Need some Help

[Tecdiverfl]

I feed my fish silversides on Tuesday and I think I over feed them. I checked the water last night and the amonia and nitrates level were very high. I just check it again and the amonia has dropped to almost nothing and the Nitrates have gone up a lot. A couple of people have said not to do a water change and let the live rock do it job. I was also told to hold off on feeding for another day our two. Is this the right course?

[kraze3]

I would do a water change. Your fish will be fine for a day or two with no food. If you do want to feed them then feed very lightly. My current tank only has 3 fish and I literally feed only a few flakes or pellets at a time to make sur eit all gets eaten.

[Tecdiverfl]

Prior to the water change last night Amonia had dropped to zero and Nitrates had gone through the roof. I changes 25 gallons on a 90 gallon. By the time I went to sleep last night the nitrates had dropped by half. This morning when I tested there are only very small amounts of nitrates. I will keep an eye on it. My Eel is looking a bit hungry and ****ed off at this point.

[drparker]

Soak the silver sides in a little tank water before feeding and then pour this off. It will get rid of some phosphates. A good gage of feeding is, at one time feed no more than can be eaten within 3 to 5 minutes. If food is left after this you have fed to much. Feeding twice a day instead of one large feeding is preferred.

I can think of no instance in which doing a 20% or less water change is a bad idea. If you have any measurable ammonia I would do a water change and if ammonia or nitrites spike above a very low level I'd do up to a 50% water change. Always let the new salt mix aerate for a min of 4 hours and 24 is even better. Also the larger the water change the more important it is to match your tanks pH and temp before the addition.

[david335]

I used to do 50% water change every 3 months by brushing rocks & sucking anything that I don't want (algae, fish waste..) without any side effects.

[drparker]

All tanks are different and I would strongly suggest sticking to a weekly schedule for water change until you are very comfortible with your tank and it's needs. If I where to wait wait 3 months for a water change my tank would be on the decline and then changing 50% of the water would be such a shock that it would cause me to lose several corals if not crash the tank.