Will a 50% WC shock my fish?

Thanks vinny Thats what I will do. Thanks Alot!

 

Any time!!Are you using tap water??This could also be a source of Nitrates and doing changes with this water will do little to help.Good luck!!8)

 

Maybe another couple pounds of live rock if you have room, for more filtration.

 

A question we didn't address is what you're doing for filtration. So, what are you doing? If your filtration system isn't enough for your bioload perhaps you need to consider adding something else. Filtering a nano tank can be quite challenging. For example, a simple way to help reduce nitrates would to buy some chaeto (macroalgae) as it will consume some, if not all of the nitrates. I ask this because you can do all the water changes you want but they more than likely will shoot right back up, sometimes within a few days. I've spoken with people who do huge water changes and in 24 hours the nitrate reading is back to the original level (in your case 30). Grrrrr.

One solution to this is to add a small HOB refugium as this would help keep your nitrates at a consistent, lower level if set up properly (you could put chaeto in the refugium). Just something else to consider.

 

I am still new to the hobby, coming up on my 1 year anniversary in a month!! haha that being said I have learned from some stupid mistakes I've made in this past year.. I lost a fish to a 50% water change. My main problem was the difference in water temperatures between the fresh SW and the water in the tank.. I also strongly agree with VinnyBoomBatz in "taking it slow and letting it grow" I would do 20% water changes every other day and then 15% water changes every week. I am currently doing that to deal with a GHA problem which is finally clearing up. RODI and good salt is a must IMO

 

For my filtration I have an aquatop ef 200 that is recommended up to 50 gallons. I would consider getting a hob refugium but i just dont have the space for one. The tank is in front of a wall. Also I don't want to spend too much money.

 

When using a canister on a saltwater tank it's imperative that you religiously clean it out, especially if there are filter pads in it. Some people who use canisters clean theirs every few days and others do it once a week when doing a water change. If the filter pads aren't clean they will hold nitrates. If the canister has rings it definitely will hold nitrates.

I agree that going slow is a very good idea. However, I once had to do a 75% water change because my softies created chemical warfare with some LPS. In addition to changing out that much water I also doubled the amount of carbon I was running. No shock, no coral or fish loss.

I still believe that you can do many, many water changes and lower your nitrates. But, if you don't pinpoint where your nitrates are coming from they're more than likely going to climb again.

 

My friend is using the same canister filter while maintaining 0 nitrates. I think it is because I added the fish when my nitrates were high. I am going to do 25% water changes every other day untill I get these suckers low.

 

Good luck.