Nitrate problem help please

Discussion in 'ASAP' started by jessman, Mar 22, 2009.

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  1. jessman

    jessman Astrea Snail

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    Mar 22, 2009
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    Location:
    chesapeake VA
    Tank is 6 weeks old 46 gal bow front.
    40 to 50 lbs live rock i added 10 lbs yesterday.
    I added snowflake eel thursday and 2 tiny small clown friday one of them was eatin by the eel. :angry:
    I added 2 bigger clowns sat with the 10 lbs of live rock.
    I added protien skimmer today not really doing much yet.
    I have 2 power heads korallia #2 and a #3.
    I have the Aquatic life T5 HO with night leds for lighting. i have been running them all on the timer.
    and 2in of live sand.
    i checked all the levels thursday befor i added the eel and everything was perfect tank had been cycling everything was ready to go. 0 ppm on ammonia and nitrate
    I checked the ammonia and nitrates last night "sat night" ammonia was at .25 ppm and nitrates were at 80ppm. This morning ammonia was at .50 so i changed 15 gals of water today with RO water and nitrates were still at 80 ppm.???????
    all the fish are fine still eating and looking happy. green algae has been growing iv been scrubbing it away and moving the sand around a bit. Can you help me?:(
     
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  3. Annie3410

    Annie3410 Teardrop Maxima Clam

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    the adding of LR and stocking too fast has sent your tank back into cycle
     
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  4. Annie3410

    Annie3410 Teardrop Maxima Clam

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    what are you using for water? RO/DI, Tap?
     
  5. PackLeader

    PackLeader Giant Squid

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    +1. 6 weeks is way too early with all that livestock. And adding LR will restart the cycle.
    You need to stop with the water changes and let the tank catch back up to itself. Water changes are only going to prolong the cycle.
     
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  6. MTips18

    MTips18 Purple Spiny Lobster

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    what type of water are you using from the sounds of it you might get new tank syndrome i would slllooowww down to avoid wasting any money and to let you levels get back to normal 80ppm is nuts
     
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  7. PharmrJohn

    PharmrJohn The Dude

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    +500 to this. You are going way too fast. Eels are messy eaters anyway and require some good skimming to keep up with the waste they produce. (both front and back end). With all the additions (livestock included) you put your tank into another cycle.

    The general rule of thumb for livestock is no more than one fish added per two weeks. That gives your system time to compensate and increase it's bacteria population.

    So I would slow it down. I would not add anything else (even if something dies) until the cycling is finished.
     
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  9. jessman

    jessman Astrea Snail

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    Location:
    chesapeake VA
    It has ALL RO water. ok so no more water changes but what about the fish let them die? the ammonia is going up? and actually when i got the tank from my buddy it was up and running i used 70% of the water that was in it and all his rock. i just needed a lil more tho.
     
  10. jessman

    jessman Astrea Snail

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    i really dont get it tho. why would added 10 more lbs of rock mess up the whole system?
     
  11. Daniel072

    Daniel072 Giant Squid

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    die off from the rock. I've done the same thing in the past. The best thing to do is ride it out.
     
  12. jessman

    jessman Astrea Snail

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    Location:
    chesapeake VA
    thank you for your help

    my "PLAN" was to add the one eel and see how he did. i wasnt going to add more fish but after i did some research on him and it seems he can live in almost any water conditions.not a good guennie pig fish lol. so i thought id add the clowns. well the were small and he ate one and im sure he will eat the other one.So i got a coupled pair of bigger ones.While i was there they had tonka live rock for 3.88 a lb had to get 10 lbs of it. i got ahead of myself and didnt think of the bacteria over population or anything for that matter.