Why can't my tank just be good for a day?

[Pazzoman]

Well just to keep it short, my nitrate is 80 to 160....everything else is perfect. I have a 72 gallon tank with a voltain lionfish, blue throat trigger, maroon clown, fox face and a snow flake eel. Everything except the eel is under 6 inches.

Any possible answers on how to fix it? I'm gonna do a water change tomorrow any recommended %?

Also I'm confuse because I feed silversides to the eel and lionfish with a stick, so no foods are left. The other fish I sprinkle some flakes, maybe I need to ease up on it. Also is me giving a silverside to a giant hermit crab bad for the tank.....because the other hermits should chomp on it also.

Thanks a million,

 

[Keasarge]

i take it your using sand as your substrate? mabey you have a dead crab buried

 

[Pazzoman]

Lol how did you know?...thats an idea should I purchase a sand scooper like this one:

http://www.petdiscounters.com/Reptile-Sand-Scooper-p2145.html

I can get this at the local pet shop...

 

[Pazzoman]

Also I was told getting some plants for marine tanks can lower nitrates because they feed on it. Any plants anyone think will last with a fox face?...lol I have some kind of plant in my tank. Its reddish and looks like hair and no it's not the "red hair algae"....

 

[Keasarge]

i need opne of them! lol i had the same problem turned out i had a dead yabbie took me forever to figure it out i had to pull everything out of the tank took all the sand out and sifted through it all sigh pain in the a&*

 

[Pazzoman]

lol what is a yabbie?....well I gtg but I will be back on later.

 

[Keasarge]

i think you call them crayfish? we call them yabbies

 

[FLESHY]

i think you call them crayfish? we call them yabbies

+1

There is no way that a dead crab makes your nitrates that high.

What is the filtration on your tank?

How often, and what % are your water changes?

Sand can get compacted with waste, and be a nitrate trap if it is not properly aerated by having little critters living in the sand. I never recommend fine sand to anyone. (I do recommend reef grade aragonite from caribsea to people, because you can use a gravel vac to keep it clean.)

I use caluerpa in my 125g to help keep nitrates down in between water changes, I bet the foxface would go to town on it though. Best plan is to sump your tank, and then grow macros down there, and feed them out to your foxface.

You have large, hardy fish. I would do the biggest water change you could manage. These numbers are bad.

 

[Zoodiver]

How often do you vacuum the gravel?

 

[FLESHY]

How often do you vacuum the gravel?

I think the OP has a fine sand substrate.