Nitrite Wont Go Down!!

[tamz273]

Hey guys,
I got a new tank about a month ago, and I've been attempting to cycle it ever since.
At one point, i thought it was cycled and went ahead and bought a whole lot of fish...

5-Yellow Tails
3-Black Damsels
2-Clown Fish
2-Tomato Clownfish
2-Peach Anthias
1-Convict Tang
1-Lion Fish

This is in a 300 Liter Tank...

Ever since I put them in, the Nitrite level doesnt seem to go down, and the Nitrate level is also fixed at a certain point...

I have tried cycling 15% of the water once ever 2 days for about a week, with no luck.. Levels won't change...

Another problem is that whenever immerse the end of the pump that is spilling the water out, the fish start to breath harder and harder and eventually start moving and stand still in the water. When I pull it back out of the water, and bubbles start to flow into the water again, they get better within an hour or two, and eventually swim around normally...

Is this problem related to the nitrite and nitrate levels being high?

Also on top of all of the above, the water is VERY cloudy and "yellowish"...

 

[Catpicklesdog]

What are your actual readings? How long had it been set up when you thought it was cycled and what were your readings (amm, Ite,Ate,PH) at that time?

 

[Almondsaz]

I think that is a heavily stocked ~79 gallon IMO. Can you please describe/detail your whole setup? What config (DT & Sump, Canister filter, protein skimmer, powerheads, lighting) how much live rock and live sand to you have? What about a clean-up crew?

And can you please explain the "pump" scenario differently....I am sure it is just me, but I can't quite get what you are explaining. Thanks! Look forward to trying to help.

 

[tamz273]

Hey guys, thanks for the reply,
My current readings are
Ite - between 0.05 and 0.1 mG/L (About 0.07)
Ate - between 12.5 and 25 mG/L (About 20)
PH - 8.0-8.2
Amm - 1.0

As for the setup, im using 3 42" flourecent bulbs, not sure what brand nor how many watts they are emitting.. The pump is also something unbranded, but it does 1550L/h... In the filter I have a cotton in one filter, and the pet store added two more layers of filters for me. One was black and the other was silver. I cleaned out the filter once and found alot of tissue like material in it, and cleaned the filter out again with the same tissue material inside, except the second time I changed the cartridges.. *Black and Grey/Silver Sponges*
Also, I have no live rock but a bed of live sand..

As for the bubble issue, sorry I wasn't too clear on it.
Basically, when the part of the pump that spills the water out, is fully underwater (in the tank), the fish begin to breath very hard and after several hours they stop moving and just breath heavily. Once i pull it out, and make it SPILL into the tank, causing bubbles to go into the tank, the fish get better and eventually stop teh hard breathing and just start swimming around regularly...

 

[cliftonsinclair]

Way too many fish way too fast

 

[tamz273]

Oh yeh?
So how can I fix this? Should I take fish out and keep changing water?
Or should I just keep changing water?

 

[cliftonsinclair]

What I have always been told is one fish per 10 gallons of water. I would take some fish out permantely. And let everything balance out.

 

[tamz273]

Alright, so after I remove the fish and leave 8, (79 Galons tank) should I keep doing water changes or no?

 

[mandy21]

What I have always been told is one fish per 10 gallons of water. I would take some fish out permantely. And let everything balance out.

However, you can't rely on the 1 fish per 10 gallons of water with SW. What kind of lion? Most of the fish you listed could soon become nice expensive meals for a lion if it's one of the larger kinds. You would also have some aggression issues iwth that many damsels in a tank. I also would not keep a convict tang in that size of a tank. The tang definitely do not fit the 1 fish per 10 gallon frame.

How did you initially try to cycle the tank?

 

[starla]

Ive been doing salt water only for 7 months so I am a newbie also however I think you went to fast, and too many fish. If the tank is only a month old as you stated in your first post then it should have nothing in it but live rock, live sand. One thing I read and learned was patience. Hind sight is 20/20

That being said, I'm not sure what you should do. You may end up losing a few fish. I do think you need to get some live rock in the tank and your filter.

Are you using RO water or tap water?