Spike in Nitrites/Nitrates HELP

[femmeartist51]

Hi, I have a 90 gallon tank. My nitrite and nitrates have gone up. I am worried, as when I noticed I did a water change 25%. Just did another water change tonight about a 20%. I know not to do too many, but the first one I did was about 3 days ago. It did not bring down the two Ns
I have a large filter in the back, power head to circulate the water and a skimmer that I had previously asked if I was doing something wrong. I did not get an answer.
I put in prime, and Stress Zyme
So, since I did a water change I should put in more Stress Zyme and Prime??
Please read my other post regarding the issue I had before. I am not sure it is working right or set up right. HELP PLS thks

90 gallon tank
PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 20
Salt 1.021 guess I need to raise this up a bit. Oh I have live rock in the tank, some anemone, star fish, Snowflake Moray, Maroon Clownfish, Blue Green Chromies, Emerald Crab, and another larger Crab,Lost one Pajama Cardinal I had only one. All these fish are smaller sized fish.

 

[Mrc8858]

Do you use Ro/Di water and how long has your tank been setup? Have you added any live rock recently?

 

[femmeartist51]

Hi thank you for responding. Tank is almost 3 weeks old. I have had fresh water fish for years and raised koi without a raise this high in N and N. There are some live rock in my tank, nothing recently. Do not have a RO/dI, I had asked a question, if I have well water do I need a Ro/Di. I tested my water, all the tests where great. So do I need a RoDi with a well?? Not sure I have my skimmer working correctly. SKY 496. Do I turn the knob so the water has a lot more tiny bubbles going into the tank, he fish don't like it. The water raises in the tube when I turn it one way. The other way water lowers in that tube and less bubbles, tiny ones in the tank. Can u help with this also thks

 

[Mrc8858]

Your tank is still cycling from die off on your live rock and the well water might test fine in some things but have you checked it for phosphates and parameters other then ammo trites and trates? The skimmer you want to "burp" into the collection cup periodically and should be blowing very little to no micro bubbles

 

[Sniperhank]

Your tank is still cycling. You shouldn't have any livestock in it until all ammonia/nitrites are gone and nitrates are below 20. You shouldn't run a skimmer while cycling. Since you already have livestock in there, you need to either do 2 things. 1. return your livestock or 2. do daily water changes to keep the levels down so your critters don't die. You don't need to have a skimmer in reality if you aren't doing corals. Just unplug it. We will help you handle that issue when you are done cycling, that is more important atm.

 

[carey]

I agree that the tank is probably still cycling.

And i also agree that you have 2 options for the livestock, either return or have the lfs hold them OR do water changes every time the nitrites or ammonia rise above 0.

Me personally, I keep my skimmer running on cycling tanks, good time for it to break in before you actually have something to skim lol.

And finally, I would use an ro.di unit even with well water. You would be amazed at what the machine can remove from the water.
You don;t have to drop alot of $$ either, here is a great starter ro.di unit, I used it for almost a year and it produced absolutely pure water.

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[femmeartist51]

Your tank is still cycling from die off on your live rock and the well water might test fine in some things but have you checked it for phosphates and parameters other then ammo trites and trates? The skimmer you want to "burp" into the collection cup periodically and should be blowing very little to no micro bubbles

OK Now I thought live rock was the well to go. Now you tell me rocks or what lives on them will die off. Never checked for phosphates. There is very little micro bubbles coming out into the tank. I was told to use the skimmer, that it helps to remove things like nitrates and nitrites, the big Ns. I know it is still cycling, the fish seem to be fine. So water changes, not big ones is the way to go I was doing it once a week, if that is not enough a 20% once a week, I can do more. Thanks for the info.

 

[carey]

Live rock is a great way to start the cycle, unless it;s seasoned and has been in an operating tank I wouldnt count on it for an instant cycle. :-(

The skimmer will remove oraganics in the water but not nitrites or really nitrates. It can help prevent nitrates from accumulating a bit by removing the organics but thats pretty much it. A great piece of equipment though if it works well so don't second guess that.

 

[femmeartist51]

Thank you for the information. So I paid for rocks, nice though they are, they are now worth anything in regards to cycling.. How about the so called live sand? These rocks have been in their tank forever, and I did buy one from where their fish for sale where. I was hoping it would help with cycling. Well I will do several more water changes, do you suggest once a week or more. I was doing about20-25% so I didn't take too much out. Should I increase the change to maybe 50%??? Thanks for your help

 

[Sniperhank]

They are worth something. The more LR you have the faster your cycle will go. The more rock in general, the more area for bacteria to grow on which then makes it so you can consume more ammonia and such. I would test your water daily to see where your parameters are. If you have nitrites, do a water change. 50% is to much, just a 10-15% should do.