what is the best way to stabalize a tank.

[mtronearl]

i am having trouble stabilizing my tank. my nitrates are always through the roof and i do frequent water changes. will changing too much water kill the bio in my tank, nothing else is high, just nitrates, i think i might have changed too much water and reset the nitrogen cycle. please help i am loosing fish.... also all my fish have just recently gotten ick. i am not treating them in an isolation tank because they are all sick.

 

[reefmate75]

treat the hole tank then, if it has corals in it then you cant and will have to use a QT, whats your SG at???
fish do fine with No3 at 40-50 PPM if the other 2 are zero i dont know why you are haveing a problem, but yes if you are changeing water alot then you could be stressing the fish out and that can leave them subseptibul to parisites, reef tank...add what you want in there and LEAVE it alone, change is hard on a system, thats why they say to go slow
the best way to stbalize a tank is to go slow...., im sure you have heard all this befor
i would have to ask though, if your nitrates are threw the roof then your doing something wrong, are you over feeding?
how big is your tank, whats the live stock in it and how much was that big water change you mentioned?

 

[reefmate75]

BTW how long has this tank been set up???

 

[spiderwoman]

Also what type of substrate do you have? CC or LS? I'm thinking you may have 100% CC and that is a nitrate trap. I've just learned that from all of the great advice you can get here.

 

[mtronearl]

whats your SG at???: i don't know what sg is
My tank is a 45 gallon, i have four fish an eel , 20 hermit crabs some snails and just recently lost two flame scallops. i could possibly be over feeding and i'm sure the whole ich treatmen thing did them in. the big water change i am talking about was like half one day and then three or four days later, we switched anoher half. this tank has been setup since christmas. i have also ordered all fish through swf.com and everything was fine unil the new addition of a scopas tang, pink tip hatian anenome and a clown fish, i added the new fish right after the new water change though, i figured since the nitrates were so high, it would benefit the new arrivals to change the water before they got in. i am using a crushed coral sandbed, obviously i made the wrong choice, however, being that it is already installed, what is the best way to battle this problem
thank you so much for your time, i can't imagine getting started at this without adequate advice. john

 

[itom37]

SG is like... how salty your tank is. It's similar to (but a completely different number than) salinity... you know what one of those is, right?
How are you treating your ich? Since you have an anemone it can't be with hyposalinity or copper... which means it's some sort of reef safe thing. These rarely work. You're probably going to need to either remove your live rock (if you have it) and inverts and do hyposalinity or copper treatment in a separate tank. Do read Beth's thread on ich treatment in the disease forums before you try either of these.
The nitrates are probably high because your tank is overstocked. A tang does not belong in a 45 gallon, and an eel can put quite a strain on your biofiltration.
Anemones need established tanks with stable water conditions. This is not a good situation for your anemone.
If I were you, I would take the anemone to an LFS and sell it. Take your LR (again, if you have it) and put it in a rubbermaid tub with a heater and a powerhead. Teh snails and hermits will need to go in here as well, or to the LFS with your anemone. Add some pvc tubes to your tank for the fish to hide in, and do hyposalinity to treat the ich (READ BETH'S ICH THREAD).
Best of luck. Sounds like you've rushed into this a bit and are in over your head. In the future research here and elsewhere first.

 

[mtronearl]

i would agree about the whole jumping in over my head thing. actually me and my roomate are doin this together however the tank and stuff are technically his. i wish icould get him on here to read all of this. why are eels so bad on filtration, if you don't mind me askin. i have already come to the conclusion that hyposalinity is the only way to go, and after reading this i understand what sg is. another question what is the cheapest but best quality refractometer. i am learning as i go and have found that this can be costly.