How are these fish alive.

[Jake_the_reefer]

So I bought a display tank from my lfs with fish and I brought the water with me (so I could scrub it out then carry out water changes.
When I got it home I noticed an insane amount of hair algae, half a million 6 inch bristle worms, tons of dead snails buried in the sand.
Heres the crazy part. The nitrate was 180ppm (could be higher my tests only went up to 180)
And salinity was higher than my hydrometer can test (1.041) the filter sock was so clogged water could not drain through it even after a cleaning it could double as a water cup if I wanted to do so.
I mean I got a really good deal on it I'm able to build a nano reef for 120$ because of this tank but my God the poor clownfish and damsel had to live in that tank for weeks.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Oh that is so sad :(

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

I'm still trying to lower nitrates, I've done daily water changes and I have a skimmer running

 

[Leslie Tabor]

How many gallons is this little tank?

 

[Ike]

Nitrates aren't very toxic for saltwater fish... For a fish that can survive a cycle, 200ppm nitrate is nothing! Still though, just goes to show how hardy damsels and clowns can be.

 

[Ike]

Nitrates aren't very toxic for saltwater fish... For a fish that can survive a cycle, 200ppm nitrate is nothing! Still though, just goes to show how hardy damsels and clowns can be.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Nitrates aren't very toxic for saltwater fish... For a fish that can survive a cycle, 200ppm nitrate is nothing! Still though, just goes to show how hardy damsels and clowns can be.

I need it to drop for making it a reef tank also its 10g

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Well what I was thinking is, couldn't you just remove the fish into a bowl or bag in their crap water, then just dump, clean the tank, rinse the sand, refill it, then acclimate the fish like you would any new purchase?

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Well what I was thinking is, couldn't you just remove the fish into a bowl or bag in their crap water, then just dump, clean the tank, rinse the sand, refill it, then acclimate the fish like you would any new purchase?

I've done 5 50% water changes now I'm thinking it's the sand that's producing the nitrates

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

For the most part I think it's under control. I'm currently cleaning so ignore the salt covered glass

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Close up

 

[clm65]

When I had an ICP test done on my tank back in April my nitrates were over 400. Fish were all fine. Even had some GSP that was doing ok (but not growing at all). I immediately started carbon dosing, and now I'm down to ~25. Even though I'm sure the carbon dosing is helping, I think I saw the greatest improvements when I vacuumed sections of the sand bed. I pulled some really nasty stuff out of the bed. It does store crap and build up over time.

 

[OrionN]

You need to replace the sand or else all your work are going to be for nothing. Scrub the rock in salt ware to remove anything that deposit on the surface. It is a small enough tank that you can do all of this at 1 time. Just remove the fish out to a 5 gal container with air stone and they will be fine. Don’t wash your rock in fresh water or else you will have a cycle. It seem that the sand are so contaminated that discard it is your best uptown. If you want sand just add new sand.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

You need to replace the sand or else all your work are going to be for nothing. Scrub the rock in salt ware to remove anything that deposit on the surface. It is a small enough tank that you can do all of this at 1 time. Just remove the fish out to a 5 gal container with air stone and they will be fine. Don’t wash your rock in fresh water or else you will have a cycle. It seem that the sand are so contaminated that discard it is your best uptown. If you want sand just add new sand.

If I replace the sand should I add some biological media from my other tank to supplement the bacteria that was lost in sand?

 

[OrionN]

The microorganism in the rock will be just fine to keep up with biological filtration for the tank. You just rinse the sand or use moister sand. That way the cloudiness clear up quickly.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

The microorganism in the rock will be just fine to keep up with biological filtration for the tank. You just rinse the sand or use moister sand. That way the cloudiness clear up quickly.

I replaced the live rock with dry rock due to the insane amount of hair algae and bristle worms so if I remove the sand the bacteria will drop

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Love that little tank! Also the beardie too! I had 2 bearded dragons that lived for 15 years!

 

[OrionN]

Bristle worms are good for your tank. I would take the sand our rinse a few cup, or as much as you can, of sand in salt water to remove as much dirt and detritus as you can. Find all the worms, bristle worms that you can and keep them. Put new sand in first and put several cups of old sand that you use on top of it. The huge amount of bacterial and critters that you ad will be enough to seed your new sand and rock. If you only have 4 small fish, hopefully you wont have a cycle. Save as much sand as you can. This will really jump start the bacterial re-population of your sand and rock surface. Small sand have huge surface area. Much more so that the terrestrial rock that you add to your tank.

 

[flchamp89]

Nice Nuvo 10. Tank looks newer? Very little sand. I would think the multiple water changes should work.