Corals :S

[westy101]

Hi there I'm finding it hard to get corals down would this have any thing to do with being a newish tank 3-4 months it's been running but it's does have 4 common clowns, 2 emperor cardinals, 1 tiny regal tang, 1 flame angel and 1 cream angel but do you think the nitrates will drop and yes I have done plenty of water changes and used algone nitrate remover and nitrate minus liquid also have 1 protein skimmer 1 fluvial 405 external filter 1 big internal filter and one little internal filter the tank is 235-250ltrs (uk)

 

[neilanh]

What do you mean by "get corals down"?

 

[westy101]

Nitrate I ment nitrate lol

 

[har-2109]

How is the filter set up? If it has sponges are they cleaned a lot. The trapped waste in them will increase nitrates

 

[Epuerto]

That is alot of clowns are they not agressive?
To get nitrates down do water changes how high are they?

 

[CaptainAhab]

My take:

Too many fish for a 65G plus they range from peaceful to very aggressive. The 'peaceful' clowns are eventually going to cause trouble, the tang shouldn't be in there and the cream.. well.. that's a mean fish when she's in a tank the size she needs. In your tank.. look out brother..

So between the filters (and the possible mechanical media involved), the feeding and the waste in 65g's of water.. Be quite the chore to keep those nitrates down.

BTW: There's only 2 ways to decrease nitrates.. water changes and anaerobic bacteria. Those additives at most help remove the DOCs which will eventually turn into nitrates but they don't remove or reduce what you have

IMO

 

[westy101]

No there not agressive at all and it's 60ppm :/ I really want corals aswell done well loads of water changes any other ideas ?

 

[kurtyboh]

With an overloaded tank you have two choices, bring some fish back to the store or do more pwc's (alot more).

kurtyboh

 

[kurtyboh]

Actually one more choice bigger tank...

kurtyboh

 

[westy101]

It's no overloaded if you see it ?

 

[carey]

To keep corals you have to have excellent water parameters. I mean really really good. With the amount of fish in there you might not be able to get your water good enough for corals. :-(

 

[westy101]

I will I know it because I've seen more fish in smaller tanks with tons of corals so :/

 

[carey]

You still have your nitrate problem though. Corals do NOT like high nitrates. Have you tested for phosphates and calcium?

 

[har-2109]

If it's overloaded, it means that the bioload is too big for the volume of water, which it could be if you have quickly rising nitrates. Either reducing the number of fish or increasing the volume of water would help. Maybe adding a decent sized sump would be an idea?

 

[westy101]

No why ?

 

[westy101]

No sump will fit under my tank it's only 10" deep under there other wise I would mate :/

 

[har-2109]

ahh.

 

[carey]

Corals need low phosphates (like 0) and good calcium. This all isn't going to work though if you still have high nitrates. And if removing a fish or two will help it sounds like a great idea. I have corals and they are soo pretty. But I also will only have 4 small fish in my tank that aren't aggressive or have potential to be.

I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanna hear but what everyone is saying is true.

 

[redfisher1139]

Pull out from the wall 18" and put one behind it. Clean the canister media with aquarium water real, real good during every water change. Or, even add an AC70 filled with nothing but macroalgae and LR.

 

[melosu58]

I will I know it because I've seen more fish in smaller tanks with tons of corals so :/

You cant go by that. It could have been a new tank and not had time to crash yet. It might have crashed after you saw it. I`ve seen many have overloaded tanks and they look nice but sooner or later they have threads like "Why are my fish dead" or "why are my corals dead". Sooner or later it all adds up. It has to.