Hi, my husband recently aquired a 46 gallon tank. We put the water, salt and special sand in around 6 weeks ago. The guy we got our stuff from offered no help at all. He sold us two clown fish, a blue tang, two damsel fish, a yellow angel fish, a sand sifting star fish and a cleaner shrimp right off the bat. The water had been in the tank for one week before we added the fish. I went into the local pet store for something totally unrelated and decided to ask a few questions. We were blown away by all of the things we were not doing that we were supposed to!! We made some changes right away (added some live rock and started testing the water) and everything was going pretty hunky dory. The tank is almost to the six week mark and the ammonia is fine but our PH is low and the nitrates and nitrites are going crazy. Our angel fish is sick (it will probably die tonight) and the water is getting cloudy. Our sand also has brown algae all over it. Our protien skimmer doesn't seem to be working and I have no idea what to why. We are using a liquid ammonia, nitrate and nitrite remover but it isn't helping for the last two anymore (or so it seems). Does anyone know what to do? If our fish die, do we have to start all over again? Has anyone started a tank similar to this? I am so frustrated!! Can anyone please help???
HELP!! (please)
- Thread starter cara
- Start date
Let me get this straight, you bought all those fish after 1 week of having the tank set up? yeah that's not good. Especially since you didn't have any live rock in there. Chances are you'll have to start all over. Here's a quick run down of what you should have done. First, set up the tank with a 2-3 inch sand bed. Add about 45lbs of live rock to the tank. Get some good lights and let the tank sit like this for 4-6 weeks. Leave the skimmer off during this time. Then start doing your testing. When your ammonia and nitrites are at 0, and your nitrates are low, you can start stocking the tank. SLOWLY! Start with a clean up crew, then get maybe 2 fish. wait a while, then add more. patience is key. look around this site and others for more info.
If its not too late, try to take the fish back to the store to get credit. it'd be shameful to let all those fish die...
If its not too late, try to take the fish back to the store to get credit. it'd be shameful to let all those fish die...
Other than returning the fish about all you can do is to keep doing frequent water changes to get a handle on the nitrites and nitrates. I would stop adding any ammonia/nitrite/nitrate remover and rely more on good clean water.
What kind of skimmer are you using and how is it not working?
And welcome to Aquaria Central- it's a shame it has to be crisis related
What kind of skimmer are you using and how is it not working?
And welcome to Aquaria Central- it's a shame it has to be crisis related
I hope this will help you
I have a 50 Gallon tank My setup is 40 lb live sand 50 lb live rock and live ocean salt water since I live in South Florida it’s easy to get. I have a wet dry filter and a Berlin skimmer. There are 3 tricks that the LFS told me add Kent Marinesuperbuffer-dkh (www.kentmarine.com) to bring the PH to 8.3 and Bacter Vital (www.markweissco.com) to add the necessary bacteria in the tank, this will cut down the cycle time by weeks and bring the nitrites and nitrates down quickly. I added fish in 7 days to my tank. Last add hw-Ionic coal to remove ammonia in my tank until the bacteria can brake it down naturally. I hope this works and your fish will recover.
By the way I'm new to this to so don't take my work for it do your own Research!!!!!
I have a 50 Gallon tank My setup is 40 lb live sand 50 lb live rock and live ocean salt water since I live in South Florida it’s easy to get. I have a wet dry filter and a Berlin skimmer. There are 3 tricks that the LFS told me add Kent Marinesuperbuffer-dkh (www.kentmarine.com) to bring the PH to 8.3 and Bacter Vital (www.markweissco.com) to add the necessary bacteria in the tank, this will cut down the cycle time by weeks and bring the nitrites and nitrates down quickly. I added fish in 7 days to my tank. Last add hw-Ionic coal to remove ammonia in my tank until the bacteria can brake it down naturally. I hope this works and your fish will recover.
By the way I'm new to this to so don't take my work for it do your own Research!!!!!
Hi Cara - sounds like you are having a rough introduction to the hobby. Don't get too discouraged, we all have mistakes - it is important that you learn from them. I agree with Cearbhill - water changes will be important for your fish. When setting up a tank for the first time, it has to go through the normal process (nitrogen cycle) of growing bacterial populations to handle wastes. As ammonia reducing bacteria grow (turning ammonia into nitrite), you will see ammonia levels drop and nitrite levels rise. As nitrite reducing bacteria begin to populate (converting nitrite into nitrate), you will see nitrite levels drop, while nitrate levels rise. You will also have nitrate reducing bacteria present within biofilms, liverock, and a deep sand bed (if you choose to have one - do research on them for an understanding, there are many pros and cons to all types of filtration systems). The Nitrogen cycle/process is what it is, and takes time to establish. Once the bacteria has grown to a high enough population for the given bioload, then you will begin to see the bacteria die off to a certain level, as it's food source is being used up. When this happens, algae comes in to feed off of this new nutrient source. A good skimmer will aid in removing the dissolved organic compounds present in the water - a definite plus. New tanks with a lot of organics will have a lower pH than what is desired. When I cycled my tank the pH was in the 7.8 - 7.9 range.....and came up as the cycle ended (I used uncured rock for my tank). How many pounds of live rock did you add to the tank, and was it cured? Hang in there, be patient, and do your water changes. Let us know how things go.
