Nitirite Problem

[Patticakes]

My daughter in law had a 15 gallon tank that she was not taking care of, so I ended up with it. The only things in the tank were a live rock, crushed coral, a nemo fish, and 2 damsels. That's it. It was full of algae and she was always letting the water get very low. Fish seemed fine. I added shells I had picked up at the beach. (I think it was in Gulfport) and some very pretty coral (not live). Also put in 10 hermit crabs and 6 snails. I had the water tested and the nitrites were dangerously high. I kept treating it with amquel+ and was topping it off with treated tap water. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it right. Then I found out that my tapwater has ammonia in it. Now I am topping the tank off with purified drinking water and I put in phosphate remover. I think it is called Greene X. The nitrites were .5 yesterday when I put the bag of phosphate remover in. Is what I did ok, or do I need to try something different? I'm new at this.

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

the prob. mainly came with your tap water as you said it had ammonia in it which kept causing a cycle which is why you keep seeing nitrites. just keep doing 2-3 gal. water changes every other day with ro water and they will drop in no time. i never heard of green x but phosphate remover is always good for a reef tank or saltwater tank for that matter. just keep it up and the tank will be fine

 

[bertoni]

I would recommend cutting back to one fish with a tank that size. I put only 3 fish in a 29g that has a skimmer, etc. That might help a lot with cleanup.

I would do a series of 25% water changes to see how the tank stabilizes. You might also want to test some freshly-mixed saltwater to see what's in the filtered water you're using. You'll probably want to let the saltwater aerate for a few hours before testing, though.

What kind of filtration is present?

 

[Patticakes]

The tank has live rock, crushed coral, and a hang on the back filter. (I'm not sure of the name of the filter.) I inherited the tank from my daughter in law. I also have hermit crabs and snails.

 

[Swanwillow]

I'm not worried about the bioload: in seahorse tanks, we have HUGE bioloads... but thats what I'm used to.

make sure you keep up on water changes, look up different filtration systems, read pros and cons of everything... just start doing general research.

a 15 gallon tank will be fun, if you want to go down to the nano forum, they can also help you: your tank is considered a nano tank, they'll advise you to ditch the damsels, get another clown of the same species, and help you with the filtration, lighting, and corals when and if you get to that point.

oh, and welcome to RC!!!

 

[bertoni]

I'm not very knowledgeable about seahorse metabolism and stocking, but I think a 15g tank with a clown and two damsels is going to be overcrowded and a lot of maintenance.

 

[Swanwillow]

I'm sorry I confused the thread, didn't I? I ment, I'm used to the high bioload, so my situation, it wouldn't be a problem with the three fish... but in the long run, ditch the damsels, add another clown.

sorry