Thinking of hitting reset button. What you guys think?

[firemedix911]

Hello. A while back I acquired a 265 gallon tank that I was hopping it'd go smoothly. Well it didn't.(some of you here told me so) My nitrates are thru the roof, fish is getting stressed out. After dosing a full bottle of NOPOX 1 liter noting has changed. I can try a large water change but that's gonna put more stress on my other fish. So with that said I'm thinking of transferring whatever livestock I really want to my 90 gallon and take everything out of the tank. Sand, Rocks, Water and start a new cycle after cleaning all the rock etc. That's give a chance as well to upgrade the sump which I'm not really happy with and I was gonna upgrade anyways. What you guys think? I'm getting very frustrated so any input would be well appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Nicmar]

I was in a similar position once and I did the following:

- Removed the sand
- pulled a few rocks out at once with 40L of tank water and scrubbed them in a bucket. The amount of detritus that came out was a lot. Then put back in the tank.
- I would then repeat the above and top up new 40L of water until all the rocks were clean. So if you repeat this 10 times you will need a bit of water.
- Give power heads and pumps a vinegar bath
- Clean any detritus out of sump
- Then dose bacteria

You will then have much cleaner system.
If you have corals on the rocks then this is a big job, but still easier than doing a new cycle.

 

[alexgv14]

I agree. I also had the same issue and did the samething as Nicmar and 3 months later I had a beautiful system. I think sometimes we tend to get lazy with up keeping our aquariums and doing water changes, or siphoning out detritus. That in the long run it can ruin on tanks.

Be patient though do water changes regularly and try doing the advice Nicmar mentioned.

 

[firemedix911]

Is there such thing as the rocks getting saturated with bad stuff? Nitrates and phosphates? That's my biggest concern. I did exactly that when I moved the tank. Cleaned and scrubbed the rocks really good. I also have a couple of aiptasias and looking at a Pyramid I have I could swear it has itch as well. This keeps getting better and better. I have no corals in there right now. Only fish. Also Im not happy whatsoever with the substrate I have in there. It's way too thing and it flies all over the place. I was thinking of taking all the sand out as well and replace it with new sand. Since I'm looking at doing all this wouldn't it be easier to just change all that at once. Even If I have to cycle the tank It's fine with me. I'm tired of half a$$ing stuff bc it always bites me you know where.

 

[dave.m]

It's possible you are over feeding. Does any food get a chance to settle on the rocks and sand? Do you vacuum some or all of your sand every week? Do you sweep the detritus on your rocks to stir it up every time you do a water change? Do you have a a clean-up crew? Do you clean your sump every week? There is so much you have not told us about your husbandry methods that the source could be many things.

Dave.M

 

[firemedix911]

Well the biggest issue I have is this tank has only been up 3 weeks since I moved it. BC the nitrates were so high I didn't want to add a cleaning crews bc inverts and nitrates don't mix well. I feed once a day mysis and twice a day nori about a 2x2 sheet. This tank wasn't bing taken care off very well. I dumped all the sand when I moved it and cleaned the rocks very well. new sand, and 80% new water was used. Can I introduce cleaning crew even with high nitrates?

 

[Nicmar]

I would forget about putting sand in until the tank is in good condition. I just upgraded and wont put sand in for a few months until the tank is mint. Bare bottom is so much easier to clean and at night it is covered in snails. Snails hate sand they get stuck up side down etc.
Also I wouldn't dose so much no pox. Since you have a fish only system it should be easy to get phosphates and nitrates down since you don't have corals to kill. Just do what I said then run something like PO4x4. That stuff is very powerful.

 

[firemedix911]

So i can add sails right? No problem with nitrates? How about a couple of hermit crabs as well? I have a sand sifting starfish in there that's dong gr8 and a horseshoe crab.

 

[Nicmar]

Do the above first. I have bare bottom with snails, hermits, starfish. No issue.
Only issue I will have is removing them before I put the sand in later so they don't get buried alive.

 

[firemedix911]

thanks guys.

 

[anbosu]

There is also no reason water changes should stress your inhabitants - if they do you're doing something wrong.

 

[bpcardona]

What is the stock load on the tank? Sound like you have released a ton of nitrates by stirring things up. Also I would cut out the feeding for a couple days, just to let the tank catch up. Also large water change , if done properly will not stress fish. Just make certain the temp and salinity match that of the tank.

 

[firemedix911]

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I've gonne ahead and emptied the tank, remove all inhabitants, taken out rock and sand. My decision had more to do with wanting to make things right in the sense of organization. There are many things wrong with the setup that I'd like to make right. So basically I'm just going thru a make over. Getting new stand and canopy. Custom sump, new pump and UV. So when I looked at all that I figure I'll make my life easier. I have my 90 that's running awesome. Moved my married maroon clowns over to the 90 with my candycane hog. Rest of the fish went to my LFS for credit. All my corals are do ing good in there as well, so I'm gonna take my time and build this thing right. Again all your advice was sound and made sense. The decision came down to me not being happy with the surroundings of my tank itself. Looking forward to doing a build (re-build) like some of you have done here. I'll have many more questions for you along the way. Let's see where it takes me.

 

[bpcardona]

Even better.... a new build thread!

 

[worm5406]

Nice... New build thread.. or is this a re-tread?

Cant wait to see and follow along.

I will sit by the fire and wait.