Anyone out there a fish tank expert...

dont know how active this thread is still but here goes.

ive had my 20L SW running for about 2 months now. initially i was changing my water once a week....after around 2-3 days..boom totally brown again all over the rocks etc....am i not letting my tank cycle by changing the water so much? i have left it for 2 weeks now, with only a small 5g change to siphon out the poop.

i feel like 1 of my bangaii cardinals are dying because he just keeps sitting at the bottom of my tank.

suggestions?

 

tiger barbs and cichlids prefer different water conditions, cichlids like alkaline water where tiger barbs are more in the neutral-semi acidic range, i wouldnt mix them personally, different behaviors too

 

I have the same /simular setup now, need to stay with fish from the same lake or body of water. make sure you do research before you buy fish. some like high ph some like low. if you want your fish to be happy provide the ideal water conditions for them. some fish you need to keep a number of them together 2 males to a 1 female or vise versa. do research and you will be fine.

 

whats your filtration set up?
might not be enough water movement within the tank

 

What kinda of load did/do you have on the tank, (how many fish)? What percent of volume of water are/where you changing? The brown you speak of is most likely diatoms, and should go away in a few days. To provide much help, I'll need some more parameters, SG, Ph, temp, lighting load, etc.

 

well the tank has been running for like 2 months now. i was changing water ALOT initially. im really anal about the tank looking sparkly clean so i was changing like 10g a week almost. 2 weeks ago i decided to stop touching it so its just been running untouched for 2 weeks with a 5g change inbetween to get all poop my turbo snail makes. ive got a hanging filter/pump thing rated at 125gpm. ive also got a submersable pump thats doing like 150gpm i think. so my only filter is the hanging one and the live rock i have(maybe 6-8lbs). last time i tested my water was 2 weeks ago and it was perfect. i'll get you the new numbers later...got a mid term in a few hours....

if you go back a page i have a picture of the tank and you can see the lighting. 2 22' T5 bulbs. one is the actinic and the other is "superdaylight" i turned my timer down to 8hrs a day. might go shorter. my temp is right around 75-78.

edit: heres a pic



this pic is from when i just set it up. basically looks the same, i have a bit more rock in there now.

1 yellow tail damsel, 2 bangaii cardinal(1 is dying), bi-color pseudo, coral banded shrimp.

i added the fish thinking my cycle was over....lol

also you cant see the other pump in that pic cus its old but i have it up on the wall right next to the thermometer

 

"If" there were no fish put in at the first, your tank will never cycle, as it needs ammonia from the fishes' waste to start the cycle, nitrosonoma (sp) break down ammonia to nitrate, then nitrobactors break down the nitrate to nitrite, ammonia and nitrate are very dangerous, the nitrite is OK in small amounts, this is why you do water changes to reduce these. I may have the nitros reversed, but, this is the process for your "cycle" to complete.

 

Glad too see this thread is helping so many...

But I am also having some problems with my water quality.. I
I have a 55 gal with an emporor 400 filter
I do water changes every 3 to 4 weeks about 25 %
I have an electric gravel vac that I use once a week
Tank has been running since march..
Waterhas been spot on with some brown algea lately.. but
I tested my water. And my nitrates and nitrites are high..
Since then I've been doing 15 20% water changes everyother day..
What would cause this..

 

And the levels are not really coming down but I only been doing this for 4 days so 2 water changes

 

It's very possible that the water your replacing with have nitrate/nitrites in it, test to see, for the very best water fir your tank you'll need some type of water filter for your make up water.

 

I tested the water before I put it in and it is ok...

 

How many fish and what size do you have in your tank?

 

I have 8 chiclids ranging from 1 1/4 to 2 1/4

 

African Cichlids are the easiest fish to take care of IMO

 

Eight fish should not be a problem, are you overfeeding? This is the number one mistake new fish keepers make, once a day, with no left over after a couple of minutes should do, a hungry fish is a healthy fish. Not familiar with the Emp 400, dies it have a sponge filter, is it clean? Are these massive and often water changes affecting the levels at all?

 

I feed my plecos 2 algea disks every night. And they still keep the tank clean.

 

The emp 400 is a double bio wheel filter that uses 2 cartridges and I use an additional charcoal cartridge..
as far as feeding its twice a day.. either a few pinch of flake food or a cube of frozen brine shrimp... they always eat it in less than 2 3 minutes and none hits the ground.. but my girlfriend did say she puts more in when she feeds than I do..

The water changes helped slightly. Test was dark purple and now looks more blueish..

 

Reduce your feedings little, I still say once a day, as fish need to occupy there day by browsing. I feed my 55 tub reef three times from one brine cube, now there are only four fish though. I have had the same problem with my wife as you have with the GF, show her how much to feed, heck even lay it out for her. Keep up the water changes. I'm lost as to where the high levels are coming from given your routine, with the vac and WCs. Let me drag out some old books and research. I do suggest buying a book or two, it'll help you understand the whole process that's going on inside your tank.

 

Thanks man.. only thing that I was thinking I do wrong is when I do a water change I vac it with the electric vacand try to mix it up real good then scoop water out with a large container.. could that be the problem since even though I try and mix up the gravel and water that im still just raking the water ooff the top of the tank???

 

ya unfortunatly i dont have any space in my room right now to have the filtration stuff underneath. i am moving next year and i am going to set my 40g breeder up with a skimmer and everything. i am also confused still on what exactly "sump" is. lol im not a very patient person and i like just adding things in the tank. i know its not exactly the best way to go about it.

basically i am using this 20L to just get enough base rock etc so i can jump right into the 40g

edit: my basic understanding of sump is just like a small tank underneath with natural filters(culpera, etc) that is connected to the main tank