So here is the deal. I have a 110gal tank that is perfect. However my girlfriend wanted a "nano tank" 20gal. I cannot get the nitrates and nitrites to maintain an even level. The water for her tank came from my tank and the only thing that i added is about 15lbs of live rock and 15lbs of live sand. Waited the 4-6weeks for the cycling to happen and then i added some schooling fish to get some bacteria going other that provided by the live stuff. I have followed every instruction from my text book and i cannot get anything to remain normal. as soon as the nitrites go away the nitrates spike up so high i have to do a 30% water change then the nitrites spike up meanwhile amonia remains realtively safe. can someone tell me what to do??So here is the deal. I have a 110gal tank that is perfect. However my girlfriend wanted a "nano tank" 20gal. I cannot get the nitrates and nitrites to maintain an even level. The water for her tank came from my tank and the only thing that i added is about 15lbs of live rock and 15lbs of live sand. Waited the 4-6weeks for the cycling to happen and then i added some schooling fish to get some bacteria going other that provided by the live stuff. I have followed every instruction from my text book and i cannot get anything to remain normal. as soon as the nitrites go away the nitrates spike up so high i have to do a 30% water change then the nitrites spike up meanwhile amonia remains realtively safe. can someone tell me what to do??
I need help
- Thread starter dicegame
- Start date
reefwick
New member
No amount of ammonia is "safe". As long as there is ammonia you will then have trites and trates that follow. Is this going to be a reef tank? If not then nitrates won't be that big of an issue. If it is then maybe some of these things are attributing to your constant cycle and hopefull you can get them under control. How many "schooling" fish do you have in such a small tank??? I wouldn't put more than 3 small fish in a tank that size. (some will disagree, but really think about it) How often/much are you feeding? Do you have an adequate clean-up crew? How often/large are your WC's? What other kind of filtration are you running?
Just elaborate a little more so we can better help you.
Just elaborate a little more so we can better help you.
Is this going to be a reef tank? Yes and it will have some corals as well she really likes the sponges and anything that is bright in color. How many "schooling" fish do you have in such a small tank??? i wanna say that they are "gromies" i don't know i did not buy them she did and she said that they were like $1.59 a piece and she got 3 that is what the guy at our local retail saltwater store told her to get. I made her go and get the education. she don't listen to me. as we know i am sure. she feeds once every two days and the clean up crew is 12 blue leggeg hermies 4 nasarious snails and two hermit red legged crabs and one green emerald crab. I have been changing 10% once a week and larger when the levels freak me out. two penguin 100's for the filtration.
reefwick
New member
Maybe "gobies"??? only fish I know of that sounds the same but hell could be "gromies" just never heard of them. Sounds like alot of hermits to me. Actually kind of big clean-up crew all together IMO. They are big waste producers (crabs that is), If I were you I'd trade some in for some ceriths or astreas. Everything else sounds like you on top of. These crabs could be the producers of this excessive waste. Oh and for a reef tank we try and shoot for 1-1/2 lbs per gallon of LR. Maybe if you upped the LR a bit more it might solve your problem.
shag26272
New member
Im sure its . Chromis, in your penguin filter what sort of filter media do you have? take out everything but carbon, you can run some filter floss but change it at least every 2 days, also if you can add an aquaclear hang on filter with some rock rubble and cheato and you should be fine, youre going to have to stay with the every week water changes though.
sunfish11
Premium Member
I had a 24 gallon nano going for over a year (before I canabalized it for my 210) and never had these issues. I had at least 20 hermits, 5 turbo snails, 2 astreas, lots of marguarita snails (sp?), a cleaner shrimp, 2 chromis, longnose hawk, and a pair of clowns. No skimmer. It was also packed with corals. Never had anything die off in there or wierd levels.
I would recomend a large water change, perhaps 50% with RO/DI saltwater (not from the big tank). I only used a sponge for filtration and a bag of chemi-pure and it worked great. Get rid of bio-media right away. Live rock is your filter. Change 20% water every weekend. Why did you use water from your tank anyway?
Get a PH buffer and use it until things get stable. You should never have testable nitrites in a tank your are putting fish in, although the fish might cause a small cylce when you add them. Next thing is just be patient. Things will settle.
I would recomend a large water change, perhaps 50% with RO/DI saltwater (not from the big tank). I only used a sponge for filtration and a bag of chemi-pure and it worked great. Get rid of bio-media right away. Live rock is your filter. Change 20% water every weekend. Why did you use water from your tank anyway?
Get a PH buffer and use it until things get stable. You should never have testable nitrites in a tank your are putting fish in, although the fish might cause a small cylce when you add them. Next thing is just be patient. Things will settle.
i need help
i need help
I Had no idea that you guys would be so helpful. I used water and other live items from my big tank primarily because i thought that i could avoid her having to wait a month before she could start putting livestock in it. I will take out some of the crabs and follow the water change ideas. I understand that there would always be small cycles in the tank what scares me is that they are so severe and so rapid that i feel like the nano is bi-polar or something extreme highs and then extreme lows during the lows is when i have added the live stock. Nothing has ever died during these changes its just weird. My big tank from the day that it has been set up and went throught the initial cycle the biggest probablems have been stopping the flame hawk from jumping out of the water and out of the tank onto the floor.
What about putting some coral from the large tank into the small tank?
i need help
I Had no idea that you guys would be so helpful. I used water and other live items from my big tank primarily because i thought that i could avoid her having to wait a month before she could start putting livestock in it. I will take out some of the crabs and follow the water change ideas. I understand that there would always be small cycles in the tank what scares me is that they are so severe and so rapid that i feel like the nano is bi-polar or something extreme highs and then extreme lows during the lows is when i have added the live stock. Nothing has ever died during these changes its just weird. My big tank from the day that it has been set up and went throught the initial cycle the biggest probablems have been stopping the flame hawk from jumping out of the water and out of the tank onto the floor.
What about putting some coral from the large tank into the small tank?
