old tank still in trouble

[deblin2]

I have a 38 gallon tank with 40 lbs. of live sand and about 30 lbs of live rock. I have a millennion 2000 filter, a small hangon canister filter that I finally took the carbon out of and used one of those paper filters that cleans the water, and an Aquaclear 200that uses carbon and a sponge and a seaclone skimmer (which put out plenty of foam.) I have two clownfish, one hawkfish, and one dottyback. I have had this tank since the spring of 98. I started out with an undergravel filter. I had so many problems that you adivised me to remove that and use live sand. I did so. Meanwhile almost all the fish had died and all the pods and creatures died off of the live rock. The purple algea was still on the rocks. I am still having trouble. My nitrates are off the record and if I change very much water at all my ammonia and nitrites get messed up. I have tested the water that I am using for water changes and it is fine. If I add any other fish with the four fish I have the new fish dies. The four fish I have seem healthy and happy. My water smells bad and the sand has brown growth on them that has not gone away. The live sand was put in about a year and a half ago. The rocks also have unsightly growth on them. I had read a post where it said you could wash the rocks in the water you took out of a tank when you did a water change. I did so and my tank looked much better, but ammonia and nitrite showed up in my tank. Later I read a post that said I shouldn't have done that. I had been doing a 3 or 4 gallon water change every week, but after that I decided to leave it alone until my ammonia and nitrite went back to 0. It does usually stay at 0. I had also read a post that said canister filters put nitrates back in the water. I removed it completely for a few weeks, but the ammonia and nitrite would not go down without it. That is when I changed to the paper filter in it that is supposed to catch the small particles and "sparkle the water." The water still has a smell though. I have also been careful about how much food I have put in the tank. I may still feed them a little too much, but it couldn't be that bad. I put a very small piece in and it is usually eatten almost immediately. I have tried really hard to make this work and I am getting discouraged. I love my fish, but I don't want to have fish just to kill them. I like them too much for that. The fish get along great. It is a very peaceful tank and the fish are so tame they will eat from my fingers. I don't understand why I can't do this and keep the readings at what they are supposed to be and lower the nitrates. My nitrates have always been extremely high. Sorry for the length of this. Please help me if you can. I have bought almost a library of books and subscribe to two fish magazines. I have also read everything on the internet that I could. along with talking to the people at my lfs. I didn't just jump into this blind. That is why I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. For one thing the advice is all different much of the time. It seems like it does better if I don't do anything to it. Changing a filter, rinsing a filter out in the tank water, or anything messes up my water chemestry. I have tried all of the different advice I have gotten out of books, magazines, lfs, and off this board. Nothing has helped. Sorry this is so long. I hope someone can help.

 

[trebor126]

Deblin2,
I know it can get fustrating. The first question I would ask , is what kind of water are you doing water changes with?
Tap water can have have high levels of of ammonia and/or phosphates and other contaminates that would cause the the diatomout breaks, brown algea, and could kill fish.
I would not do any water changes until all your readings are at 0 or very near to 0. Every time you do a water change, especially if you are using bad tap water, will or can make your tank go into a re-cylcle. If your LR is still purpulle and your LS has been in your tank for over a year, your water should not be too bad. You said fish have died, have you found all of the dead ones? I am asking because if a fish is caught under some LR and is not taken out, this could be your problem with the ammonia spike.. What kind of fish do yo have? If the 4 fish you have are surving through all this, maybe they are not compatible with the other fish you had put in the tank. this may be the cause of death.
Please post more info on thei fish you have. You can email me at donnapet@charter.net also if you have more questions.
I hope I helped in some way, if not maybe I can find you the answers. Keep with it. This hobby is very rewarding in the long run..
Rob

 

[deblin2]

I do use tap water, but I run it through a tap water purifier made for aquariums. The water test out fine. I think I messed up this time by cleaning the rock, but everything looked so bad and the water smelled really bad. I did stop doing water changes and the water has tested out better. The ammonia is 0, nitrite 0, but the nitrate is a dark red so is at least 140. I have gotten all of the dead fish out of the tank as soon as I noticed them missing which was very soon after I lost them. I did have to dig some of them out of the rock. I have a flame hawk fish that doesn't bother anyone, two clownfish that don't bother anyone, and a dottyback that has killed a firefish. I had a firefish a long time ago and it didn't bother it, but it didn't like the last one I put in. That is the only one I have seen him bother. I have read so much information on filters that is different. How often do I change the filters and do I rinse the filter media in tank water. If I do rinse the filter media, how often. The water is testing out better for awhile, but the live sand and rock still look really bad and the water still smells. I have had the tank up long enough that it should be stable, but it isn't. Thank you for helping me.