Nitrite and nitrate but no ammonia

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lisbeth.lm

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Oct 18, 2021
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I have been in the hobby for two months or three now, pretty new. Everything was going fine with my water parameters until one day I saw that my nitrite and nitrates were a little too high so I took care of that. By the way, I have 6 small goldfish, 10 minnows, and 4 ember tetras in a 29 gal tank. A week ago I did a 75% water change because all the levels were a little high, but now that I checked again, I have 0 ammonia, 2.0ppm nitrite, and 10ppm nitrate, what can be causing this? I reduced my feeding to once a day last week as well.
 
The tank isn’t fully cycled or you don’t have enough medium to sustain enough beneficial bacteria to completely cycle the tank

I’m far from an expert but what are you using for a filter setup?

You’re likely not far from me as far as the bioload in the same size tank. I’ve got a dozen(ish) comets and a pleco with an aquaclear 70. With just the sponge and 2 bio max bags it’s seems to hold its own

If you’re seeing nitrites, you’ve either not fully cycled or the bacteria doesn’t have sufficient area to populate

Nitrates are another story, they’re just the less deadly byproduct of turning ammonia into nitrites then into nitrates. For most cases, nitrates will just be something you have to deal with in water changes. With enough time, money, ambition, ect, it’s not impossible to achieve a complete cycle where even nitrates are removed from the water by bacteria and plants
 
I would add that 29g isnt anywhere near a big enough tank for 6 goldfish. Coldkoi is moving his to a pond so has a plan for when the gildfish get bigger. Whats your plan to home these fish? 6 goldfish will need something around 75g.

Goldfish get big, are very messy so need a lot of filtration, and live decades - if given enough space to grow properly. If they dont get this space they get stunted, suffer from ill health and die young.
 
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I have an aqua-tech model 10-20 which is the one that came with my tank. When I do my water changes, if I do not gravel vacuum I just add quick start while I'm filling my bucket, and aquarium salt to the tank when I am finish filling it up, sometimes I do add a little bit of bacteria, if I gravel vacuum I do add the corresponding amount of bacteria.
 
That filter is quite small for that size of tank, especially with the amount and type of fish in there.

I don’t think that setup will ever be able to sustain itself until you upgrade the filtration, especially as the fish grow. I’d suggest doing something similar to what I did, go with a filter sized double for the tank and has the capacity and option to fill it with whatever type of filter media best suits your tank

Of course I’m a little biased as it’s what I’m using, but so far I’ve got nothing bad to say about the aquaclear 70. It’s priced well, virtually silent, and has the capacity to handle the big bad dirty goldfish lol
 
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