why are my level going back up?

[tanglover]

my tank was fine
ammonia 0, trite 0 , trate .15 (a little high), ph 8.4, salinity 1.024

i added
2 margarita snails
2 nassiuris (sp)
2 scarlet crabs
2 blue legs
2 emarald crabs

all really small

and two hours later my water was
ammonia .25, nitrate .20, nitrite not high but on the bottom of the chart, ph 8.4, and salinty 1.24

would these small inverts cause this or could it be something else?

 

[mojoreef]

Adding them shouldn't have caused a raise in your levels unless they were pooping like crazy once they got in the tank. Just keep an eye on it, but it should drop back down pretty quick.

Mike

 

[tanglover]

thanks for the fast response, i'll keep tabs on it

 

[Chimera]

Adding new livestock creates new waste, which means that your tank will experience a mini-cycle. Usually it is short lived. That is why people advise adding new livestock very slowly. Add too much at one time, and you get ammonia spikes.

 

[tanglover]

are a total of 10 crabs and snails to a 30gal long considered too much?

 

[mojoreef]

tanglover, everything is based on the bacterial population in your tank. You have different bacteria that handle all phases of nitrification and denitrification in your tank. When you increase the Bio load these bacterial populations, have to adjust to the new levels of waste entering the tank. It doesn't take a long time but it does take a little bit of time. This is the same concept of cycling on new tank, you're not actually waiting for the cycle to happen as much as you are waiting for the bacterial populations of each phase to populate.

Mike

 

[tanglover]

thanks, as long as everything goes back to normal before it harms my new additions....

 

[Chimera]

I can't say if it's too much, but it's significant. The real slow addition usually pertains to adding fish.

 

[cdeakle]

Why not do a small water change?....

 

[NaH2O]

cdeakle, IMO, a small water change would help with the levels, however, the system still needs to wait for the bacterial populations to play catch up. You are right, IMO, a small water change would make a difference on this small system.