nanatana

[nanatana]

:notsure: my nitrates are very high i did a water change and it still didn't drop. all fish ect... seem ok i have 25 gal hex. did 5gal water change. do i need to do it again? i didn't get my syphon down in the rocks because i didn't want to suck up the pods living in them.. help!!!
i have a blue tang, gobbies hermit crabs, sally lightfoot. green emerald snails choc. chip star... and what may be a bristle worm... is the worm bad?? just found him! thanks!! all other things at the right level (nitrites,ph,ect..) :help:

 

[drew2005]

Please post all of your parameters so we can help you better. If its a bristle worm i wouldnt worry too much unless it gets uncontrollably big. Sorry to say but your tank is to small for that blue tang. Most tangs require at least 75 gallons.

 

[airforceb2]

Define very high. Are your Nitrites and Ammonia at 0?

 

[nanatana]

saw the photo of the bristle worm that is definately what this thing looks like.. how big do they get? the nitrates are 80 to 160 very high. have a hard time determining the two colors on the color chart. nitrites are0. ph 8 amonia under.25 i don't know what to say about the tang i have had her since december she hasn't grown and is about 3in around. i started this project in october. had a yellow tang for about a week or two in january and have had several clowns... the longest for about 2 months the others were less than a week... would love to have one or two but afraid to try again. thanks for any help anyone can give. i really need it!!! :happyfish

 

[airforceb2]

Oh wow, you definately do not have a big enough tank for a tang. I'm going to bet that the tang is producing too much waste and your bacteria can't keep up. What kind of substrate do you have?

 

[nate0729]

well even doin your 20% water change, if your nitrates are at 80 you'll only be lowering them to bout 64. Try feedin less and maybe do a couple more water changes. Maybe 2 a week till you can get it down.

 

[shiby1510]

You better watch yourself from the tang police :jumping:

anyways what kind of test kits do you have??
someone correct me, but I know if you have nitrite that means you have ammonia shouldn't this work both ways?

 

[airforceb2]

In this case, the test kit is probably wrong in stating that there is <.25 of ammonia. But yes, if you have ammonia...you should have a nitrite reading.

 

[nanatana]

i have crushed coral i believe is what they called it when i started the tank. i have about 15lbs of live rock now. i have another five coming. i have a salt water master liquid test kit by aquarium pharmaceuticals, inc. some of the colors on the charts make it hard to determine the exact levels when they are really close. does anyone have else have that problem or am i color difficient? PLEASE don't send out the police i was told by the place i bought the tang she would be just fine!!! i could just plead stupidity!!!

 

[airforceb2]

Just go kick the LFS employee a couple times!! CC isn't the preferred substrate because it does hold detrius and is a nitrate factory.

 

[nanatana]

any sugestions on what to do about it besides kicking the people... i may get kicked back and then we have that police thing coming up again... really don't want to deal with the P.D.!!! can i safely remove it at this point without hurting the fish i already have. i will also lose the pods living in there. can i mix something in it to make it better??? :notsure: :help: thanks!!

 

[nanatana]

i think i read that there is a clam of some kind that helps with lowering nitrates???TRUE???

 

[shiby1510]

you could try scoop some of the pods out .. because you only need a few to make a bunch :yes:

 

[turningtim]

Lose the Crushed Coral substrate! I had the same problem in my 50. There was less then 2" of CC but it held some really nasty stuff. It is not a lot of fun to change out but well worth the effort. After changing to sand trates went from 80 to less then 10 and now I'm at zero. You should have enough criiters in your rock to repopulate the sand. I used a mix of LS and base sand.
Do a search on changing CC to sand. There are several ways to do it.
JMO HTH!

 

[keonia]

if you really want to keep that tang alive, I would shop for a larger tank. Perhaps, you could keep the other tank so you can get some clowns after your water conditions are better. They do have something to bring the nitrates down, but this will only be temporary. You need to find the source of whats causing your reading to be high.
What you could do, is take a new reading, scoop some water up and bring it to your LFS. calibrate your results and compare them against the reading with the LFS. This way you can check if your test kit is valid. (only based on if you have a dependable LFS).
As airforce said, your Tang may be producing more than your tank can handle.. and this should be a big hint to you.... you've had other fishes that hasnot made it very long. Need to have stable water conditions BEFORE buying anything else. Priority, get rid of the Tang or buy another tank!!!!!
there is a cleaner clam but its not meant to help bring down THAT much nitrates!
have you had your tank since december?
how often do you feed them?
whats your PH? Temp?
What kind of filtration do you have? ANy LR, Skimmers?

 

[nanatana]

thanks for the suggestions! will try to find out how to change out the cc to sand. i have had the tank since october the ph is 8 i feed twice a day i have under ground filter with a power head and an over the back filter too. temp around 78-79 degrees

 

[shiby1510]

ugf is also a trate factory like cc

 

[sw65galma]

Don't listen to that LFS any more..
If they sold you
a 25Gal hex
UGF
and Crushed Coral
and said you could put a tang in there? they should be shot...
Not your fault, But I don't think it's possible to have a worse setup for a tang..
That setup would work for 2 smal fish and you'd be good.
For a Tang NO WAY.
It's like making a greyhound live in a shoe box.

 

[turningtim]

Change CC to sand and get rid of the Under gravel filter. What HOB filter are you using. You need to see how much flow your getting through the tank. You should have no less then 10x the tank size per hour. I'm not the Tang Police but I have to agree that it's to big for that tank. Slow down on the feeding. Once a day max.
No worries nanatana, I went through all this a couple monthes ago. It's a lot of work but it will all pay off in the end. All the folks here know what's up!

 

[darth tang]

I am still a bit old school and run an UGF with crushed coral live sand mix. It is dificult but doable. I would recomend it to anyone over just using live sand and say a wet/dry or refuge. But in the mean time there is something you can do till you change out the substrate to get your levels to were they are comfortable. Vacuum the crushed coral. Do this for the entire five gallon water change. You will be surprised how much nasty crap you pull out. Stick the vacuum as far into the crushed coral as you can. You may/will suck up some pods and stuff but not enough to truly diminish your supply. After you do this your nitrates should drop dramatically. I at one point had my Nitrates over 100 in a 140 (I was still learning) and my LFS asked me to do this and within two water changes totalling 40 gallons I was completely down to zero. I also increased my clean up crew by 200%.
I would highly recommend the switch over to the live sand though. I have multiple tanks and all but one run with live sand. Plus, from an aesthetic aspect sand looks better.