getting rid if Nitrites

spydrkss

AC Members
Jun 25, 2006
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Cape Cod, Ma
Having a bit of a Nitrite problem and an unsure what to do from here. A week ago I tested my water after finding a dead Betta and got a Nitrate=30ppm, GH= 80, KH=80, PH=6.8 and NITRITE=10ppm :( Every day for the past week I have done an apx. 20g water change equating to about a 100% change to date. I've tested the water again now and all readings are the same with nitrite at 10ppm :thud: To my understanding there are no bacteria that eat nitrites as they do ammonia and nitrates and are only removed through water changes... obviously though, I'm missing something. To be safe that my testing equipment wasn't junked by the New England humidity, I tested first today my tap water which was perfect, so I know that isn't the problem. Help please!
 
How long has yoru tank been set up? It sounds like it is in the second phase of cycling. Phase 1 bacteria grow to eat the ammonia. These bacteria create a waste of Nitrite. In phase 2 bacteria grow which eat Nitrite and produce a waste of Nitrate.
I was having problems when one of my tanks was cycling with the nitrites getting high and I did back to back 50% water changes for two or three days. Remove 50% of the water, refil, remove 50% again immediately. I know this is a lot of water for the large tanks like you have, but I found it very effective to finally get the nitrites under control. Hope others here have some suggestions for you too.
 
the nitrogen cycle goes...

bacteria eat ammonia from fish waste and turn it into nitrItes, then other bacteria eat the nitrItes, and turn them into nitrAtes.

nitrite should always be 0 because the bacteria turn it into nitrate. if you are showing nitrite, it means that something happened to your bacteria.
 
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