high nitrite ammonia and nitrates 4yold tank !

[Mghslowell]

ok so my nitrate are at 20 my trities are at .25 and my ammonia is at .50

i was wondering because i had no water changes in teh past 5 months and no protein skimmer and i had a glass top covering the tank wondeirng if that prevented the nitrites gas exchange?

55g 3inch sandbed 70lbs LR biowheel. just did 2 20 percent water changes in the last 2 weeks,

TIA

 

[vsnsofadrgn]

do some pwc as soon as possible, nitrites and ammonia toxic.... if no skimmer, then def want to do them more frequently. also if no skimmer than 2 lbs lr per gal is recommended.

 

[melosu58]

You need to do PWC more often. Most people do them every week to every other week.5 months is definitely too long.

 

[seaham358]

how old are the test kits for amm and nitrite? they can go bad over time.
Water changes are important to a tanks health. In a small tank a min of once a month is needed, I would say every 2 weeks with no skimmer. Why have you not done a water change in 5 months? If the anemone in the pic is in your tank you need to stay on top of tank maintenance, they are delicate creatures and need good quality water. something you don't have at the moment.

 

[Mghslowell]

yeah tell me about it. i gave that anemome to a friend who has a 125 gallon because it was carnivourous but my lack of care is negligable . ill learn from that mistake. just been busy with work 60 hrs a week but getting into high gear now .,

as i said the skimmer is comming in monday its a CPR bakpak 2 reef ready. when i do water changes i do about 8 gallons im just figuring since so much liverock in teh tank the water volume is maybe 45 gallons.
getting my sump back up that add 10 more gallons with a UV sterilizer and a DSB in the sump as well as my tank and maybe some lava rocks.

thank you guys for your help . ill give you updates as it gets better!

update! ! !


Nitrites at 0 !
ammonia at .25 ! and retreating

and my mushrooms are happy again !

thanks all for your help ! installing the skimmer monday when it gets here put a carbon filter in my penguin 330 with biowheel everything is normalizing again so happy !

thx !