text: Breeding Clownfish/Nitrate Problem! - Page 2 - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community
  10-16-2012, 11:44 PM #11
  The difficulty is going to be that a lot( but not all) of your BB is on the gravel. You would need to remove half from one side of tank, add sand to that side, then wait a week or two and then remove the other half and replace with sand. When you add sand, take a cup full and put cup all way down to the bottom before pouring it out and turn off any powerheads you have going during this. That should hopefully cut down in the cloudiness. For a 30g, you could get 2 10# bags of live sand and you would be fine since clowns don't dig in the sand. I think live sand is about $10-14 for 10# at Petco. I only suggest the 2 separate bags to make it easier for you- you could always get one 20# bag and separate it, but keep it in a bucket of sw and keep wet cuz once the bag is opened, you'll have evaporation. When you clean your filters, just make sure you don't replace any material during this same time. That would probably be too much BB lost at once. Good luck!!
  10-17-2012, 12:52 PM #12
  I would remove the filter pads entirely. Unless cleaned daily to every other day they actually speed up the break down of the particles they catch.
  Why not just take it out and make it a bare-bottom tank?? Clowns don't need substrate to breed.....
  10-17-2012, 06:21 PM #14
  I know you said you are not using RODI due to a funding issue. That leads me to believe you are using tap water. If that's the case, have you checked the nitrates from the tap. You may actually be adding to the issue with the water changes if so.
  10-17-2012, 09:41 PM #15
  I was partially thinking the same thing. In the OP, they show a 25% drop in nitrates with a 33% water change, so there is likely some in the tap water. But, with the nitrates as high as they have, and showing a considerable reduction with pwc's, it's more tank issue than water issue. It just means they'll never be able to get to 0, but with a FOWLR, 0 isn't necessary..... they just need to get the rapid growth under control.
  10-20-2012, 09:10 AM #16
  If we removed the gravel entirely, would that cause any problems with the tank? I know there's bacteria and stuff in there we need.
  I think we've checked the nitrates from the tap before and it was like 0-5.
  As far as breeding goes, does anyone know if the male continues to twitch after they've become a "mated pair"? Our male still twitches… A LOT!
  We've been trying to get them to spawn for about 8 months now but we are not having any success. Is there anything we can do to speed up the process?
  10-20-2012, 09:42 AM #17
  It depends on how much rock you have in there. If you are following the lbs per gallon concept, then you wouldn't need the substrate at all.
  Put on some Barry White at night! That should speed up the breeding process.. Also I would look around at your LFS for RODI water mine charges me .25 a gallon all you'll need is a couple of buckets from home Depo and you'll be good to go. If its a cost thing cut somewhere else but who wants to breath contaminated air?
  10-20-2012, 10:55 AM #19
  Feeding twice a day? Bad even if they are eating all the food they are still pooping more. Those nutrients are magically disappearing. Think of it as a diet calories in - Calories used = ? Excess calories weight gain. More used then eaten weight loss. The nitrates will feed on the extra food you put in whether its in form of flakes or poop. Also what r u feeding?
  10-20-2012, 12:12 PM #20
  I only feed my fish twice a week. There isn't a need to feed twice a day. Since you have an autofeeder, your food is probably flake or pellet. All of this food is prob just rotting in your gravel bed and causing the nitrates. Kill the autofeeder and lessen feeding. Manually remove any algae you can and siphon the gravelbed.