high nitrate and high nitrite ....HELP!

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bsdryder7

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Messages
364
Location
cali
so i have had my take for a couple months now and my water has been perfect this whole time yet i have been running carbon in the filter and have been trying to grow new plants that kept dying on me...i heard that the carbon sucks up the nutrients so yesterday i did a major 60 to 70 % wc and added root tabs and some excel with the flourish and everything else like the conditioner and nitraband all that good stuff....

i walk out this morn and 4 fish have died i check my water and for some reason i have high NITRITE AND HIGH NITRATE......

what should i do...i was going to do another maybe 30%wc today again or what..........

help
 
How long did you cycle the tank for? The carbon does help and it will not remove nutrients. What kind of substrate do you have? Sounds like the tank was either not cycled long enough or a mini cycle due to the decaying plant matter. Make sure the lighting is sufficient and it would not be a bad idea to bubble co2 into the tank with a regulator.

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I would hold off on the major and frequent water changes as it will slow the maturation of the tank.

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well i got the tank filter from a friend who had had it for years and i cleaned everything and i have had it up and runing for about 2 months maybe a lil less.....

i have a 2x55w CF 10,000K IN A 50 GAL

so what should i do about the nitrate and nitrite
 
Amicus said:
I would hold off on the major and frequent water changes as it will slow the maturation of the tank.

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Isn't there not that much essential bacteria n the water column? Most are on the substrate and filter media. Water change is ok. If your goal is to lower your ammonia and nitrite level, you won't have to clean the substrate again if you already vacuumed it. Just change the water. So you are not disturbing the good bacteria and your tank will still mature. I would get those numbers down to <.25ppm.
 
bsdryder7 said:
well i got the tank filter from a friend who had had it for years and i cleaned everything and i have had it up and runing for about 2 months maybe a lil less.....

i have a 2x55w CF 10,000K IN A 50 GAL

so what should i do about the nitrate and nitrite

Could the high levels of nitrate be from the stuff you added for plants? I think plants use nutrients from the nitrogen cycle, so maybe you added to much?

Or maybe you had a mini cycle, nitrites are toxic to fish.

How many fish are in there now?

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bsdryder7 said:
well i got the tank filter from a friend who had had it for years and i cleaned everything and i have had it up and runing for about 2 months maybe a lil less.....

i have a 2x55w CF 10,000K IN A 50 GAL

so what should i do about the nitrate and nitrite

What is the specific level of your ammo and nitrite?
 
bsdryder7 said:
so i have had my take for a couple months now and my water has been perfect this whole time yet i have been running carbon in the filter and have been trying to grow new plants that kept dying on me...i heard that the carbon sucks up the nutrients so yesterday i did a major 60 to 70 % wc and added root tabs and some excel with the flourish and everything else like the conditioner and nitraband all that good stuff....

i walk out this morn and 4 fish have died i check my water and for some reason i have high NITRITE AND HIGH NITRATE......

what should i do...i was going to do another maybe 30%wc today again or what..........

help

You said you added Root tabs, excel, flourish and everything else. What's "everything else"? If it's nitrogen, it may be the cause of your high nitrates. For the ammonia, when you added the plants, did you gravel vac it first? You might have stirred up some fish waste and rotten food which may produce ammonia.
 
amonia is 0

P.H WA 7.6
HIGH RANGE WAS 7.4
NITRITE WAS 5.0
NITRATE WAS 5.0

i have 2 angels,1 big belly molly,1 betta,1green terror 1,jewel, two turtles

i was going to just do 20 to 30% water change just water no gravel cleaning....
i only added flourish 1 capful for 50 gal and the excel what the bottle said and the root tabs.....its funny though cause the plants are standing up straight this morning and not droopy .....
 
everything else was just the conditioner and stress coat and aquasafe......no nitrogen
 
bsdryder7 said:
amonia is 0

P.H WA 7.6
HIGH RANGE WAS 7.4
NITRITE WAS 5.0
NITRATE WAS 5.0

i have 2 angels,1 big belly molly,1 betta,1green terror 1,jewel, two turtles

i was going to just do 20 to 30% water change just water no gravel cleaning....
i only added flourish 1 capful for 50 gal and the excel what the bottle said and the root tabs.....its funny though cause the plants are standing up straight this morning and not droopy .....

I would do a 50%pwc now to lower the nitrite to a less toxic level(still bad for the fish) and do another 50% later today. Your nitrite level should be 1.25ppm by the end of the day. Still toxic but a lot better for your fish. Then I would do the same thing tomorrow until your nitrite is <.25ppm. (monday) 50% in the morning then 30-50% later that day.
 
WhiteWidow11 said:
Could the high levels of nitrate be from the stuff you added for plants? I think plants use nutrients from the nitrogen cycle, so maybe you added to much?

Or maybe you had a mini cycle, nitrites are toxic to fish.

How many fish are in there now?

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Plants actually help with keeping your levels in check. Many of the members prefer to cycle with plants.
 
What do you use to treat your water before adding it to your tank? Most members in this forum recommends Prime by seachem. It removes chlorine, chloramine and ammonia and also detoxifies nitrite and nitrate, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them.
 
roydooms said:
Plants actually help with keeping your levels in check. Many of the members prefer to cycle with plants.

I know plants use nutrients, I was wondering if they possible OD'd the tank with nutrients for the plants.

Looks like you dosed the correct amount based on the bottle.


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i was using whatever my fiend had wich is AQUASAFE.....NITRABAND....STRESS COAT.....

WHAT SHOULD I HAVE ???
 
bsdryder7 said:
i was using whatever my fiend had wich is AQUASAFE.....NITRABAND....STRESS COAT.....

WHAT SHOULD I HAVE ???

I personally use Prime by seachem. I would recommend that. It's concentrated. 2 drops per gallon. IMO, it is better than any other because it detoxifies nitrite and nitrite.
 
So should i put all the conditioner and stress coat back in again after the water change ..oh ya and the flourish and c02 also???i will go out and get the prime today
 
bsdryder7 said:
So should i put all the conditioner and stress coat back in again after the water change ..oh ya and the flourish and c02 also???i will go out and get the prime today

I wont worry about the fertilizers for now. You'd be doing a lot of PWCs and that's going to be wasteful. How do you use the water conditioner? You add the water to your tank first then add the conditioner? What I do is I put the water in a big container then add the conditioner, mix it for a minute then add to my tank. Make sure the new water is the same or at least the same temp as your tank for the sudden change in temperature will stress out your fish.
 
i usually just take the water out then add everything and then add the water back in.......i take the temp stick out and make sure its the same
 
I'd be careful with the pwc as well. Too much changed too soon can also be bad. Too much can start the cycling process all over again. roydooms gave good advice above. Follow it.

Make sure that you are conditioning any water that you add to the tank to remove chlorine/chloromine. I like to let the water sit a for a day with a cloth cover before adding it to the tank. This helps to stabilize and out-gas any extra unpleasantness.

As for your plants, they are probably dying off due to lack of nutrients and CO2. Especially CO2. You might also check on the amount or type of light that they are receiving. Dead or dying plants are worse than no plants in the aquarium. They will just add to the bioload rather than help to reduce it. I'd worry about the nitrates/nitrites first, before you worry about the plants.
 
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