hey alll i started my tank on saturday it has 20lbs of sustrate not live and 18lbs of "cured" live rock (the lfs said it was cured). YEsterday i went out and was told to get Dr. tims one and only...its a BActeria agent u dump into the water. on the bottle it says add fish imediately so i added my gsp. this is my 1st sw tank its a 55gallon tank..the gsp seems ok his belly got alot whiter then it was before i switched him to full marine. and he is eating. i check the nitrite today and they are at .3...i have 10gallons of sw mixed and ready to go should i do a water change??
Nitrite emergency!!!!!
- Thread starter karllenz87
- Start date
It wouldn't hurt to do a water change, but rest assured that nitrite at those levels will not be of concern--they may as well be nontoxic. What I would worry about, however, is making sure there is no ammonia.
im just worried and nevous i dont think the lfs guy knows what hes talking about when it came to this dr tim stuff i should have gone with what a forum guy told me and used bio spira..
Any product that states you can put your fish in straight away is talking absoloute rubbish.
You need to let your tank cycle naturally, that's why you add the live rock. Even if its cured it will suffer some die off that will cause a raise in ammonia/nitrites.
I'd stay away from your lfs as they obviously don't have a clue what they are doing.
You need to let your tank cycle naturally, that's why you add the live rock. Even if its cured it will suffer some die off that will cause a raise in ammonia/nitrites.
I'd stay away from your lfs as they obviously don't have a clue what they are doing.
Yeah, you definitely want to get the ammonia down. FYI about nitrite--in seawater, there is an extremely large concentration of chloride anions (Cl-). Because of this, they effectively outcompete the entry of nitrite ion (NO2-) into the bloodstream via the gills, rendering nitrite nontoxic except in very high concentrations. If possible, do as large a change as you can to get the ammonia down. Just make sure that the levels match up well (temperature, salinity, etc.). Also, Dr. Tim's bacteria is the original formulation of BioSpira, which works like a charm. Was it refrigerated when you got it? Maybe it was expired or something. In any case, the preferred method is to add the live rock and allow the levels of reduced nitrogenous waste to drop to undetectable. Some opt to add a chunk of shrimp or fish to add some ammonia to jumpstart the process--both methods allow you to do so without adding fish.
i was not refridgerated and it say on the bottle it does not need to be and is not expired so it should still be good i hope...ill do a 10 gallon water change hopefully amo will go down...and things will stable out..i dont want to lose that puffer
Hmm, maybe it isn't the original formula. It had to be refrigerated. If possible, do what you can to change more than 10 gallons. It will go a long way in helping.