1st Water Change Complete ... now don't lie to me... worried.

[Ready4Launch]

My 120 is up and running. Have had it stocked since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. After several days, I measured water chemistry, and my nitrates were 20. I have a biopellet reactor coming this week. However, my tank and coral counselor said that I should do about a 10 gallon water change. Did that. The thing I worry about though is stirring up all the nitrate that may be in the rock and sand that doesn't get sucked up.

Is it common and possible that my fish are going to get sick after doing a water change? It may be overreacting, but my Naso looks like he's acting funny. He's also got some kind of "clinger" dribbling from his lower lip that definitely wasn't there last night!

GAH!!!

 

[ncaldwell]

In a new tank I doubt there is anything on the rocks or in the sand that could harm your fish. Its sand beds that haven't been touched for many months or years that are the problem. Otherwise anything you stirred up will just resettle or or go down the overflow. Many people blow their sand around on purpose to get all that crud into the water. You can also tell if you did something bad in the sand by smelling the water, it will smell sulfurous.

 

[westmichigan]

My 120 is up and running. Have had it stocked since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. After several days, I measured water chemistry, and my nitrates were 20. I have a biopellet reactor coming this week. However, my tank and coral counselor said that I should do about a 10 gallon water change. Did that. The thing I worry about though is stirring up all the nitrate that may be in the rock and sand that doesn't get sucked up.

Is it common and possible that my fish are going to get sick after doing a water change? It may be overreacting, but my Naso looks like he's acting funny. He's also got some kind of "clinger" dribbling from his lower lip that definitely wasn't there last night!

GAH!!!

The bio pellet reactors take some time to make a difference. I would just continue water changes every few days. Nitrates aren't a huge concern as long as you are addressing them. Double test your Amonia/nitrite levels as a spike is more likely a problem than the Nitrates are. Make sure when you mix the water to match salinity and temp as close as possible. Test the pH of both as well. Are you using ro/di water? If not I highly suggest doing so. My well water has a nitrate of about 20 along with lots of other stuff. I do 30 gallon water changes (with ro/di) on my 120 every week or two and haven't had an issue. I'm sure doing 10 gallon changes a few times a week would be more stable. Get a picture of the "clinger" when you can and post it here. Someone will be able to help you.

 

[Ready4Launch]

The bio pellet reactors take some time to make a difference. I would just continue water changes every few days. Nitrates aren't a huge concern as long as you are addressing them. Double test your Amonia/nitrite levels as a spike is more likely a problem than the Nitrates are. Make sure when you mix the water to match salinity and temp as close as possible. Test the pH of both as well. Are you using ro/di water? If not I highly suggest doing so. My well water has a nitrate of about 20 along with lots of other stuff. I do 30 gallon water changes (with ro/di) on my 120 every week or two and haven't had an issue. I'm sure doing 10 gallon changes a few times a week would be more stable. Get a picture of the "clinger" when you can and post it here. Someone will be able to help you.

Yes - using RO/DI fresh and saltwater from my "tank counselor" only. I have only been measuring salinity, pH, KH, Ca, Mg, Phosphates, Nitrates, and temp.

 

[coral-boss]

in such a new tank I would just let it mature naturally and not run the bio pellets. 20 nitrate isn't even that bad. your tank is still adjusting to its new bioload. just continue with the water changes. as @westmichigan said, test the ammonia and nitrite too. maybe add some dr tims nitrifying bacteria and see how it goes. do you have a skimmer on the tank?

 

[reefwiser]

Way to early to worry about this kind of thing on a new tank you are a year away from worrying about such things. Take is way slower or you will get your self in a real pickel

 

[Ready4Launch]

In a new tank I doubt there is anything on the rocks or in the sand that could harm your fish. Its sand beds that haven't been touched for many months or years that are the problem. Otherwise anything you stirred up will just resettle or or go down the overflow. Many people blow their sand around on purpose to get all that crud into the water. You can also tell if you did something bad in the sand by smelling the water, it will smell sulfurous.

Right. So I followed the process that was described to me by my friend.

Using a baster, I blasted up the rocks and surrounding sand to a fair extent. Let the tank run for 10 mins to let it all go settle and anything else to go down the overflow. Then, I just did a 10gal change by sucking up some sand, kink it off, let the sand settle out, suck more, kink off, repeat.

 

[Ready4Launch]

in such a new tank I would just let it mature naturally and not run the bio pellets. 20 nitrate isn't even that bad. your tank is still adjusting to its new bioload. just continue with the water changes. as @westmichigan said, test the ammonia and nitrite too. maybe add some dr tims nitrifying bacteria and see how it goes. do you have a skimmer on the tank?

I added an entire 8oz bottle of Dr. Tim's Nitrifying bacteria as recommended by my friend before I added the fish. Yes, I have a protein skimmer running along with a GFO/Carbon.

 

[SPR1968]

You shouldn’t really be worried by doing a water change, it’s one of the basics of reef keeping ‘most’ of us do from the very beginning, although as tanks mature this may drop off more. Just change around 10% water out and 10% back in, that’s it simple.

Just make sure your new saltwater matches what’s in the system as far as parameters are concerned. I’m not saying they need to be exact, but they should be similar if your using the same salt mix anyway.

As far as using GFO and the other things, its a new tank and things need settle and before you add anything to a tank, you need to know why your adding it, what it will do, how it does it and what results are your trying to achieve and how you will measure them.

It might help us as well with pictures and water parameters if you need advice as well

And your fish shouldn’t be affected by a small water change, they may enjoy any bits of food flushed through depending on how you did it.

And welcome to R2R as well, it’s great you have joined us!

 

[Ready4Launch]

The bio pellet reactors take some time to make a difference. I would just continue water changes every few days. Nitrates aren't a huge concern as long as you are addressing them. Double test your Amonia/nitrite levels as a spike is more likely a problem than the Nitrates are. Make sure when you mix the water to match salinity and temp as close as possible. Test the pH of both as well. Are you using ro/di water? If not I highly suggest doing so. My well water has a nitrate of about 20 along with lots of other stuff. I do 30 gallon water changes (with ro/di) on my 120 every week or two and haven't had an issue. I'm sure doing 10 gallon changes a few times a week would be more stable. Get a picture of the "clinger" when you can and post it here. Someone will be able to help you.

Pictures of the "clinger" attached to the Naso.

I've also found a "stringy" hanging off the smaller clown's lower area too. [emoji15][emoji15][emoji15]