my first tank crashed

I had this tank for about 3 months. All of a sudden my nitrates are off the charts. Did a bunch of 20% water changes . Did a 75% change think it will help ?

 

Fishead #1

can you tell us a bit more about the set up
what size is it
what equipment are you using ( sump? fuge?, cannister filter? skimmer? etc
what have you got stocked in there at present

a series of water changes, naturally can reduce nitrate by dillution
but finding the cause of the elevated nitrate level is a better long term solution

Steve

 

55 gal ,aqueon 55 filter a petco king 225 power head.50 lbs lr. About 2" crushed coral. Had 3 damsels and a dogface puffer one yellow tang .

 

I'm guessing with that amount of livestock in that size of a tank at only 3 months old you probably had an ammonia spike, which got converted to nitrites then nitrates.

1. What's "off the charts"? Like literally off the color chart?
2. What's your ammonia reading?
3. How much do you feed?
4. When did you add the fish and how long between adding?
5. Are all the fish gone now? If so, did they die? If they died, I would guess the ammonia spike.

 

fishead#1

1stly thats a lot of fish to have in an aquarium at the 3 month mark
and 2 of those fish are large messy feeders or produce a lot of waste
the puffer and the tang

2ndly the crushed coral at 2 inches depth, if its the large particle size the waste that the puffer for example creates, include a lot of part eaten food that exits the gills
and much of this can get missed by other fish and ends up in the crushed coral, rotting away and contributing to the nitrates

3rdly the Aqueon HOB filter, depending whats in that, and how often you remove it to rinse it, can also become a trap for rotting food stuffs and can contribute to nitrate levels

your rockwork sounds adequate, although a picture would be a good way to double check

water circulation - does not sound adequate to me, I believe the Petco does 225 GPH and the HOB filter will not be contributing much either

this means the water is not being delivered often enough to the bacteria on the rockwork and that again can explain nitrate levels increasing

even without corals you would probably be better off with between 20 and 30 times tank volume being circulated through the tank per hour
a couple of power heads either end to create random flow ( rather than all the water being sent in 1 direction 24/7)

if the tank has crashed and you now do not have any of the fish listed above

I would
1 - remove the crushed coral and replace with sand
2 - increase water flow, to create a more efficient nutrient delivery system to the bacteria on the rockwork
3- possibly, depending on what you tank looks like - increase amount of rock (extra base rock is fine)
4- not stock the fish so highly within the 1st 3 months - the damsels alone would have been the maximum fish I would put in during this time frame
5- if you want corals eventually - avoid messy feeders and fish that will outgrow the set up such as the Tang and the Puffer

Steve

 

It was around 150ppm. Puffer got fed once a day damsels twice tang once a day ammonia was 0.25ppm. Damsels came first thing someone told me to put them in second week. Everything else came after the cycle . about one every other week. it wiped out everything got one damsels in it now

 

I agree with Steve and Sushi Girl. I don't believe your tank is established enough to have the Puffer and the Tang yet but you probably would have been OK with just the Damsels. It can take your tank a long time to get right and no one wants to add a bunch of beautiful and expensive fish only to see them die in the end......Remember.....Patience is one of the most important factors in this hobby.

 

Fish less cycle I am not a tree higher but all u have to do I throw I pice Of raw table shrimp test every other day and get more rock go like 1-11/2 lbs. Of rock. Also don't listen to that person they do not know and so use this form lots of help


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Ammonia should always be zero in a cycled tank. Adding fish can cause mini-cycles, especially in that young of a tank and with those having high bioloads.

 

Although Tangs will feed on about everything you feed the tank, they also require a diet of algae, which will grow on an established tank. A 3 month old tank wouldn't be enough to meet his nutritianal needs.
My Dog Faced Puffer got hand fed twice a day and provided enought left over food to feed the rest of the tank.....Such a pig when it came to eating.....I found there was more than enough to feed the other inhabitants. Between his eating habits and amount of waste coming out of him, my nitrates would spike and I was doing extra water changes on a weekly basis trying to save my tank. Also, a Puffer has teeth that continue to grow and have to be cut yearly. No one here will cut their teeth...not even the LFS...so your forced to buy plenty of snails on a weekly basis, watch your fish starve to death, or trot to the drugstore for Euginol to put him to sleep so his teeth can be cut..poor little guy....he hated it...and it was a hard lesson learned for me.