Hi all! New to the hobby

[Flaxenfilly23]

Hi everyone! I have kind of inadvertently found myself with a 200 gallon tank to care for and every intention of learning as much as possible in order to care for it to the best of my ability. The tank was owned by my parents (workaholic mother and my retired father) but has been sorely neglected. The tank was my mothers idea but was left for my father to care for since she works all of the time. He started out great but has slowly stopped doing water changes and could really care less about the fish. They have lost probably 12 fish this year. He refuses to admit there is anhthig amiss and the fish are suffering for it. I'm currently living with them and have decided to take over the care of it for the same of the fish. It isn't in very good shape right now, only 5 fish left (a Niger Trigger, dwarf lion fish, 2 clowns (a black and a normal(?) one) and a one spot foxfish. I'll probably be mainly lurking and searching for info on how to go about caring for the tank as well as possible. Thanks for the welcome message and all of the great info on this site!

 

[Mike2112]

Welcome to R2R. Glad to hear that you are stepping up to the plate for the sake of the fish. First step I would say is to get a spiral notebook (if your father does not have one) to keep tank readings notated in. Do the main tests. Salinity or Specific Gravity (how much salt in H2O), Temp, pH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. That way you have a base line. Read the article for tank care --Water changes, feeding, cleaning, etc. Do a water change (10% or so) if you have the water premixed and check the filters, clean them, but not overly aggressive. Move slowly, fish are quite hardy and can handle some pretty extreme enviroments. Get a few books on the hobby. Mike Palletta and Robert Fenner are excellent authors. Most of all, stay here and ask questions!

Good Luck with the adopted tank and realize it will take time to get it back in line but you can be very proud of your efforts.
-Mike

 

[joekool]

Welcome to the forum. Ask away in the appropriate forums and many will help. Go to tanks large over 180 and start a tank thread. So others can follow your journey to bring your tank into good standing. Make sure to add photos if you can. Give a run down of the equipment setup and also give us some stats on tank parameters.

I would start with some good water changes for sure.

Wish you the best of luck:welcome:

 

[fishroomlady]

welcome to the forum! congrats on taking on the tank and inhabitants. Giving some specific information on the set up will definitely help people help you. Pictures would also help alot. As mentioned, start with some water changes.

 

[Flaxenfilly23]

Thanks all! I'll get a notebook straight away and start recording levels. The one level I tested for yesterday was Nitrate and it is at 160 ppm or above. The tank hasn't had a water change in nearly a year... I don't even know how to properly do a water change to be honest. I really don't want to kill the fish in my first attempt. Add to that we have TONS of diatoms (?) in our water that turn into brown algae amazingly fast. Straight after a water change our tank looks terrible, I think it's a big reason my father stopped doing them. I bought a sediment filter for the sink, but it didn't seem to help the issue at all, so he just kind of gave up. Here are some pictures of how the tank is currently, I'm pretty embarrassed to post these but I guess it can only get better from here (hopefully!)

 

[Flaxenfilly23]

No idea why that loaded upside down? Sorry. I'll try again with a closer photo of all of the fish except the trigger.

 

[kireek]

*Welcome to the forum!*As long as your new water has similar temperature and salinity as the aquarium the fish will be okay. Do have the supplies to do a water change?You'll need salt mix,water conditioner,buckets ,gravel vacuum and a way to measure salinity. You have come to the right place to learn everything you need to know.Be sure to start a tank thread soon as mentioned.Best of luck!

 

[joekool]

Are you treating tap water to do water changes? I know you have a fish only tank but there is still a bunch of stuff in city water even after you de chlorinate.
RO water would be your best start. A refractometer, salt mix, RO water. 10% a week until you get things stable then 20% a month should work fine for you.

Start your tank thread. Start posting all this in there. We can give better advice once you post all of your setup including equipment in your new tank thread.
Photos help too!

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[Flaxenfilly23]

Just started a tank thread in the large tank section! Thanks guys for all of your help so far. I will definitely look into a RO system. Any you particularly recommend?