[aquadude]

2 weeks ago I upgraded from a 55 gallon to a 125 gallon. Everything was moved to new tank, so only thing new is 200lbs of argonite sand and 120 lbs of base rock. Moved over from 55 included the existing sand bed (added to back of tank), existing live rock of 100+ pounds, and of course the livestock.

Everything survived the move just fine, I have not noticed any loss of livestock. Coral, fish, shrimp, crabs and snail all behaving normally. My question is in regards to a slight ammonia reading of .25 to .50. Parameters are as follows:

ammonia .25 to .50 (consistantly somewhere between the two readings) No detectable increase or decrease since the first couple of days of the move.
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

I expected an ammonia spike or "mini-cycle", but from reading the prior posts I expected it would clear up sooner. Any thoughts on what is going on & what to expect further.

Thanks!

 

[ReefDave]

Hmm...your bio-load shouldn't have changed any since you have the same livestock, but you have diluted the bacteria in your water...I guess it could be possible that the new sand, that is not yet covered with bacteria, is trapping some detritus, and is causing a mini cycle while the bacteria from your old tank/water/rock/sand etc, colonize all that new sand. Its only a guess.

Really these are just guess while you wait for someone more knowledgable to happen by, and keep your thread near the top while we wait. Ill be interested to see also, as I might have to move my tank in about a year, and when I do it will be an upgrade also.

Dave