How Do I Successfully Start Over?

tl;dr What can I do differently to restart and have a healthier tank? My plan is to place new substrate and filter media, and then begin the cycle again with Tetra Safestart. I'm not comfortable reusing anything I have now because something is not right.

current setup: 20 gallon long, black caribsea sand, aquaclear filter, heated & air stoned.

My current tank setup has been nothing but bad luck. I can't seem to figure out what is causing me trouble, because my fish keep having issues at one point or another. I test water parameters quite often, and nothing looks out of place so it's super frustrating. Unless my tank's glass or decorations are making the water toxic, some spirit is determined to not let me succeed. I'm new to the 20 gallon tank club, but have had fish in the past without issue in smaller 10 gallon tanks, so I don't think I would have missed a step anywhere. My pH is slightly high at 8.0+, but I doubt this would be causing issue.

 

Hello,
If you are restarting I recommend rising it all with tap water and letting it dry for at least a week or two, and spread the sand as much as you can so it dries and anything that was in it dies. Last time I restarted my tank I left all sit for 6 months, it was spring and summer I am normally very busy so I decided to wait until the fall. I had a betta and it got sick and died in a couple of days so I wanted to make sure I wasn't keeping anything bad that was in the tank.
Then rinse it again and set it up. My water from the tap comes at 7.8 to 8.0 and I do not have issues but I am always very careful because Ammonia, when it is present, it is way more toxic at higher ph.

 

I don't think high pH would be that much problem however tank with high pH consider more alkaline.. If you using tap water I would start there and test it for any unwanted material that could cause issues.. if you planning to start over try to purchase RO water from LPS 20.gal is not that big of deal and see if you problems will continue...

 

Hello,
If you are restarting I recommend rising it all with tap water and letting it dry for at least a week or two, and spread the sand as much as you can so it dries and anything that was in it dies. Last time I restarted my tank I left all sit for 6 months, it was spring and summer I am normally very busy so I decided to wait until the fall. I had a betta and it got sick and died in a couple of days so I wanted to make sure I wasn't keeping anything bad that was in the tank.
Then rinse it again and set it up. My water from the tap comes at 7.8 to 8.0 and I do not have issues but I am always very careful because Ammonia, when it is present, it is way more toxic at higher ph.

Thanks. Didn't know that ammonia was more toxic at higher ph levels, perhaps this was my initial issue from the get-go. I try to keep it as close to 0 as possible with weekly water changes. I probably won't be reusing the sand, but am definitely washing the tank out before starting again.

I don't think high pH would be that much problem however tank with high pH consider more alkaline.. If you using tap water I would start there and test it for any unwanted material that could cause issues.. if you planning to start over try to purchase RO water from LPS 20.gal is not that big of deal and see if you problems will continue...

RO water seems like the best bet, I know my tap water isn't the where I am now. Will probably check the LPS around me, or just invest in a system myself to hookup.

 

If you don't know what's wrong, how do you know you won't just repeat the problems again with a new setup?

It's something you're doing or not doing, that is the current situation with the tank. You have even mentioned that your decorations may be suspicious. It's worth it to verify that.

What are the materials that your decorations made of?

What is the behavior of the fish or symptoms that you see which make think your fish are not happy?

 

I’m in the same boat, so i’ll watch this thread! I have an unknown illness that i’m Tired of dealing with.

My plan is to throw away all my filter media & sponges, then soak everything else in a bleach solution. I just read about a guy who left his substrate in, removed everything else and added the bleach mixture right got to his tank. He stirred it like crazy and scrubbed well. He drained and refilled in a few times and used 3x the amount of dechlorinator each time. I'm going to boil my wood. No idea what to do with my live plants. I'm not even sure what to do with my remaining fish... don’t think i’ll Add them again. I’m going to do a fishless cycle this time and focus on aquascaping while cycling.

 

Here there is a very helpful ph-ammonia chart.

 

As mentioned above: Test your tap water to see if ammonia and other unwanted things are present

Cheap decorations with paint that’s not safe for aquariums could be toxic.

Here’s a basic list of things not to put in your tank that I found online:

• Ceramics (if you cannot eat off it, don't put it into your tank; they can leach chemicals and heavy metals)
• Wood (unless it was purchased at a pet store and has been pretreated)
• Rocks (some rocks have minerals that you do not want in your tank)
• Shells and corals (in freshwater systems, they will add calcium that the system does not need)
• Some glass (glass is safe unless it has sharp edges or has been painted)
• Plastics (general rule of thumb is if it smells like plastic, it doesn't go in a fish tank)

Also, Is your 20 gallon tank new or used? If it was bought used maybe it was re-sealed with silicon that is not safe for aquariums. Just a thought.

I hope you figure it out and don’t give up. Good luck

 

As mentioned above: Test your tap water to see if ammonia and other unwanted things are present

Cheap decorations with paint that’s not safe for aquariums could be toxic.

Here’s a basic list of things not to put in your tank that I found online:

• Ceramics (if you cannot eat off it, don't put it into your tank; they can leach chemicals and heavy metals)
• Wood (unless it was purchased at a pet store and has been pretreated)
• Rocks (some rocks have minerals that you do not want in your tank)
• Shells and corals (in freshwater systems, they will add calcium that the system does not need)
• Some glass (glass is safe unless it has sharp edges or has been painted)
• Plastics (general rule of thumb is if it smells like plastic, it doesn't go in a fish tank)

Also, Is your 20 gallon tank new or used? If it was bought used maybe it was re-sealed with silicon that is not safe for aquariums. Just a thought.

I hope you figure it out and don’t give up. Good luck

Some people get their wood from rivers or creeks etc. and boil (bake?) them

 

Oh yeah, I definitely would boil/bake anything taken from nature or that was previously used that will go in my aquarium.