need help im new :(

[newfishes]

56 gallon tank
75 gallon aqueon tank filter w/bag of carbon in filter box
H.O.T. Magnum 55 gallon canister
aqueon 500 power jet
aqueon 150w heater
40 lbs of (CaribSea Aquarium Substrates)
3 Penn Plax Tank Terraces
about 9 plants large
6 small 2in plants
hand full of shells
pebble rock that goes on the terraces
some big stump thing
a helicopter
a sand stone house i made about 10-5-3


now for the fish

5 tiwan reef (3=4-5in) (2=2-3in)
2 electric yellow (2.5-3in)
2 Blue Peacock Cichlid (3in)
1 Elongated Mbuna (3in)
1Venustus Cichlid (3+in)
1 Red Devil Cichlid (3in)
1 Acei Cichlid (3in)
1 Plecostomus (3in)
1 eye biter (3in)
2 Green Terrors2.5-3in)
2 albinos (1.5 in)
1 cant find his name (2in)



ok now to the problems. I cant seam to ever get the tank crystal clear. Ive had the tank for abotu 3 months now. I was unable to cycle the tank due to the old one breaking and haveing to do an emergency swap. ok so now i have the fish in a seprate 56 gallon tank no substrate just the decorations.
the fish dont really fight to much 1 is aggressive but the 4-5in tiwant fish keep him under control.

OK so my substrate in the other tank i need to clean it and i am doing that with 5 gallon bucket water and my hands draing swishing around being sure to move all of it to make sure i get out everything. once it is clean i will clean tank with just water and a cloth. put sand back in then decorations ect. OK how can i cycle the tank i am not sure how to do this i guess since i have been very uncsessful in getting a clean tank. If your wondering why i have to clean grave very high nitrate i had neglected the fish a little i was gone for 2 weeks to the field ( in the army) and my wife just fed them and ya this is where im at now. SO thanks in advance to any help wisdom yall could show me.

tom

 

[clearancepuppy]

There are some wonderful articles on cycling at the front page of this site. Welcome!

I'm not a salty but there are some very wise and experienced people here in that. Take a look around the saltwater forum.

The first thing you will probably be asked is how are your parameters, and how often you do partial water changes.

I hope you like it here and keep coming back. There is so much here to learn, even if you are more experienced.

 

[newfishes]

3 of the fish have died I suspect more will be dead
In the morning I need help the nitrate was so high
Why I had to move there tanks I need like
A fish tank for dummies book

 

[54seaweed]

thats alot of big fish in a 56gal very much over crowded IMO
do a water change to help bring down the nitrates try doing 50%
lighten up on feeding
recheck your trates if still high do another 20%

 

[Samzter]

Welcome to AA! Hope you like the site so far!

 

[Andrew McFadden]

to AA!

+1 to water changes to get trates down. If you moved the filters over and didn't clean them you should still have your bacteria. Sounds to me it is cycled but what is the ammonia nitrites and nitrates?

 

[newfishes]

More

Ok so 3 have died and one has popeye but hell be fine I'll treat it. The ammonia and nitrate were off the charts. The fish wernt that big when I got them try grew so fast a specially the tiwan reef fish. So how to I. Property cycle a tank I have 2 56 g tanks and fish are currently in the extra tank. I have cleaned the substrate and the tank put substrate back in. No water yet and the decorations I will take them from the other tank and put them in there once the tank has cycled. If I can figure how to properly do so. I want to do it right this time so I won't have so many problems. How often should I change water and how much? I freed the fish a medium 2 large pinch of cichlids pellets and alge discs once a week. And us ally feed them 3 times a day 8am 3pm and 8 pm I turn lights on at 8 am and turn them off at 8 pm. How often should I clean tank, and how far I depth should I go with cleaning of tank? How often should I clean decorations if at all?
I just want a clean tank and some more knowledge from tall before I put them back in the main tank. Again thanks for any info

 

[Andrew McFadden]

You'll need to do a fish in cycle, and just keep testing a couple times a day if ammonia gets over .25 then you need to do water changes to get it down. Here is a couple articles our members have wrote to help people.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/fishin-cycling-step-dark-side/

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-just-learned-about-cycling-but-i-already-have-fish-what-now/

The Taiwan reef will slow down when it hit 4-5" hope this helps