Nitrites (gah!)

[weaselandalf]

You'll have to forgive me, I'm VERY new to this. I have a 30" x 12" cold freshwater tank with lots of oxygenating plants and a good amount of gravel. My Nitrite levels are REALLY high. I have had the tank about a week now. I undertsand it takes time to cycle, and that water changes are a good idea, however I have no fish in it yet so I don't need to worry about their happiness just yet.
So, will my Nitrite levels lower by themselves eventually? I don't want to do a water change yet because I want to know I have all the bacteria and that it's cycling...

...can anyone help / shout at me in a vaguely helpful way?

ps. I'm hoping to get Goldfish

 

[Bubble_B0y]

your tank is around 20 gallons - so you can keep 2-5 small 2inch goldfish (but prepare to upgrade).

about your cycle...
you mentioned you have NO fish.
in that case - do NOT change the water !!!
your nitrite levels will decrease eventually - i recommend increasing the aeration when cycling the tank - it speeds it up a little
(just add lots of airstones and remove them when the tank is cycled)

in about a week - you should be detecting nitrate
keep monitoring your water -
when the nitrite = 0 (i assume your ammonia is already zero), and you have nitrate, you can add fish.

Add around 1-2 fish every 1-2 weeks (and keep monitoring your water during this period)

 

[rich311k]

If you don't have any fish in the tank you don't have to change the water. The bacteria that eats the nitrites will grow and deal with it. Your plants will also process it.

What is your ammonia level? Did you add ammonia to the tank? I am just curious where the nitrites came from after only a week and no fish in the tank.

 

[malkore]

Yes, what was the source of ammonia?
Also, sounds like maybe a 29gallon tank...2 goldfish is the max, because they will grow up. Honestly I'd keep tropicals rather than goldies in a tank that size.

 

[TomK2]

Welcome to AA!

Remember to keep feeding the tank some ammonia, or else the nitrosomas type ammonia eating bacteria will decline while you are waiting for the nitrobacter type nitrite eaters to do their work. Otherwise, no water changes without fish to protect, and be patient, it will cycle!

Kudos to you for thinking it out and planning!

 

[weaselandalf]

That's great thanks a lot everyone, I'll do an Ammonia test later and I'll patiently wait for the Nitrite levels to drop.

As to where the ammonia came from in the first place, I assumed that it came from some of the plants decaying (they weren't in top condition when I got them).

As for the amount of fish, I plan to keep 2 maybe 3 later on, but certainly no more. I was thinking a blackmoor, another fancy of some sort and later a weather loach just to spice things up a bit.

Thankyou for the wealth of help and it was so fast as well! Thanks a million.

 

[TomK2]

Hmmm. I would not think that plants would provide the ammonia. So I am wondering where you got the nitrite from too. Check out the fishless cycling articles, I think you should have an ammonia source, be it decaying food, shrimp,or cleaner solution (ace hardware janitorial strenght has no additives).

 

[rich311k]

Just curious, Did you test your tap water for nitrites? Maybe thats were the reading came from.

 

[talloulou]

I agree with no fish there is no reason to do water changes during a cycle. I would like to add though that I would recommend a water change, at least 35%, right before you add your new fish. Goldfish are extremely messy and you must be prepared to do water changes all the time once you have them. In my opinion, which I understand you didn't ask for so feel free to ignore, goldfish belong very large tanks or ponds. They are just too big and messy for most indoor tanks.

 

[greenmaji]

Anything rotting in the tank can cause ammonia spikes but plants have alot of other stored nutrients such as iron, photasium, phosphate, magnesium, calcium.. other trace minerals.. Im not so sure if rotting plants is a good idea.. but since you have live plants in there that could uptake some of the excess it might not be as bad as it seems..

 

[weaselandalf]

The plants aren't rotting exactly, they were a bit bedraggled and some of the lower leaves had turned brown, but they seem okay so I think that must be where the Ammonia came from. I did a nitrite test on our tap water and there is none at all.

Out of interest, if Goldfish really are that messy what other fish could live happily in the set up I have?

 

[Ardeus]

I'm a bit worried about a similar problem... I'm setting up a 840 liter tank with a large Malawi community. It's an exhibition tank with a 3d auto-stereoscopic plasma in the background.

I'm going to use some filtration material from an old much smaller aquarium. Beyond that, is water changing the only thing I can do? I also thought about placing the rocks and some gravel in the old aquarium for a few days before I put them in the new tank. Any suggestions that may help the fish survive the first times?