Nitrites very high

[cjgtigger]

Hello all. I sure hope you can help me.

I have a 110 gallon SW tank that we started to set up 12 weeks ago today. All was going well, start up - 10 damselfish (4 died) - ammonia peaked and went to Zero ----- Now here's the problem

Ammonia went to 0 on 4/21/03 - my Nitrites are off the charts and have been since 4/21/03. My LFS told me to buy this bacteria and we would be good to go in 4 days. Bought it, tried it, didn't work. I called another LFS and they told me to do 25% water changes every two days and it would work itself out. Well I have been doing that for two weeks!!!! Still no help.

I only feed every other day and as little as will fit in my fingers. WHAT ARE WE DOING WRONG?????

PLEASE HELP!!!!!

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[Corax]

The problem is, you are cycling with fish. This is an old technique and caring keepers no longer use it since more humane and more effective means have been found.

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Remove those 6 remaining Damsels, apologizing to them profusely for their dead brothers and sisters
Take them back to that LFS
Tell them how WRONG they were to sell them to you for cycling
Stop at Kroger on the way home and purchse 2-3 jumbo cocktail shrimp.
Throw those in your tank and do a proper, fishless cycle.
[/list=1]

This is not only more humane, but also better for you tank in the long run because it helps establish a very high bio-capacity. If you cycle a tank with 10 damsels, then the bio-capacity of that tank is 10 damsels. Add an 11th damsel, you exceed the bio-capacity of the tank and then you have an ammonia spike. When you cycle with shrimp, you bombard the tank with ammonia and thus create a bio-capacity that far exceeds any fish you might choose to stock it with. The real world benefit of that is, you can stock the tank more quickly and with less risk of causing a mini-cycle that can potentially kill your fish.

[cjgtigger]

Thank you for your advice.

Although I still would like to know why my Nitrites haven't turned to Nitrates. I am obviously doing something wrong.

Any advice anyone????

:D

[Corax]

The nitrites havent turned to nitrites because sufficient bacteria hasn't developed to handle that load yet. The bacteria that process the ammonia reproduce quickly, but the bacteria that process nitrite are slower to develop. Once they get going, it will drop off overnight. It's also possible your test kit is bad, have your LFS confirm your results.

[cjgtigger]

Thanks,

We have a ton of algae and what appears to be uneaten food on our substrate. Should we vaccum our substrate? Could this affect our Nitrites?

Grasping at straws.

:(

[Corax]

Definitely can. That food is either eated or it decays and either way it becomes ammonia, then nitrite and eventually nitrate. What kind of substrate are you running? If it is sand (it should be, and if it isnt then your best move would be to convert it to sand ASAP..) then just lightly siphon the surface of the sand. Don't drill it like you would gravel in a fw tank.