One week still nitrites!

[Kinili]

So I'm new at this... Did a fish in cycle... First mistake. It took three weeks and all my readings were fine for three days. Last Wednesday I added 8 seprae tetras to my already nine zebra danios. I did a huge water change and put dome new carbon in my filter. The next morning I had a huge ammo spike. I did water changes with prime. It dropped quickly, but still a week later I have 0.1 nitrites. What's up?

[eco23]

Originally Posted by Kinili

So I'm new at this... Did a fish in cycle... First mistake. It took three weeks and all my readings were fine for three days. Last Wednesday I added 8 seprae tetras to my already nine zebra danios. I did a huge water change and put dome new carbon in my filter. The next morning I had a huge ammo spike. I did water changes with prime. It dropped quickly, but still a week later I have 0.1 nitrites. What's up?

Most likely the problem has more to do with replacing the carbon then adding the fish. The two in combination is the real issue.

Is your filter a hang on back (HOB)? The rule is to never replace filters until they are literally falling apart. The vast majority of your beneficial bacteria lives in the filter media, and when it is replaced you lose a huge portion of it.

During water changes, fill a bucket with water from your tank (not tap), swish the old filter in the water to remove debris it has collected and put the filter back in.

When it actually is getting to the point it needs to be replaced, jam a new filter in right up against it and leave it as long as possible so the old filter seeds the new with beneficial bacteria. That way it won't have as much of an impact when it is removed.

Carbon also isn't normally necessary unless you are removing meds, so you can consider just buying a sheet of filter media that you cut to size and stick in it's place to save some $.

Just keep doing pwc's with Prime to keep levels as low as possible until the tank re-stabilizes.

[Kinili]

Originally Posted by eco23

Most likely the problem has more to do with replacing the carbon then adding the fish. The two in combination is the real issue.

Is your filter a hang on back (HOB)? The rule is to never replace filters until they are literally falling apart. The vast majority of your beneficial bacteria lives in the filter media, and when it is replaced you lose a huge portion of it.

During water changes, fill a bucket with water from your tank (not tap), swish the old filter in the water to remove debris it has collected and put the filter back in.

When it actually is getting to the point it needs to be replaced, jam a new filter in right up against it and leave it as long as possible so the old filter seeds the new with beneficial bacteria. That way it won't have as much of an impact when it is removed.

Carbon also isn't normally necessary unless you are removing meds, so you can consider just buying a sheet of filter media that you cut to size and stick in it's place to save some $.

Just keep doing pwc's with Prime to keep levels as low as possible until the tank re-stabilizes.

Thanks for your info. But I didn't remove any of the filter just stuffed the carbon in between. Lol. My filter is a fluval U300 it is full in the tank.

[eco23]

In this case, it was 100% the fish then. Part of a tank being "cycled", means it is balanced. The bacteria will only grow and adjust to the number of fish you have in the tank. By doubling the number of fish, it is a shock to the tank and will take some time for the BB to adjust.

You'll just need to stay on top of water changes and keep the ammo and no2 below .25 at all times by doing water changes whenever necessary. Pretend that someone hit the rewind button, and you're doing a fish-in cycle again until the tank is stable. Here's a guide to check out-
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!

[karen21]

Carbon also isn't normally necessary unless you are removing meds, so you can consider just buying a sheet of filter media that you cut to size and stick in it's place to save some $.

Just keep doing pwc's with Prime to keep levels as low as possible until the tank re-stabilizes.

Fantastic idea, even for me as a **** cartridge user.. I think I could put something together that might work..
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[Kinili]

Ok so my nitrites dropped to zero. I did a pwc before I did it my ammo and nitrites were at 0 and then the next morning my ammo is up again. What's goin on nitrites are still zero I don't get it