Quote:
Originally Posted by
Flower http:///t/396576/newbie-alert#post_3533673
Hi,
As soon as you put something alive in the tank...it poops. This causes ammonia. In a fish tank, the fish eat, swim, poop all in the same water. Nature allows them to survive by allowing good bacteria to colonize and grow on any, and all surfaces (rock, sand, and the pipe surfaces, everything) the good bacteria eats ammonia, and these are called nitrites, the next stage for the good bacteria guys, is called nitrates. There is a last stage where the nitrates become a harmless gas...unfortunately it isn't fast enough, to so we do water changes to remove the nitrates, and dilute it with new clean saltwater.
This is important to remember: Water evaporates, but salt does not. To keep the water with the right "saltiness" (AKA... SG) we must maintain the water level. You add RO (reverse osmosis) freshwater each day to bring the water back to the correct level. We call this Topping off.
You need for the tank to cycle the first time, so there is enough good bacteria to keep the fish alive and able to breath, swim and live in the tank. Everything is optimal when the fish is first added, but as soon as it poops, ammonia begins to climb....Your fish can't breath ammonia, it burns it's gills and kills it.
The corals are even more sensitive to the water quality. You need to remove them, and return them to the fish store...ASAP.
After you remove all of the living creatures, toss in a chunk of raw shrimp, or a small amount of pure ammonia (found in any laundry section of the grocery store) or ghost feed an invisible fish with flake food for a while. The ammonia needs to reach 1, and then drop back down to 0...then test for nitrites, it should climb as the ammonia declines, when it reaches 0, test for nitrates...if it is above 10 (and it should be) do a 3% water change, using newly mixed saltwater that you allowed to churn for 24 hours...or your premixed water.
You need lab type test kits...not strips. The strips for ammonia is fine because any ammonia detected when you have live critters, means trouble. The rest of the tests, you will need an exact number to be able to understand the water quality...the quality of the water is the very life of your fish tank.
The smaller the tank, the faster things go bad...a 16g is expert only size. a good starter size tank is a 55g or even better a 75g. Seems lots of folks do alright with a 30g, but that's a tiny tank as well.
To be honest, your next purchase should be a good "how to keep saltwater tanks" book. Cycling is just the very basics, you need some education to be successful. It really isn't hard to do, but right now, you need to understand things just a little better. It takes weeks to cycle a tank, no matter how small, and no matter how large. You can do it, but you need some patience.
Hang out here, there are lots of folks, including myself, who will help you. A book will help you understand and know what questions to ask....Don't kick yourself, we all make our mistakes when we first start out.
Thank you!
Ill get the corals out and start being patient.
I have a 5 gallon jug of filtered water that i got from my fish store to "top off"
Ill let it cycle and test the water again in a few days and continue to feed my invisible fish every other day
Ill post my questions and concerns soon
Again Thanks for the advice!
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