my tank has been up for a month but no fish .... i used live sand and have 30 pounds of liverock ,,,,,,its a 55 gallon tank ... 2 days ago the pet store said i could not put fish in it the nitrate test came back purple ....i bought a kit so i could test it myself and it came back at about 10 to 20 ppm ..... can i put fish in it or no ,,,,,,,thanks
nitrate at 10 to 20 ppm
- Thread starter brad1985
- Start date
Washburn82
Reefing newb
Check your ammonia and nitrites first. 10-20 nitrates is acceptable imo.
little_fish
Moderator
Hello and Welcome!
+1 Washburn
I would also get some more rock for your tank, you want 1-2lbs per gallon. You can save some money by buying dry rock instead. i like marcorocks.com
Also you many continue to have a nitrate problem if you used tap water to set up your tank. Tap water contains all sort of nasty stuff. Not a problem if you are only going to do fish, but will likely be an issue if you want to do a reef.
+1 Washburn
I would also get some more rock for your tank, you want 1-2lbs per gallon. You can save some money by buying dry rock instead. i like marcorocks.com
Also you many continue to have a nitrate problem if you used tap water to set up your tank. Tap water contains all sort of nasty stuff. Not a problem if you are only going to do fish, but will likely be an issue if you want to do a reef.
wontonflip
I failed Kobayashi Maru
Welcome to the site!
The strips are unreliable, fyi. Ditch them and switch to the dropper test kits. If your ammonia and nitrites are good, you should be good to go, especially if you're doing fish only.
The strips are unreliable, fyi. Ditch them and switch to the dropper test kits. If your ammonia and nitrites are good, you should be good to go, especially if you're doing fish only.
ok i got the dropper test for the nitrates and thats what is telling me that it is 10 to 20 cant really tell the colors apart at that level lol ....i had a kliens butterfly in the tank but he got ich and rubbed big holes in his side and the store out here said that the nitrates were the prob so i have not putt any more ish into it
little_fish
Moderator
You should read this about ich, because nitrates arent likely to be the issues.
https://www.livingreefs.com/oh-no-have-ich-do-do-t30950.html
I would think that the fish was stressed because the tank is too small for that fish, and the fact that butterflies are very sensitive fish. Best left to the experts or in the ocean.
https://www.livingreefs.com/oh-no-have-ich-do-do-t30950.html
I would think that the fish was stressed because the tank is too small for that fish, and the fact that butterflies are very sensitive fish. Best left to the experts or in the ocean.
wontonflip
I failed Kobayashi Maru
AH Ninja's by fish :D +1 fish.
That's BS. He didn't GET ich because he CAME with ich already. Obviously their livestock will all have ich. Try to find another LFS, otherwise, either qt and treat ALL your fish coming in, or try to find a fish that's eating at the LFS, and hope for the best that he'll keep eating at your tank and it fights it off.
If I could redo my tank, I would actually qt all my fish coming in. If your tank is now empty, you should wait another 2-3 months to put fish in there if you can,.... that way all the freefloating ich die off, then you start off with a clean tank.
If you treat incoming fish now, they will get ich in your tank anyway because it will catch it again. Then again, you can just leave your new fish in QT for a couple of months too, so you kill any ich on the fish AND let the ones in your main tank die off.
Most of us don't qt, and just keep our fish as stress free as possible and try to only buy from reputable places.
That's BS. He didn't GET ich because he CAME with ich already. Obviously their livestock will all have ich. Try to find another LFS, otherwise, either qt and treat ALL your fish coming in, or try to find a fish that's eating at the LFS, and hope for the best that he'll keep eating at your tank and it fights it off.
If I could redo my tank, I would actually qt all my fish coming in. If your tank is now empty, you should wait another 2-3 months to put fish in there if you can,.... that way all the freefloating ich die off, then you start off with a clean tank.
If you treat incoming fish now, they will get ich in your tank anyway because it will catch it again. Then again, you can just leave your new fish in QT for a couple of months too, so you kill any ich on the fish AND let the ones in your main tank die off.
Most of us don't qt, and just keep our fish as stress free as possible and try to only buy from reputable places.
snyderju
Reefing newb
I am a huge advocate for quarantining all incoming fish to my aquariums. Even from fish stores that you trust you still never know. The fish could have more than just Ich when you get it. It could be sick and not showing any symptoms when you put it into your tank. If you put it in the QT tank for a couple weeks before introducing it to you DT the chances of having a huge outbreak of some fish disease is far less. You still should pay very close attention at the fish store to the behavior of the fish but you can never be too safe.
little_fish
Moderator
Unless you medicate the fish in QT you are still going to indroduce disease into your tank. Ich and other parasites are comensal (sp?) with fish and they wont show any of the visiable signs of ich until they are stressed.
snyderju
Reefing newb
Stress often can happen to a fish when they are introduced into a new aquarium or if they are transported. I'd rather deal with it in QT and not my display. Ich is not the only marine disease either and keeping them in quarantine allows you to watch for other diseases.
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little_fish
Moderator
moving them from the QT to the display can induce stress as well...
So some peoplr on this site said to do a water chenge seeing as i have no fish in it ....but no more then 50 persent i just did a 40 persent change last night ..before i did it it was 20 ppm after doing it an hour later it was at 120 ppm what is going on lol ...... I tested the was i used be fore i used it and it was at 5 ppm what caused it to jump so hi after i did a water change
little_fish
Moderator
did you use tap water to make up your water change water?
so some people on here said to do a water change seeing as i have no fish in it ... but no more then 50% so i did 40 % last nigh ..... i checked the water i used and it was at 5ppm,,,,, after doing the water change the tank is now at 160ppm what happend it was only at 20ppm before the water change .....
snyderju
Reefing newb
Brad- Let me get this straight... You tested the water before adding it to your tank and it was 5ppm? Then you added it to your tank and it was 120 ppm? Did I read that right?
little_fish- I think my quarantining is an old habit from when I was into freshwater planted aquariums. A forum I was on then supported quarantining fish and they would give grief to people who didn't do it. After your comments I did further research and discovered a lot of people don't quarantine their fish before adding them when reef keeping. I think I'll give that a shot next time I'm finding a lot of things don't translate so well between freshwater and reef aquariums. Thank you for the insight on that btw. :)
little_fish- I think my quarantining is an old habit from when I was into freshwater planted aquariums. A forum I was on then supported quarantining fish and they would give grief to people who didn't do it. After your comments I did further research and discovered a lot of people don't quarantine their fish before adding them when reef keeping. I think I'll give that a shot next time I'm finding a lot of things don't translate so well between freshwater and reef aquariums. Thank you for the insight on that btw. :)
snyderju
Reefing newb
Your ammonia and nitrites are holding at 0?
