Uneducated aquarist needs help!

[nicciolib]

Hey guys,

So I'm brand new to the saltwater hobby and I sort of jumped into an overwhelming situation. I ran across a steal of a deal for a 55g setup but now I'm driving myself crazy trying to research the hobby and get everything up and running. The whole setup came with about 50 pounds of live rock and a clownfish. The tank has been cycling for 5 days now and the clownfish is now in the tank. Not knowing much about the hobby my efforts were made to get the salinity level up (currently 1.023) so the fish could go in. I thought because the tank was already set up and established for many years that I could just set it back up and go. Now I'm realizing I may have jumped the gun a bit.

First things first here's my setup so far...
-55g display tank with live rock
-4 light T5 fixture
-Sump is about 20g with 3 compartments
Compartment 1:
-Reef Octopus protein skimmer
Compartment 2:
-return pump
Compartment 3:
-powerhead hooked up to a GFO/Carbon reactor
-carbon filled sock (over water inlet)
-just added a thermometer set to 75°f

I'm having trouble getting my ammonia level down (currently around 1.25 ppm) and my pH is a little high too (about 8.6). I've added an airstone and elevated the water return outlet that flows into the tank so it agitates the surface (trying to oxygenate the tank better).
When I set up the tank I didn't think to clean off the rock because my thinking was there would be beneficial bacteria to help with the tank cycling process and I know feel like this is a cause for my ammonia level.

I also have an issue with diatoms. Brown algae is covering about half my sand bed and rock. My LFS recommended I leave my lights off for 3 days straight to resolve that issue. I'm hesitant to do that because the fish being in the tank.

I know I got ahead of myself and should have researched more before moving forward. The clown seems to be doing fine despite the poor water conditions. He swims at the top of the tank mostly (water conditions I suspect) and he eats just fine when I feed him every other day (only as much as he can eat, nothing sinks to the bottom). Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

 

[heathlindner25]

Seachem prime Pronto,or get the fish out.

 

[lg2725]

I am new also but that Clown will be very stressed through high ammonia levels. He might be near the top looking for better conditions/oxygen. Can you get him out and into a "clean" environment matching temp and salinity? Sort of a qt setup. Heater, thermometer ,saltwater and an air bubbler That should be the first step.
As for lighting and fish go, lights are not necessary.

 

[Tracey2]

Your clown will not have a problem with lights out but you have to get rid of ammonia it is deadly. You were correct to not scrub the rock. Get the skimmer running, keep water oxygenated, you can point a power head at the surface of the water, don't feed and you can add ammonia guard or something similar to help. Soon you should see nitrites then nitrates, don't add any more fish until you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. Best of luck

 

[Grimreaperz]

You want 0 ammonia. Some nitrates are okay but not above 15ppm I would say. The nitrates is how you know the nitrogen cycle is completed. Once you see nitrates. Do water changes to get it down. It doesn't magically just go down to 0.

But you need to get that fish out with that high of ammonia levels. General cycle period for a SW tank is about a month.....never recommended to have fish in the tank while cycling. It would be like putting you in a room filled with toxic fumes and not have any type of gas mask and trying to get you to breathe.

Heck all you need is a 5g bucket with a heater and air stones and thermometer.

Fish don't need lights. But Diatoms are a normal part of the tank maturing process. It seem as if you restarted the cycle when you tore down and set back up. Aka this is a new tank again. Just with aged LR and sand.



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[gone fishin]

Personally I would give the clown to the fish store then you will have all the time you need to get the tank setup, aquascaped the way you like and cycled.

 

[Walla2GSP]

What is causing your ammonia levels? Even if you started the cycle over again, I don't see how your ammonia would be 1.25ppm for multiple days. That sounds like something rotting in the tank and basically ammonia dosing the tank. Anything over 1 ppm is bad for fish for more than 24 hrs, so agree get the fish out. Find what is dying and see if you can get it out. Obviously, if it's coming from the LR you won't be able to remove it, but you can move powerheads, circ pumps and returns around to blow directly on the LR and rinse dead material out of the sock filter twice a day.

