Chloramines wreaking havoc

[fishytales]

I have a fully established cichlid tank that I’ve had for a year now.

Here are the specs:

70 gal tank
20 gal sump with bio media
Eheim canister filer (2217)
30 gal capacity HOB filter with biowheel
Air pump, bubbler, wave maker etc.

Tank has always been at 0 Ammonia and Nitrites and <20 ppm nitrates.

Everything was great until they started adding choloramines in my water. Now every time I do a water change (50% every week) I use Prime and the moment I add it to dechlorinate the water, the ammonia reading is about 2 ppm. Now I understand the ammonia is not harmful because Prime renders it ineffective for a day or so. My biofilter goes to work and within a few hours brings it down to 0 PPM. The issue I have is with NitrItes. After the ammonia goes to 0 there is always a nitrite reading of about 0.25 ppm. This goes away in 24 hrs or so, but until then the fish are subject to nitrites. The nitrospira are not able to handle such a large amount of nitrites from the ammonia conversion all at one time.

I’d like your thoughts on how bad this is for the fish and if there’s anything I can do to prevent this or potentially detoxify the nitrites temporarily. I have more biomedia in the tank than any I have come across, so I’m sure that’s not the solution.

 

[Delapool]

I think prime does the same for nitrites but a pinch of salt added will also protect fish.

 

[Delapool]

http://www.aces.edu/dept/fisheries/aquaculture/documents/BrownBlood.pdf

 

[flitabout]

Yes prime detoxifies the nitrite too.

 

[fishytales]

Ok thanks. I have been adding a bit of salt lately. The article is a great reference, thanks for that.

 

[Fresh2o]

The addition of chloramines might be a seasonal activity. You may want to check with your water treatment center.
Instead of one 50% weekly change, you could try two 25-30% changes. Technically the same amount of ammonia is entering your system each week, however, it is spread out over two water changes and this should minimize the nitrite spike you are observing.

 

[fishytales]

I did think of that, but my water change process is a bit painful right now. I use a water softener at home and so I can’t access warmer water from inside the house. So I fill up the sump with cold, unsoftened water from outside which is at 50 or less and then heat it to 75+ before pumping it to the main tank. It takes me a few hours on and off to do the whole thing as the sump is just 20 gallons. That combined with my work schedule during the week makes it impossible for me to do two water changes a week. But thanks for the suggestion, definitely the most practical under normal circumstances.