Nitrites

[medic747]

does anybody have any advice on how to drop my nitrite levels my tank is 6 months old with 3 cichlids the tank has cycled my ammonia has a level of 0 and my nitrates are 0 nitrites are off the charts high I do parcial water changes daily with no sucess any helpful advice would be nice the fish arent in any distress and are very active so I dont kniw what to do to further drop my levels

 

[Lowryder]

if you are showing nitrites than I would say your cycle is not finished. Are you sure its not nitrAtre?

 

[medic747]

Yes my tank has cycled I had 0 ammonia and nitrites with a safe level of nitrates for just over a month now the nitrite levels are off the charts high. Could the tank be doing a second cycle??

 

[BigJim]

+1 I hope you have nitrites and nitrates switched or the test is wrong. Nitrites are pretty toxic to fish, nitrates much less so. What are you using to test your water?

 

[medic747]

Im ising the vials with drooper bottels I dont remember who makes the test kit I even took the water to be tested at the local fish store to make sure I wasnt mistaken and I was right nitrites are high!!

 

[fort384]

If nitrites are high, and you have 0 nitrates, the tank is not cycled. It is possible you could have accidentally induced another cycle or a mini cycle. How often are you doing PWCs? How have you been cleaning your filter?


In the mean time, if the nitrites are off the charts, you should do a 50% water change now. Nitrites are even more toxic to fish than ammonia. You want to do daily or more 50% water changes until the nitrites get back to zero.

 

[medic747]

I do 30% water changes daily and I have 2 power filters one is a bio wheel and I replace the fikter media cartridge about once a month but I dont do both filters at the same time to ensure my good bacteria doesnt die

 

[fort384]

hmm ok... sounds like you are doing things right in that regard.

How long have the nitrites been showing up? Did you ever get to a point where you had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and some nitrate showing? This would be the parameters in a cycled tank.

I would point to a faulty test kit, especially if the fish are showing stress, but if the results were independently confirmed, then I guess we can rule that out.

 

[Tad]

I've got similar problem - ammonia and nitrite (NO2) but with more oxygen in the tank and daily water changing the problem is gone (NO2 been longer than ammonia)

 

[fort384]

Another question... have you tested your tap water for the presence of nitrite? It would be strange, but it might help rule that out as a potential problem. Although, even if there were nitrite present, if the tank were fully cycled, the nitrite would eventually disappear after adding the water to the tank...

 

[medic747]

Yes there was a point for about a month and a week tgat my paramaters were amazing with 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite and my nitrates were reading at 15ppm so I dont know what happened

 

[medic747]

And I havent tested my tap water ill do that when I get home

 

[fort384]

hmm... ok. Are you using something to treat for chlorine before adding tap water into the tank?

Something has killed off your nitrosoma bacteria, and is causing another cycle.

 

[medic747]

I use ace water conditioner that I got from the local fish shop

 

[BigJim]

I replace the fikter media cartridge about once a month but I dont do both filters at the same time to ensure my good bacteria doesnt die

Here's at least part of your problem. Your bacteria population only grows as large as your tank can support. When you replace one filter cartridge, you lose a significant portion of your bacteria and the remaining bacteria can't keep up.

There's really no reason to replace filter cartridges unless they're falling apart. Rinse the cartridges out in a bucket of tank water every so often when you do a PWC. You'll save money and keep your tank from cycling.

I've been running the same sponges in my ACs for more than a year and they still do a great job. I clean them really well maybe once a month in a bucket of old tank water.

 

[Tad]

There's really no reason to replace filter cartridges unless they're falling apart.

Hi how to know when the cartridges fall apart ? Then the ammonia and other staff will go totally up?

 

[BigJim]

Hi how to know when the cartridges fall apart ? Then the ammonia and other staff will go totally up?

Replace the cartridges when they're physically falling apart. Your biological filtration shouldn't suffer much, even after the cartridge has disintegrated, but your mechanical filtration won't be very good.