What to do with this aquarium? Part 1

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sevogas

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
May 25, 2011
Messages
2
Hello all,

I bought a house with a built in aquarium, and I am trying to keep the fish alive. As far as I can tell, it is 100 gallons with a separate sump plumbed into the basement - I think it used to be a saltwater tank because there is a protein skimmer not being used that the owner left. I will leave my questions about the sump for part 2.

I tested the water:
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 160ppm

As you can see in the photo, the top left is where the water returns down to the sump. I have some questions:
-Anyone know what kind of fish these are and what pH I should have?
-Is the ammonia level too high?
-There a lot of random particles floating in the water - is this normal? Only the ones that float to the top seem to get sucked in by the return to the sump
-There is a lot of brown stringy stuff collected in the bottom corners (fish waste?) -how best to get rid of that? The aquarium is in a cabinet and I think it will be hard to get one of those gravel vacuum tubes to fit
-I think one of the 2 current generators/fans is blowing over the plants - how should I direct them?

Thanks!
 

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You said high ammo, but listed ammo as 0ppm. I take it you meant no3 being too high at 160ppm? Yes, that's way too high IMO. Have you gone thru the sump? Does it have bio balls in it? I've seen in SW threads that bio balls can be nitrIte (no3) factories in sumps and they needed to be cleaned (?) on a regular basis.

Hope that helps a bit and if you google FW sumps, there's a lot of info out there about them.

BTW, odd looking fish :p.

Welcome Aboard & good luck!
 
Welcome to the site! I really wish I had an answer for you, but I personally can't ID your fish for you. Are you certain they are not actually saltwater? It may be worth posting the pics in the saltwater section of the forum to see if other members there might be able to identify them. Right now is also a fairly slow time of night for the site (1:30am on the US East Coast), so answers may be a bit slow to arrive. I wish you luck and it's good of you to be looking for answers to help your new fish!
 
Those are Boesman rainbow fish (the one with two distinct colored halves) , the other rainbows I think are turquoise, but I am not 100% and the one with the nose is an elephant nose.

I would start doing daily 25% changes to gradually bring the nitrates down.
 
rich311k said:
Those are Boesman rainbow fish (the one with two distinct colored halves) , the other rainbows I think are turquoise, but I am not 100% and the one with the nose is an elephant nose.

I would start doing daily 25% changes to gradually bring the nitrates down.

+1 to rich for the fish ID.

Also I agree, daily water changes will reduce nitrates, you would like to get maximum 40 ppm, the ideal is between 5 to 20 ppm.
 
Thanks for your replies!

Mr. Limpet, yes you are correct I meant to ask if the nitrAtes are too high at 160ppm. Is there anything I can add to the water instead of doing water exchanges?

Should I lower the pH and if so how quickly?

One more question: How best to clean the gravel when the aquarium is built into a kichen cabinet and there is limited access to the top? I was going to buy a long vacuum tube (python) but I don't think I can make it fit.
 
sevogas said:
Thanks for your replies!

Mr. Limpet, yes you are correct I meant to ask if the nitrAtes are too high at 160ppm. Is there anything I can add to the water instead of doing water exchanges?

Should I lower the pH and if so how quickly?

One more question: How best to clean the gravel when the aquarium is built into a kichen cabinet and there is limited access to the top? I was going to buy a long vacuum tube (python) but I don't think I can make it fit.

PWC are really the best way to reduce the no3 IMO and for SW, it's usually done via the sump AFAIK. I understand the dilemma with cleaning the gravel and agree that some specialized/hybrid form of gravel vac is going to be needed. What are the tank dimensions? Pics of access point would help too.

I'd suggest researching the fish before changing the pH, they may prefer it higher and 8.2 is on the high side, but not extreme IMO. All my tanks are 7.8 and I have a variety of fish in multiple tanks. Stable pH is what you want.

Can you get a pic of the sump? I think a lot work you'll be doing will be via the sump and suggest you research that.
 
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