Attack of the never lowering Nitrates and general questions.

T

TerraIncognita

New Member
I've been at this for about 4 weeks now.
My LFS owner has been very very helpful and appreciative.

I have a 20 Gallon AJ60 tank with a built in sump and filtration system.

When I started the tank 4 weeks ago, I got an AJ60 tank with a built in sump. I purchased a protein skimmer for the Biocube 29 which I installed in the sub, and my LFS gave me 20 gallons of his water from his 200 Gallon DT which he's has up and running for 5 years with tons of LR, Coral, Fish, Anemone, and all other types of Invertebrae, he also gave me LR from this tank, about 19lbs.

I got everything up and running and with a good dose of Biospira 5 days later I brought him a sample of my water and he gave a thumbs up and I got 2 Ocellaris Clown, a Tomini Tang and a Condy Anemone. On the way home I stopped at a ***** near my house to grab a veggie clip and couldn't resist buying what was displayed as an Emerald Crab, but turned out to be a Sally Light Foot.... I'm still planning to capture him and return him.

Regardless, I've now had it up and running for 4 weeks, and adding Biospira Nitrate reducer, doing water changes with water I get from my LFS (he has a big mixer in his store where he makes and stores Fresh Salt Water once a week), and my Nitrates will NOT drop below 80. I've been feeding about 1/3 of a small cube or frozen bloodworms, twice a day, meaning 2 cubes in 3 days.

I'm going to reduce this to one feeding a day for now.

My main question is 1. Should I just let the tank mature and the Nitrates will lower, should I do daily Water Changes instead of weekly? Has anyone had a similar problem?

Lastly of my two clowns they are both Juveniles, no longer than half an inch each, but one is smaller and he has not eaten really since I got him 3 weeks ago, he will follow the big one around, and the big one eats the worms, but the small one seems to pick at small floating particles in the water, he releases feces so I imagine he must be getting his nutrients in some fashion, should I feed him something else though?

The rest of my water parameters are 0Ammonia 0 Nitrites, .1024 Salinity, and 8.0PH

Temp is 78-79 (might be a bit high, but my heater is set to 74, my Room temperature is set to 72, and it just won't come down...)

Let me know any tips on any of this. I want to make sure my tank is a successful happy thriving tank with many years to come.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Bloodworms are not the best for sw fish. Try mysis, brine, hikari mega marine.
Secondary your tank is super new and you have a massive bio load already. Get a test kit so you can test your water daily. Unfortunately a 20 is really small for sw. Your 2 clowns are about max. The tang will out grow the tank fast.
3rd nems need super water quality and high quality lights. There not for a new tank.
Sorry for so much bad news
 
one-fish

one-fish

Active Member
Agree on comments above reduce feedings If you do not have a test kit get one a FW API is better than none It's what I started with. Observation is your best bet to warn off troubles, watch your fish habits breathing swimming trends. Nem look at color texture needs both high light and high water quality best introduced to a mature tank. When adding livestock to a new tank best to go Slow. Not trying to sound like an ass but some LFS are to sell and without your own research your at their mercy. Knowledge and Patience are the key to successful SW tank......One-Fish....still in training....just my 02
 
T

TerraIncognita

New Member
Hi guys thanks for the input. I do have a API Master test kit and have been testing daily, the Nitrates are just hanging around 70-80.

Everything else is at 0 (except PH obviously at 8.0)

Well. I will keep up with Water Changes and get some Macro Algaes I think that's a good idea to start.

All the fish themselves are doing fine, there is not a high stress level and they seem generally happy, I know that a 20 Gallon is small, My plan was to upgrade to a 75 or 100 after a year or so.

But now that opens a new question. I would have to basically restart the whole cycle.

Which then creates a question on why begin with a 20 Gallon, as I don't think I would be using the water necessarily would I? And with 100 Gallons I assume getting the tank to re-cycle would take an entire 3 months.

Well. This is a downer.
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Lol unfortunately yes and no. A 20 wont give you much to work with. However its a start. It will make an excellent qt tank.
The more full cured live rock in a big tank helps ease into the cycle process.
 
T

TerraIncognita

New Member
Hi Jay,

Okay now you've got me thinking and I read some other threads and seen that you've upgraded yourself a few times as why let a tank Establish for a year if when upgrading it won't make a difference.
So here's my idea currently I've looked and measured and I want to get a 90Gal 48L//18W//25H.

Here's a photo of my current 20G - I've got a 6 White/3 Blue LED strip so the lighting is pretty sufficient for the Nem, he's booted down and has been fully extended since he adjusted to the parameters and being a hardy species i think he'll make it, even through the nitrates.

So the question is if I added "dead" live rock to this 20Gal to get it to cure and become live rock would that mess too much with the Parameters of my 20Gal to be safe?

Should I just get the 90Gal, let it cycle with a bunch of deadrock, a bit of live rock and some added ammonia and let it cycle for 2 months? Then if switching to the 90G from the 20G do I dump the water or just go with the new water?
 

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jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
Do not cure it in your 20. Bad things will happen. Now for your new tank its fine, the die off will kick start your cycle. A majority of dry base rock seeded with live rock is fine.
Iam a bit old school, in that the majority of my tanks i run hob filters. Just got into the sumps. However the nice thing with my hob is i can preseason them by running them in my mature tanks to load them with bacteria. Thus creating a soft cycle
 
jay0705

jay0705

Well-Known Member
If you get base rock, yes you can add it to your 20. But you want dead/dry rock. No life on it or dead stuff
 
T

TerraIncognita

New Member
Thanks for your help and answering of questions. I've done a lot of study and am researching into DIY Sumps, and a 75-90Gal. For now my fish are doing alright, I've gotten Brine (much better) and another powerhead on the way to increase water flow, I think they'll survive while I get myself fully studied up to really have a successful bigger tank with all the appropriate accessories for total success.
 
3

36 gallon salt water

Member
I am in the same boat... well not really. I am starting a 40 gallon tank which eventually will have two false clown fish, a cleaner shrimp and a flame angel if it works out. Also going to be going with hang on back filter. Have gotten some really good info already just looking for more as well. The info above is really great info. So thank you for answering a lot of my questions. I'm also going to be getting the dummies book for salt water aquariums. But like the gentleman with the questions... am I creating a base of live sand some already cured live rock and some dead rock to be seeded by the bacteria from the live sand/ aragonite and the live rock?
 
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