Question by Gmoney Tedmen: Need Saltwater Fish Tank Advice!?
I am only a teenager in high school, and I’ve had this 37 gallon saltwater fish tank in my room for about a year and a half now. At first, my parents had paid a local company to maintain it and keep it at it’s requirements and all that stuff. Recently, my parents decided that I, “know so much about the tank now because it’s in my room,” and fired the people maintaining it. I don’t know very much about it, just the occasional question that I have asked the workers, like,”What’s the temperature supposed to be?” And,”How do you measure specific gravity and stuff like that?” So I know some of the basics, like using a hydrometer and doing water changes in a big bucket with a power head and stuff, but unfortunately I went to my local pet store to get my water tested, (this is only about a week after our people got fired), and the lady told me that my ammonia levels were really high and that my nitrate levels were high. They don’t understand that I know nothing about this stuff so they think I’m some sort of idiot, but I did know that I could lower the ammonia and nitrate levels by doing some water changes, which I was already doing weekly. The people at the pet store also asked me if I had my tank “cycled,” which I didn’t know what that was at all, and through a little research, I figured out that the nitrogen cycle was what they were talking about. From what I’ve read about it, the rock and sand and everything that is put in the tank at the beginning has a bunch of ammonia in it, and over time nitrifying bacteria grows and turns the ammonia into nitrites which then turn into nitrates. So, I bought some chemical stuff called ammonia neutralizer at another place that helps grow nitrifying bacteria. I already have a bio-wheel, but apparently that’s not enough to lower my levels…? Oh well, I have lowered my nitrate levels significantly, but my ammonia and nitrite are still pretty high. The people at the pet store aren’t very helpful AT ALL, and I can’t really find everything that I need to know at one website, so if anyone could just tell me what I should do from square one, please do so. And please don’t direct me to another website. If some stuff is there, just save me some time and copy and paste it. Right now, I have a 37-gallon tank with two engineer gobies, one ocellaris clown fish, two yellow tail damsels, two peppermint shrimp, and a scarlet cleaner shrimp. I have six big chunks of live rock that are placed in arches so the fish can swim through, and I have a Penguin 200 filter that has a flow rate of 250 GPH. I also feed my fish a recommended food called “Omega One Marine Flakes with garlic.” And lastly, I have some kind of live sand on the bottom. I eventually want to get a light on top so I could get maybe some corals or something. But for now, I would like for someone to tell me everything they did or do when they start a new tank or on previous tanks that they have already set up. (and one more question: do you have to cure live rock that you buy at the fish store? They already have cured it, but I’m not sure if I need to do it again) Thanks for any help that I can get!!!

Best answer:

Answer by Pytr Pytr
i’ve tried to read all that, but it gave me a headache,
take your allowance and pay for a visit with the tank guys, this time listen and write stuff down.
stop feeding until you figure out the problems. you shouldn’t have any ammonia or nitrite because your tank cycled years ago, and so there’s some other serious thing going wrong or being done wrong.
If you’re in southern cali, I’ll come over for a slight fee and teach you everything you need to know, otherwise call up that service and get them out again. Or join a fish club.
you don’t need anything from the store, no more live rock, nothing probably. just some knowledge.
good luck.

edit: joshua’s post is good, except you’ll need an alkalinity and a calcium test. but don’t get anything until you get some good advice.

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