Just a couple comments. Don't worry about the nitrate levels at this time. Depending on what you plan to keep in the tank, nitrate may not matter at all. Look around the web for discussion on this. Nitrite and ammonia are the problems, and I would agree that water changes are a good approach, as well as getting the lfs to at least babysit the fish until your cycle is complete. I would keep the Damsels, because that's how I cycle tanks, but that's your call. Adding live rock/sand is also optional. Some use it. I don't.
Good luck!!
Good luck!!
Dont worry much about any algae or diatoms yet as they wont kill your fish and that is probably your top priority right now (they are both common in new tanks anyway and should go away in time.) I would get rid of the blue tang as that fish really should be in a larger tank to begin with, and having him in there only makes it harder for the other fish. Did the "yellow angel" die or is it still alive? The clowns should be ok as long as you do the water changes and give them alot of attention (feed them and dont stress them needlessly). For the other two (star and shrimp) I dont know how they will handle the cycle, you probably could keep them as long as the ammonia stays kinda low (cant stress enough... water changes) If you can find a way to take the fish out of the equation (lfs hold them for you?) then the rest of the problems will work out in time. I agree not to worry about nitrates, if you are doing the water changes (which I very very strongly recommend) then your nitrates will be fine. Later when things settle down you can worry about them, but for now that should be low on your list of priorities. Adding ammonia removers may help to ease some of the stress on your fish, but dont rely on them to keep your fish alive, use it only as an aide (I am not recommending that you use them, I would prefer you rely on doing very frequent water changes, but I do know that they can help a little). Use the water changes to control your ammonia and nitrites until the bacteria can start to handle the bio load themselves. I would be carefull of overfeeding. Dont starve the fish as they will have enough stress as it is, but dont just throw in some food and hope they all eat. Feed slowly so that all of the food is eaten and then stop as the fish get their fill. Leave a little to get to the bottom for the shrimp and what clean-up crew you have, but not too much because this will just add to your ammonia and nitrites and make this whole thing harder. If you can get your skimmer working then that will help to control your ammonia. What type of skimmer and how is it not working (as was already asked). Good luck and hopefully this all works out. If some fish die dont get flustered, this is going to be rough but we will try and make the best of the situation and hopefully keep most of the fish alive.
Rick
PS. I know that you say there is no ammonia but I am not sure that your cycle is complete yet. I would do water changes and not use the chemicals if you can and then test ammonia/nitrites/nitrates and see what they are. I have gotten incorrect readings for ammonia when using the chems like ammonia remover. If you can get through the cycle then you should be ok (except for the blue tang will likely get sick and need a bigger tank to move around more). Hope this helps and again good luck. Sorry if any of the post is confusing, just got back from vacation and am a little sleep deprived.
Rick
PS. I know that you say there is no ammonia but I am not sure that your cycle is complete yet. I would do water changes and not use the chemicals if you can and then test ammonia/nitrites/nitrates and see what they are. I have gotten incorrect readings for ammonia when using the chems like ammonia remover. If you can get through the cycle then you should be ok (except for the blue tang will likely get sick and need a bigger tank to move around more). Hope this helps and again good luck. Sorry if any of the post is confusing, just got back from vacation and am a little sleep deprived.
Thanks for the advice!
Hello, thanks so much everyone for the advice. Yes my angel fish died, due to stress and water changes. All of my other fish are doing great! Josh, from the pet store (the one that is actually helping us) has been testing my water and guiding us along. We probably have another week before the cycle is actually complete. My protien skimmer is a Cyclone 100 and is working now but is throwing tons of air into the tank. I called the company and they said something about it being to much slime in the water from my H2O conditioner. I have no idea what to think about that one since almost all water conditioners have slime in them. We added 25lbs of live rock a week ago and it looks awesome, however two of the rocks that I had previously have turned brown and I think are "dead". I have no idea what that indicates except a waste of money, right? Will my other rocks "die" too?
Hello, thanks so much everyone for the advice. Yes my angel fish died, due to stress and water changes. All of my other fish are doing great! Josh, from the pet store (the one that is actually helping us) has been testing my water and guiding us along. We probably have another week before the cycle is actually complete. My protien skimmer is a Cyclone 100 and is working now but is throwing tons of air into the tank. I called the company and they said something about it being to much slime in the water from my H2O conditioner. I have no idea what to think about that one since almost all water conditioners have slime in them. We added 25lbs of live rock a week ago and it looks awesome, however two of the rocks that I had previously have turned brown and I think are "dead". I have no idea what that indicates except a waste of money, right? Will my other rocks "die" too?
The brown may simply be diatoms growing on the rocks since you are nearing the end of your cycle. I wouldn't worry about your rocks being dead. Bacteria is inhabiting the rocks, or else you wouldn't see reductions in ammonia and nitrites. Other life, in the way of worms and pods, will come with time. Hang in there!