NITRITE explosion

[Jag5440]

I'm 3 weeks into my cycle so I tested my water. Ph was 8.2, ammonia was .25, nitrites were at .50 ppm and nitrates were at 10-20ppm. I was advised on the forum to do a 50% water change to my 55 gallon tank. I did a 25% change yesterday because I wasn't prepared to do a 50%. Holy crap. I tested the water today. My ph went down to 7.4 and everything else stayed the same BUT my nitrites exploded to 5.0ppm. It's too late to leave for a pet shop. Is stress zyme a good idea? Why would it spike? Help the n00b please!

 

[shellieca]

I take it you are doing a fish IN cycle? Its not unheard of to have such a spike. You'll want to do that 50%+ water change, maybe more than one in a day & you'll probably have to do them daily for a while. If you have the means to do 25% you can go larger, it'll be a pain depending in your tank size but its a necessity if you have fish IN. i don't use stress zyme so I can't comment on that. If I'm not mistaken most good water conditioners such as Prime will only detox the water to certain level.

 

[Jag5440]

Yea fish in sadly. This is terrible but how do u handle big water changes?

 

[armymp327]

good thing about this nitrite spike is that you are close to completing your cycle

 

[armymp327]

Yea fish in sadly. This is terrible but how do u handle big water changes?

i use an aquoen water changer. connects directly to the faucet

 

[shellieca]

For my 46g I use a water changer for my 10g & smaller tanks I use buckets. If you can get a water changer do so you will LOVE it with that sized tank. I was smart enough to order one within a couple days of setting up my 46g & got it just in time for all of my fish in cycling water changes.

 

[Jag5440]

Definitely ordering a water changer ASAP

 

[Moon1029]

A water changer is definitely a life saver!!!! Even the old school siphon ones work for me!

 

[armymp327]

Definitely ordering a water changer ASAP

once you get it, just remember to add the water dechlorinator before you start pumping the water back into the aquarium. I dose enough for the entire tank, not just the amount of water i am replacing, others do it the other way so thats up to you how you do it

 

[Jag5440]

once you get it, just remember to add the water dechlorinator before you start pumping the water back into the aquarium. I dose enough for the entire tank, not just the amount of water i am replacing, others do it the other way so thats up to you how you do it

Do u add it too the tank before you add the water?

 

[armymp327]

oh yes, add it before adding the water. Forgot to mention that

 

[Jag5440]

oh yes, add it before adding the water. Forgot to mention that

This is also gonna sound silly but ur not pretreating the water that is going into the tank ur just adding the conditioner to the tank before adding the water right? I wouldn't know any other way to do a 50% change on a 55 gallon. Thank you for the advice by the way!

 

[shellieca]

This is also gonna sound silly but ur not pretreating the water that is going into the tank ur just adding the conditioner to the tank before adding the water right? I wouldn't know any other way to do a 50% change on a 55 gallon. Thank you for the advice by the way!

Yes you put the water conditioner directly into the tank before adding new water to the tank. Another thing some of us do is leave the filter off for a few minutes after the tank is refilled. I don't know if it really helps protect the BB in the filter or not but it makes me feel better to think it does.

 

[librarygirl]

This is also gonna sound silly but ur not pretreating the water that is going into the tank ur just adding the conditioner to the tank before adding the water right? I wouldn't know any other way to do a 50% change on a 55 gallon. Thank you for the advice by the way!

Yep, if you use a water changer you can just dose the tank for the full volume of the tank (not just the water you are replacing) and then refill. What dechlorinator are you using now? Prime is one of the best if you can get it. What fish do you have? WIth nitrite at 5 I wouldn't wait to do a water change, I'd do a few 50% water changes now to get nitrites down as that level is toxic to fish.

 

[Jag5440]

Yep, if you use a water changer you can just dose the tank for the full volume of the tank (not just the water you are replacing) and then refill. What dechlorinator are you using now? Prime is one of the best if you can get it. What fish do you have? WIth nitrite at 5 I wouldn't wait to do a water change, I'd do a few 50% water changes now to get nitrites down as that level is toxic to fish.

I'm gonna buy prime. I have the API dechlorinator. Yea I'm doing a 50% this afternoon. I'm just confused as to why after doing a 25% change to get my ammonia down the nitrites spiked. They were very low before the water change.

 

[rotorhead22]

Hi, they spiked because you have a larger colony of BB converting ammonia to Nitrites. If you didn't have high nitrites your ammonia would be high. Now your Nitrite converting BB must increase to convert all of your Nitrites into Nitrates. As somebody mentioned, you are close to the end of the cycle. Check out the attached nitrogen cycle



Note the peak in the NO2 then the peak in the NO3 that follows.

 

[Jag5440]

Hi, they spiked because you have a larger colony of BB converting ammonia to Nitrites. If you didn't have high nitrites your ammonia would be high. Now your Nitrite converting BB must increase to convert all of your Nitrites into Nitrates. As somebody mentioned, you are close to the end of the cycle. Check out the attached nitrogen cycle

Note the peak in the NO2 then the peak in the NO3 that follows.

Thank u! Does this mean the water change that was suggested was a bad idea?

 

[rotorhead22]

Absolutely not. Ammonia and Nitrites are toxic to fish. You must typically keep them below .25 ppm and as close to 0 as possible. I know this seems counterproductive for the beneficial bacteria in the tank but higher levels will kill your fish. Also, please note that at higher temperatures and higher pH the lethality of ammonia will increase so try and keep stable water conditions. Large swings in pH is indicative of low KH or carbonate hardness in your tap. I don't know what kind of fish you have but mixing in some crushed coral or Aragonite in your substrate or adding some limestone rocks may help you stabilize this but will also raise your pH. If your fish are compatible with higher pH you can try this.