jeb 55 Watt Light.

My Tank Has Alot Of Red Algae, Some Green Algae And Some Brown Algae.

I Plan To Upgrade To A Wet / Dry Filtration System Soon. Thanks.

[Ninong]

My Temperature Is About 70 Degrees F.

This is much too low unless you are keeping a cool water tank with temperate species. You should raise your water temperature to at least 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Personally I would raise it to at least 78 F but 76 would certainly be better than 70.

Ph Around 8.4 To 8.6 .

That's a little on the high side. You want to try to keep your pH below 8.6 at all times. A range of 8.1 - 8.4 would be fine. Anything above 8.5 is considered too high and below 7.9 is considered too low.

My Ammonia Is .25 ( My Test Cards Says This)

Maybe the test card is wrong. You can't have a consistent reading of 0.25 ppm ammonia and zero readings on nitrite and nitrate.

I Have The Following Fish And Invertabrates: 2 Blue Damsels. 2 Clownfish, 1 Diamond Goby, 1 Cc Starfish , 1 Miscellaneious Starfish ( Small Body , Long Legs).

The Chocolate Chip starfish (Protoreaster nodosus) is predatory on soft corals and small fish in captivity, in case you decide to keep corals later on. These things are not suitable for reef tanks. The main reason they are available is because they are easy to collect. Their natural habitat is sand- and seagrass-beds and their natural diet consists almost entirely of sponges.



P.S. -- I see that you have corrected the typo and your water temperature is actually 79 F. That's fine!

[BubbaWPB]

Try rechecking your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate with a different test kit (or have it checked at the LFS). Consistently elevated ammonia without nitrites or nitrates doesn't make sense (as Ninong pointed out), but the high pH is consistent with ammonia (which is one of the few things that raises the pH above desired levels). By the way, how are you measuring the pH? Colorimetric (color changing fluids/sticks) pH tests are pretty inconsistent.

[volcanicreaction]

I Use Color Changing Liquids. Been Thinking About Buying The Actual Ph Tester Though.

A Week Ago , I Did Do A Couple Water Changes Because Of A Noticeable Nitrite Level. After The Water Changes , It Brought It Back Down To 0. By My Test Kits Anyhow.

[BubbaWPB]

Pinpoint makes a good pH monitor... check our sponsor pages, sometimes you can get one on sale for less than $100. I am totally dependent on mine... it lets me know something is awry before anything starts showing problems.