# Need helf with 45 gal tall 6 sided freshwater tank



## mjsullivan204 (Jan 4, 2011)

Hi everyone from Lynn MA! I have one of those funky 6 sided tall not wide tanks approx 45 gal. I have never done a drastic water change, just agitated the bottom and hoped the filter would do the rest. My tank is community 4 mollys 2 gouramis 1 algae eater and 7 tetras. I lost 3 fish approximately 3 weeks ago, so I cruised by the fish store and had them check my water. PH perfect, nitrate at top of the scale. They advised a 25 percent water change and vacuum the bottom of the tank. Do I need to remove all the artificial plants and rocks. Do I take out the fish? I have had the tank for a year and a half and I will be heartbroken if I lose all my fish. PLEASE HELP!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Wow, tank been running that long without a water change....I can only imagine what your nitrate readings were. You can vacuum without removing all your stuff and just get around it. I always figured if I wasn't getting the stuff around stuff at least I was getting the rest. Everything will tend to collect around the edges of everything in the tank. You could lift them up and vacuum where they were every few months if you like.

I would recommend at least a 25% water change weekly, but am in a big favor of larger water changes in the 35-50% range. When the nitrates build up it can start to affect your fish and your tank starts getting things like cyanobacteria. Not good.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

I would recommend 50% water changes daily with gravel vacuuming until your nitrates get under control, then a 25%-50% water change weekly. No need to remove fish, however you will need to treat the tap water with dechlorinator/tap water conditioner so you're not introducing toxic chlorine and chloramine into the tank.

I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your fish. Hopefully we can avoid any more losses.

Also, do you change your filter media? You should be changing the carbon at least once weekly.

Note: Disregard all above if you're using live plants. Refer to beaslbob if this is the case. He's our resident low-maintenance live-plant tank guru.


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Consider live plants as they will also remove nitrates. Without changing the tank set up much, or at all you could probably have low light plants like java moss, java fern, anubias and marimo balls. Water changes would still be a good idea but could be less. Some have managed well without water changes using plants but that would probably require that you change your substrate and lights.


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