help please

[Cynfull653]

Help please>>>>>>>>>>
We received a 150 gallon tank that was not being taken care of
We broke it down and set it back up basically staring over but using the substrate from the existing tank. It is running fine altough all # are off
Ammonia is 1.0
Nitrites.25
Nitrate15
Salinity1.023
Temp82
Could someone give advice as weher I should do a water change
and if so at what percent?Done some reading and little confused on where numbers should be prior to adding fish for the cycling process.......TY

[Yasha]

What kind of filtiration do you have? Is it the same one that was being used before? If so, did it dry out or did you keep it wet? How long has it been back up and running? Doing a water change only after a week would not be good. Try putting some damsels in the tank with some TLC or Stability. It is kinda of hard to say what todo with only the numbers and not knowing how long it has been setup.

[Cynfull653]

It had live rock but we did not use this altough we did use the sand it stayed wet,it has been up and running for 3 days, I have a skimmer running and a( sump) I think... Im confused as to if this is cycling or are my readings from existing substrate??

[Mad Scientist]

Through away all the old substrate, buy some LR and start over. Otherwise you are in for lots of trouble in the coming months.

To add fish the number should be 0 - 0 - somthing (10-40ppm). But, really if you don't do things right with this tank you are in for a nightmare. Toss the old, very, very dirty sand (as evidenced by your readings) and get some new sand.

If you can't afford new sand and some LR (or a big wet/dry), you should consider going FW.

[Yasha]

It looks like it cycling. It has been about 3 years since I have done a cycle. Do you have any fish in it? I would put the live rock in the tank. It helps the cycle the water and filter to a point. What kind of tank are you looking to set up?(fish only, reef, aggressive)

[Cynfull653]

We are looking to set up a fish only tank my other 50% say so doesnt want to do live rock.. This is where im confused I thought you needed to add hardy fish for cycling or at least feed the tank??? If I wait to add fish should I be feeding the tank to help it cycle since we are not using L/R? When you set up a brand new tank not existing are the readings all 0?? If they are this means

[Yasha]

You are right about thinking about the hardy fish. Damsels are the hardy ones. The only problem with damsels is that some of them can be a little mean. The substrate is dirty so therfore you will have some sort of growth of bact. Adding hardy fish will kick the cycle into gear. Your nitrites go up and ammonia go up then come back down. It could take up to 6 wks for the complete cycle. I would not do a water change for at least 2 months. There is a forum on here for new tank set ups. There are alot of additives you can add to the water to get through the cycle faster. When you start with a fresh tank (new everything) I have been told to add dirty water from another tank. It is suppose to help establish good bact. growth. Did you clean the substrate before you added?

[Yasha]

You might want to think about putting the LR in your sump for added filiteration. Keep the skimmer running. You probley will not get much out of it now but it is good the to have.

[Cynfull653]

There is a little in the skimmer prob from the existing substrate...
dont yell my other half on the advice oflfs bleached the live rock so now its no good...not what I wanted to do but was out of town at the time oh well we did not clean the substrate but it did stay wet..

[Yasha]

I would just add some damsels keep a close watch on the water (testing every three days). and see what happens. damsels are cheap so if you lose them it is notmuch of a lose. Good luck to you both.

[Cord]

cynful 653, So do I understand you right that you have no fish in the tank, and only the old sand? If you have fish in the tank then that amonia may kill them, and you either need to do a water change or use an amonia removing filter media or somehow move the fish to a tank that is broken in. Otherwise you can wait for the cycle to complete with the old sand in there instead of a damsel, since the old sand probably has dying organisms making amonia to fuel the good bactereal growth. I would assume the liverock is dead or near all dead, so I would not throw it away, but put it in a new plastic garbage can with a power head and a heater and cure it , and place it in your tank when there is no amonia in the liverocks water, and the rock smells like the clean sea (see wetwebmedia.com for info on curing live rock). I would not put the live rock in your sump or tank until cured, because once it dries up, the life on the rock will die and decay for several weeks. What kind of biological filtration are you using? maybe I missed it.

[Mad Scientist]

The reason there is ammonia in your tank is from all the waste and dead bacteria that are in the sand. This is a big problem that will come back to bite you sooner or later. Using old sand is almost always a huge error, espically for a beginner.