Beginner need help!!!!

[Thirt]

Alright guys I've had my tank for a couple months now I cycled the tank with 4 dammels. And 12lbs of live rock. They finished the job and the tank cycled so I added 4 fish a porcupine puffer ,yellow tank, fox face and another fish it's black and yellow with white spots (supposed to have the spots) I bought all the fish as youngings except the dammels. Brown alge grew on the tank and sand so I have 4 snails and 4 hermit crabs I also bought 1 clown fish and a blue tang (Doriy) lol it's running great right now it's all amazing my puffer does or did chase my clown around and tried to get him but couldn't...like I said I have all my fish as babies there all small compared to there adult size.

It's a 55 gal tank with a canister filter

I really need advice from anyone please!!!

 

[Thirt]

Here's a couple pictures

 

[Budda619]

Thats alot of fish to add at one time. You need to add fish slowly so your bacteria can catch up and colonize enough to keep your ammonia and nitrite in check. Yellow tang in a 55 gallon is a no no. I learned the hard way and cause the tang to be un happy, making it vulnerable to disease.

 

[Thirt]

Thats alot of fish to add at one time. You need to add fish slowly so your bacteria can catch up and colonize enough to keep your ammonia and nitrite in check. Yellow tang in a 55 gallon is a no no. I learned the hard way and cause the tang to be un happy, making it vulnerable to disease.

Really? The yellow tang my lfs said its perfect for my tank? But I'm open to anything right now I just tested my water once again and the
Ph is 7.8
Ammonia is 0.25
Nitrite is 0.25
Nitrate is 40 ppm
This all raised basically over night cause I tested it yesterday how do I change this

 

[Budda619]

Doing water changes is your best bet, until your nitrifying bacteria can catch up with your ammonia. Just keep it very low. Ammonia is more toxic than nitrite and way more than nitrate. I believe there are supplements you can use to help your bacteria multiply, but am not a expert at that so i cant give you feedback on that.

Even though your fish is a juvy does not mean it needs less space than an adult tang. I had a two inch yellow tang in my 30 gallon. It started getting ich and fin rot. I traded him in at my lfs because its not fair he has to go through it because i wanted a good looking fish. I had a blue tang i traded as well.

I like you added 4 fish at once to causing a huge bioload. Consistent water changes, daily water tests help me beat my ammonia spike. I just have issue with nitrates atm but thats a different story lol

 

[Thirt]

Doing water changes is your best bet, until your nitrifying bacteria can catch up with your ammonia. Just keep it very low. Ammonia is more toxic than nitrite and way more than nitrate. I believe there are supplements you can use to help your bacteria multiply, but am not a expert at that so i cant give you feedback on that.

Even though your fish is a juvy does not mean it needs less space than an adult tang. I had a two inch yellow tang in my 30 gallon. It started getting ich and fin rot. I traded him in at my lfs because its not fair he has to go through it because i wanted a good looking fish. I had a blue tang i traded as well.

I like you added 4 fish at once to causing a huge bioload. Consistent water changes, daily water tests help me beat my ammonia spike. I just have issue with nitrates atm but thats a different story lol

Haha I'm going to my lfs now to see what I can do to get it down but I really appreciate what you've said so far share anything you can to help me out please lol

 

[Budda619]

Just sharing from my experience and my mistakes

 

[furrymurray]

Porcupine puffer get up to 12 inches or so full grown so you will need to rehome him. Do you have a skimmer? What does your maintenance schedule look like?

 

[AquaRick]

I would really encourage you to return the tangs, puffer, and fox face. They really do need larger tanks.

Have you thought about a flame angel or some gobies? There are very cool fish out there that will work just fine for your size tank.

 

[Rutrag]

I'd also advise you to invest in some additional dry rock (or live rock you are SURE has cured) to add some more cover for your fish. It looks like you have a large rock in one corner and a small pile of smal rock in the other. Most reef fish like to have cover, and it generally work opposite of what you might think: lots of cover - the fish tend to stay out (presumably because they feel more secire); little cover - the fish hang around the cover and often squabble over whose hole it is to hide in.

 

[Thirt]

I don't have a skimmer I was told I won't need one because Im not doing a reef tank ..and I just went back down to my lfs cause my levels were high and I come back to one of my hermit crabs in pieces! Does anyone know which one of my fish prob did that?!? And my other fish that I had is a trigger I forgot to name that one he's the black and yellow fish I said

 

[Thirt]

And I would invest in more rock but I'm really on a tight budget right now :/

 

[furrymurray]

The reason you have an algae break out is because of too many nutrients (fish poo and fish food) and a skimmer helps keep the water cleaner along with water changes. I am pretty sure you puffer probably got your hermit crab. They will eat clams etc and chew on the shells to keep their teeth trimmed down if I am not mistaken. I never owned a puffer because I dont have a large enough tank so I am not 100% sure

 

[furrymurray]

I hate to say it because I dont know anything about your LFS but it sounds like they are trying to make some money off of you by selling you animals that will probably die. They are giving you bad information

 

[Thirt]

It's one of my closest friends that own my lfs he said ill eventually need to upgrade or get rid of my tangs...but right now I'm worried with my puffer do you guys think I should get rid of him?? And if soo what fish should I get I want a cool fish

 

[Budda619]

I agree with furry. For them to say you dont need a skimmer and giving you over size fish is not good. If you plan on doing a fish only display you gotta have atleast bio balls or live rock in your sump. The bacteria need to grow on something. A skimmer will cut down your maintenance and will lessen the load your filter has to work with.

 

[furrymurray]

I personally think instead of getting another fish (you have too many already) you should get some live rock or at least dry rock which will eventually help with beneficial bacteria. Most trigger fish get huge so you probably need to get rid of him too

 

[Thirt]

I have the bio balls in my filter

 

[furrymurray]

Even with the bio balls your tank can not keep up with the 10 fish you have that is why you have an ammonia/nitrite spike. You need to lower your bioload by getting rid of fish, doing water changes (lots of them), and getting more live rock. They recommend at least 1 pound of live rock for every gallon

 

[Thirt]

How often should I change my water?? And honestly a skimmer is just out of the question right now it's to much $$