 

[Betaktical]

Yeah I was on your situation (got a tank that was established for 3+ years and moved it 5 hours away) I only kept 10 gallons out of 55 original gallons and all the original live rock and I had between 0-0.25 ppm for 3 weeks after the move and after that 0. The live rock should be filtering that out but there might have been something die in the move


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[nicciolib]

What is causing your ammonia levels? Even if you started the cycle over again, I don't see how your ammonia would be 1.25ppm for multiple days. That sounds like something rotting in the tank and basically ammonia dosing the tank. Anything over 1 ppm is bad for fish for more than 24 hrs, so agree get the fish out. Find what is dying and see if you can get it out. Obviously, if it's coming from the LR you won't be able to remove it, but you can move powerheads, circ pumps and returns around to blow directly on the LR and rinse dead material out of the sock filter twice a day.

I've read a little that white film on areas of the rock are from dead corals... Could this be my ammonia dose and if so how should I go about removing these spots? Otherwise I don't know what could possibly be causing an ammonia dosage.

 

[nicciolib]

You want 0 ammonia. Some nitrates are okay but not above 15ppm I would say. The nitrates is how you know the nitrogen cycle is completed. Once you see nitrates. Do water changes to get it down. It doesn't magically just go down to 0.

But you need to get that fish out with that high of ammonia levels. General cycle period for a SW tank is about a month.....never recommended to have fish in the tank while cycling. It would be like putting you in a room filled with toxic fumes and not have any type of gas mask and trying to get you to breathe.

Heck all you need is a 5g bucket with a heater and air stones and thermometer.

Fish don't need lights. But Diatoms are a normal part of the tank maturing process. It seem as if you restarted the cycle when you tore down and set back up. Aka this is a new tank again. Just with aged LR and sand.

Can the fish live in a bucket for a cycling process?

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[nicciolib]

Can the fish live in a bucket for that long? I felt bad having him in there just for the few days because I thought he was suffering. Seems I've put him in worse conditions.

 

[Grimreaperz]

Can the fish live in a bucket for that long? I felt bad having him in there just for the few days because I thought he was suffering. Seems I've put him in worse conditions.

Yep there are people that do a 72day quarantine in 5g buckets. Fish don't need lights and the absence of light coming into the bucket would actually make him feel safer....Ideal QT conditions are no lights. Only room lighting if it's that important. You want them to feel like they are safe in their own little home. Bucket will work fine at least until your cycle has finished. May want to do some treatments while he is in there as well. Make sure he is healthy before he goes back in type thing.

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[Walla2GSP]

I've read a little that white film on areas of the rock are from dead corals... Could this be my ammonia dose and if so how should I go about removing these spots? Otherwise I don't know what could possibly be causing an ammonia dosage.

If there is anything on the rock you can pick off with your fingers do so, then just keep heavy water flow over your live rock. Try to hit it from as many angles as possible to avoid anything dead settling in the tank. If you disturbed the sandbed during the move something could be rotting in there. Also, try to blow the "brown stuff" off the sandbed daily for now to try to get into the sock filter where you can dispose of it.

 

[boshk]

Can the fish live in a bucket for that long? I felt bad having him in there just for the few days because I thought he was suffering. Seems I've put him in worse conditions.

Don't see why not, just put an aerator in there and maybe heater but the problem is, you will either have to test for ammonia every day (depending how big he is) or change water to (as the guys have said above), keep ammonia at 0.

You could try a small bottle of BioSpira/Dr Tim's in main tank.....to help the cycling. No guarantee it would work or speed up the process.

IF you do decide to put him in another tank/bucket or LFS, don't change the water in your main tank, keep the water which has the ammonia.....that way, when cycling is nearly done, u will know, your ammonia will be 0, but then you will need Nitrates to be present.

Ammonia--->Nitrites---->Nitrate....done.

 

[nicciolib]

Thank you all for your replies! I'm going to put him in a qt bucket and continue to search for the source of my ammonia problem.

 

[Sinn Sage]

A typical sump would be:

First section - skimmer
Second section - refugium
Third section - return pump

But if that is the way it was originally setup, then go with that.

You can also try water changes to try to lower ammonia but I think it will just spike again.

Five days in a new tank is too early for fish.