Ammonia/Nitrate problems in second hand tank!! Please help!

sb1290

sb1290

New Member
 
Ok, so I am in some desperate need of help!!
 
My partner decided to purchase a second hand saltwater tank of eBay, with all the water, live rock, fish, corals etc in it. So after safely transporting it home on Friday evening, the next day we done some tests on the water, and the results were; Ammonia - 0.25, Nitrate - 2.5, Nitrites - 0.1..... We added some more live rock on Saturday and did a partial water change yesterday, in the hope of reducing the Ammonia etc, but it is now; Ammonia - 0.25/0.5, Nitrites - 0.5, PH - 8.3!
Can anyone please help me and tell me what could be wrong or what to do? The fish are very lively, and are all feeding well, and seem very content. I can't say I've seen the yellow tailed blue damsel eat as of yet (we've had it for 5 days now), but he is one of the liveliest fish.
We have; 2 Clowns, 1 Six Lined Wrasse, 1 Bangaii Cardinal, 1 Yellow Tailed Blue Damsel, 1 Slug, 1 Cleaner Shrimp, 3 Snails, 1 Starfish, and 1 Hermit Crab. We are feeding them on a dry flake food that was supplied with the tank.
All we know about the tank (Red Sea Max 130D) is the previous owner had it for 8 months. I wasn't present when my partner decided to purchase it or pick it up, otherwise I would have asked A LOT of questions!
The sand/gravel looks very dirty! We bought a gravel cleaner, but then read that its advised not to disturb the gravel?? When we gave it a bit of a swish, the water got very cloudy and you could just about see through it! This is when we decided to do a water change! I've been reading up on the internet, and I think maybe the filter needs changing? This is our first tank, so I'm not exactly sure what to do!!!
 
Can anybody please shed some light on this? Its all becoming very confusing. I just want to get it sorted and make a safe environment for the fish!!! Anybody?
 
doggie

doggie

Member
I would guess that you just started a mini-cycle by moving the tank.
Just keep testing and doing water changes.
Change the filter if it needs it.
 
iluvmelabdogs

iluvmelabdogs

New Member
Was the new rock cured? If it wasnt you never place uncured live rock in an already established tank. It starts its own cycling and raises the pollution in the tank even more.
 
sb1290

sb1290

New Member
Thanks, that's what I've been doing.... Cleaned the filters out yesterday, and the water readings are going down... slowly, but surely!
I've got water prepared to do another change tonight! And I'm going to rinse the filters again, until I get a carbon replacement. Had it running 5 days now, and no deaths! Thank god!!
 
scopus tang

scopus tang

Active Member
Sounds like you are on the right track as far as the mini cycle resulting from the move. I would however take a good hard look at the bioload you have in that 34 gallon tank. You may want to consider trading or selling off some of those fish over the long run. I would consider those fish to be very close to if not over the limit for that small of a tank, and that could be a major contributing factor to the "dirtiness" of your sandbed. The clowns if they mate will get very aggressive towards the other fish, and depending on species may get quite large as well. Also, I would look into some additional options for food besides the flake food, which is relative low in nutrients the fish need and tends to cause nutrient issues with unconsumed portions. Just my $.02 worth.
 
fishgirl2010

fishgirl2010

New Member
I had the same problem in my tank when I replaced our floors and had to move the tank for a day. I did partial water changes and added ammonia detox which also helped lower the nitrate and nitrite. I did this off-and-on for a week until things went back to normal. However, you may lose the wrasse and snails, they are fairly sensitive to changes like that.
 
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