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philjac

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Nov 23, 2008
Messages
1
Location
Iowa, USA
My problem is that I am having a high nitrite reading (off the color chart). The water is a little cloudy (greyish), there is no algea present. I have been doing water changes every couple days (about 15-20%).

I have a thirty gallon tank I started 2 months ago. I am using an out of water filter with an activated carbon airerator. I have started using a product called algone.

I have not been able to shake the cloudyness. Is there anything that I need to be doing differently?? Any help would be appreciated.
 
Welcome to AA!

And what are your other reading?
What kind of tank (planted, fake plants)
How many fish.

I would keep up with the waterchanges, maybe do a 50 to 80% waterchange.

how old is the carbon in your filter? Activated carbon usually is only good for a couple of days before it becomes useless.

And what is Algone? i havent heard of it. what is it proported to do?
 
Welcome to AA!

How many fish in the tank, and did you cycle the tank before you added fish?

I suspect you didn't, so my advice is based off of that.

The cloudiness is most likely a bacteria bloom. This is caused when bacteria are starting to grow. I also believe that you have fish in the tank which is the source. If your nitrIte is that high (off the chart) I suspect your ammonia probably is as well. Ammonia and NitrIte are toxic to fish, please read the article in my signature called the nitrogen cycle, this will explain it all to you.

I recommend if you don't already have a quality test set (I use the API master freshwater test kit) that you get one, and test your water for ammonia and nitrIte. Whenever either of these exceeds 0.5ppm, you should do a large (50% +) water change to help keep your fish healthy.

Another option (and a better one IMO) is to return the fish to the LFS if you can and conduct a fishless cycle. This is where you force your tank to go through the nitrogen cycle without fish, making it completely safe and ready for your fish without you having to worry about keeping them alive.
 
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