Nitrate too HIGH help please

We have had our tank set up for 6 months now, alittle over a week ago, we went and put an angel fish, yellow tang, lawnmower, pipe fish, and dragonete in it. So far the only things left are the pipefish, lawnmower and dragonete. The others have all died. I couldn't figure out why, so I took a water test to my fish store. Nitrate TOO high, like deadly high. SO I did what he said to do, part water change, add more live rock. A week later... still the nitrate is the same. DEADLY high. I mean its like the deepest yucky yellow I've ever seen!

Does anyone know what else we can do to get this down?

 

Wow! That's a pain. Water changing would be the fast way to get rid of it. Here are a bunch of questions that will save some time to pinpoint the issue. With only 2 fish left you better act quick!

What are you using for water change? RO/DI water?

Do you buy it at the store? What salt mix do you use?

You did remove the dead fish right away or took a while?

How much and how often do you feed?

How many pounds of live rock do you have in the tank?

Do you have a sump/refugium?

What are the readings according to the test kits / fish store?

- Mag.

 

Also, how big is the tank and how many total fish did you have before all the problems started?

 

Ok, I see you have a 55 gallon tank, with 45 pounds of rock. Adding some more rock will be a good move as well. We calculate 1 to 2 pounds of rock per gallon. How often do you do water changes?
I know I've posted tons of questions, but they'll help me and others to pinpoint the problem.

What type of filtration do you use? Any carbon? wow... Q's keep coming, don't they?

 

total fish before starting was none, just some sails, and a starfish
tank size 40 gl

we use instant ocean salt for awhile we used reed crystals

using reg tap water, used to use RO water but no difference and guy at fish store told him reg water is just as good.

removed fish the second we seen them dead

we have about 40lbs of rock

don't have any kind of sump

not sure what the readings were at the fish store, he just said WOW OMG That is high deadly high, I can't even believe you have snails and star fish living in your tank. Let me check that again to be sure that is what it really is. And it came out the same

 

20 gl wisper with skimmer and a 40 gal wisper with bio wheels


currently my 55 gl tank is not going.. in the process of redoing that tank! lol

 

oh and he feeds the fish once a day at night

 

Chances are your nitrate jumped because of the fish load. Problems:

1. You added way too many at once. You need to add fish slowly to allow your biological filtration to catch up. A few green chromis or two small clowns would have been the way to start. Add the fish and keep testing the water for ammonia and nitrate. Wait until they both fall before adding more fish. Ammonia should be 0. Nitrate should be less than 50 ppm for a fish only tank.

2. A 40 gallon tank is on the small side. You really need to go slowly. IMO a 40 gal tank is too small for a tang.

3. Pipefish and dragonets are very difficult fish to keep long term. They need lots of live rock with lots of pods. Should only be added to a mature tang (> 1 or 2 years). Take those back before they die too.

Perform some water changes and wait for your nitrate to fall before adding anything else.

 

get the pipe fish and dragonette out of there now there gunna starve i dont mean to be cruel but you really need to do more research before you buy things. you need a tank that s atleast 75g to house a pipefish or a mandarin by itself. those fish are probubly close to starving wiht a tank so young. as for your nitrate problem you can fix this by adding a refugium, if your using a filter get ri of it and use a skimmer. Dont worry everyone makes these mistakes when they first start out. and its good that you joined 3reef lots of good information here.

 

o and use RO/DI water tap water is often very high in nitrates and that could be your problem.