double filter, still problems

W

Wildiana

wildiana
Sep 27, 2004
486
0
0
55
Syracuse, New York
:sad had my tank for a little over 3 months.

counldn't get my Nitrite to read 0.0 steady, it will last only for a day.


20L had a AC "Up to 20Gal" filter, i bought a AC "up to 50Gal" filter. this did not solve my problem.

did a 25% Water change yesterday, checked my reading was 0.0...i feed them last night. small amoun this time since i wanted to do things right. however i just checked it again. and it reads AGAIN 0.25, no this is not a major reading, but i want it to stay at 0.0 and not do a 20%-50% 2x a week since my tank been up and going for over 3months.


In tank:

1 silver tip 4" (will transfer out once my 29g is ready)
1 cory albino cat bottom eater.
1 guppy taquilla sunrise
1 red tail shark (very young, nearly 1 inch)
1 blue lobser
1 placo bottom eater
 
0.25 nitrites is not so bad, keep water changing 25 or 30% 2 times a week, I'd say. Maybe some salt to help (1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons,but half this if you have cory or pleco). Maybe changing your filter affected you cycle. It sounds like its no done yet. How are your nitrAtes looking?
Water changes are inevitable, find an easy and quick way to do it.
I have a bucket that holds 10 gallons. I remove a bucket at a time and replace with a bucket. The procedure takes me 15 minutes or so. (25g tank)
 
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HI, Upstate!
Hmmm, lets see...Nitrate is basically caused by the biological filtration of your AC. Benificial bacteria in the bio filter convert toxic ammonia into nitrite (also toxic) especially in high amounts. But dont dispair, steps can be taken to control it.
The presence of nitrite means a couple of things-overfeeding, too many fish, or biological filtration. Being that you upgrated your filter I suspect that you may be guilty of the other choices- maybe, maybe not. If you are make the necessary changes, otherwise try partial water changes (maybe 15-25% weekly), add stress zyme to help the bio filtration and add a little aquarium salt to help reduce nitrite toxicity to the fish while bio filter is improving.
hope this helps...let me know how it goes! Peace from NYC. :dance
 
cool, i'll get me some of that stress stuff, i thought the aquaSafe by Tetra aqua was enough but after reading the labels i guess it is not.


i do add salt, i change 5 gal. add 5 gal into a bucket and add the salt into the bucket before i pure it into the tank, i make sure the salt is disolved.
 
Your aqua safe is just fine. I wouldn't buy the stress zyme. Your tank is almost cycled. Add a bit of salt at half strength to help the fish and do more water changes for now, that's all.
 
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Because different people have different opinions you unfortunately won't get a definate answer. My personal opinion is that you need to continue 25% water changes at a rate to keep the nitrites at a safe level. You still want some nitrites in the tank so that the benificial bacteria will build up, but too high a level will kill fish eventually. The water changes won't remove the benificial bacteria, but you might need to take care changing filter elements and such...

Since the tank has been in use for a while, the bacteria should be established assuming they haven't been killed by something (chlorine maybe). Since the nitrite i not that all that high we would assume most of the bacteria are okay and you should be on a 25% water change per week or so at this stage. Since the nitrites are on the high side you may need to change water more often. How often you change water really depends on the nitrite level you are seeing.

I wouldn't worry about daily flucuations, rather just test the nitrite and see how much it rises between changes and how high it is just before the change. If it is staying fairly low and constant then the weekly change should be enough. You just want to monitor the level to make sure it doesn't go too high and damage the fish...

0.25 is not overly high - and you never really have a true zero amount in the tank anyway. There is always a little for the bacteria to consume... Still, I think most people like to see their nitrite levels lower than 0.25 if possible. I don't mind seeing 0.1 or so...
 
If you do nothing, the nitrites will go up, maybe to a dangerous level and you won't even know it. I'm in agreement with the above post.
I went through the high nitrite phase while I had fish also. I added salt at half the recommended dose per gallon, because of my cories and pleco.
I did twice weekly water change of 20% or there about. After a week my nitrites were at 0.2. Remember, nitrites are a lot less toxic than amonia.
After this phase you have to monitor nitrates which will climb as nitrite converts to nitrates. Water changes are the answer.
 
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