Can't get nitrates under control - need drastic action

[Allistah]

Hello all --

I have a 55 gallon tank thats 4' long and about 20" high. I've got various cichlids (about 11) in there that are about 2.5" - 5" long in there along with a Pleco, a catfish thats about 6" long, and a crawfish.

It was my ex wifes tank and when the divorce started she stopped caring for the tank. As soon as she moved out I started taking care of it about 5 months ago. It went without care for so long, the nitrate levels were out of this world and off the charts. Nothing died - which is amazing. But now that I'm giving the tank attention, I cannot for the life of me get the nitrate levels down to a respectable level. I've done vacuuming, and water changes. I've done probably 5-6 50% water changes over the past 2 months.

The problem is that there is so much waste in the gravel that any time I move anything around in the tank, it stirs up more nitrates that are embedded in the gravel. It's pretty nasty. Every time I touch anything in the tank I think the stuff that gets stirred up just pollutes the tank again. She let it go for so long that I think something drastic needs to happen to fix it.

This has got to get under control now. What I want to do is completely clean ALL the gravel to get all that dirty stuff out of there so that I can manage it like a regular tank would be managed including all of the chemicals in the water so they can be monitored and be seen within normal ranges.

I want to take all of the fish out of the tank somehow, remove all the water, take the tank into the back yard and use the hose to literally wash all the gravel until the water runs crystal clear and then set the tank up again in the house after the water temp has come back to the right temp.

How can I do this without killing my fish? Since it will be 100% new water, can I just get the water temp up to where it should be and add conditioners and then put the fish back in?

I just have to do this right and get this tank clean and the nitrate levels under control.

I was thinking of taking all the fish out of the tank into fish bags like you do at the fish store and setting them into the top of a 10 gallon tank so they won't change temp too much while I do this. Is there any better way to do this?

If anyone has any tips for me I would appreciate it.

-Alli

[CementShoes]

Plastic tub: siphon the existing water into the tub, put the fish , decorations, heater, air stone. Take your filter media and out it in there too to save the bacteria.

Clean your tank, refill, acclimate, re-introduce.

Ditch the old water.

Be sure to match your water paramters (minus the nitrates of course) as close as possible (ph, temp, hardness, etc). Watch for possible mini cycle, treat with Prime as needed.

[Allistah]

How big should the tub be for this? The fish won't wig out or start attacking each other while they're in the tub? What came to mind was a plastic tub you get from the hardware store for storage or something? It doesn't have to go very big I would imagine?

[neurotik]

I would be a bit hesitant about removing everything from the tank entirely and trying to rinse everything off that way, because that may put you at risk of having to re-cycle the tank for a bit after you get it all set back up.

What does the tank look like visually, as far as the water goes and what not? Is it cloudy? If so, what color is the cloudiness, white or more greenish? Is there a lot of algae on the glass and so forth, and can you easily rub it off with a sponge or algae scraper or something?

If I were in this situation, I think I would start off by just gravel vacuuming the tank every single day and just be gentle with the gravel while doing so, you don't need to rip everything up and move it all around the tank as far as decorations and so forth are concerned. Just gently work your way around the bottom of the tank, pushing the vacuum down into the gravel a bit and letting it suck up some of the gunk, slowly lifting it back up just enough to move it over an inch or so to the next section of gravel and doing the same thing, until you have slowly worked your way all around the entire bottom of the tank that is accessible with your gravel vac. Each day that you are gravel vacuuming, try to remove about 25% of the water and then stop vacuuming for that day. Replace the water that you removed, add conditioner, and then wait until the following day. Be sure to never miss a day, and I would think if you do that for a solid week or more that you will start to see your nitrates drop down to a reasonable level. It just takes some time, patience, and consistent partial water changes until you are completely caught back up on the whole maintenance schedule and then you can go back to doing partial water changes on a weekly basis like most people do with their tanks.

Lastly, what type of water test kit are you using to test for your nitrate levels? I'm also curious if you are getting any ammonia or nitrite levels when you test your water each time, or if you are only getting nitrate readings from the tank.

Respond back when you get a chance and hopefully we can get your tank back to where it needs to be!

[spoonman]

I use the plastic tubs that they sell to put beer kegs in. They have the rope handles. I think they are usually about $5 or $6. Put an airstone and the filter media in their like cement said and you should be fine. I was in the same situation moving a 115G from a friends house to mine. The only thing I kept was the filter media. Everything else was either cleaned or new. Just use water to clean and dont use chemicals. And make sure that you dechlor the water and match the temp. Good luck!

[CementShoes]

I would disagree, if the filter media and decorations are saved and kept intact the chance of a major cycle is minimal. Nothing wrong with a clean start when things get that bad.

Why do you assert that a full recycle may be needed?

The tub doesn't need to be that big. I assume you plan on cleaning and rebuilding right away (same day).

[neurotik]

My mistake, I was about to head out to lunch so I briefly skimmed through the post and I thought he was just planning to rip everything out and start fresh and not preserve any of the filter media or anything along those lines.

As others have suggested though, the tub method should work just fine if you feel that is the only way to get things under control, but I still personally feel as though that is a lot of extra work to fix a problem that could more than likely be fixed through daily partial water changes for a week or two and proper gravel vacuuming.

[CementShoes]

"I've done probably 5-6 50% water changes"

[spoonman]

Originally Posted by Allistah

I've got various cichlids (about 11) in there that are about 2.5" - 5" long in there along with a Pleco, a catfish thats about 6" long, and a crawfish.

I would use a good size container just to minimize the stress. That is alot of relatively big fish. You will also probably need to put something over it to keep them from jumping out.

[neurotik]

Originally Posted by CementShoes

"I've done probably 5-6 50% water changes"

Yes, in a two month period of time he said. I've done that same amount on my 55 gallon that is in perfect condition in the last two months just by doing once a week PWC.

Doing PWC on a daily basis for a week or two would make a much bigger difference over time than only doing them once a week over a two month period of time, especially if you are trying to lower the amount of something in your water and clean it up a bit.

Either way, choose whichever solution feels right to you. I've just always thought that if you can fix something through a series of daily PWC that it is better to do that than to risk losing fish due to moving them from your tank to a tub and stressing them out more in the process, and having to carry around a big tank and so forth. If it was a small tank, sure, I'd say quickly empty it out and rinse it and change the gravel out and be done with it, but on a big 55 gallon it is a bit more time consuming and you will need someone to help you move the tank around and what not more than likely.

Good luck with whichever you choose to do though! Keep us updated on the situation.