Nitrite spike!

J

Jeffd1979

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Nov 18, 2003
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Bought a 3rd angel today for 37 gallon tank... All three angels are about the size of a quarter. I tested the tank about 4 days ago and the levels were fine... I decided to test again today after i put the new fish in and the levels are as follows

nitrite 3ppm
nitrate 40ppm
ammonia 1ppm
ph 7.0

the tank has been going for 2 months and this is the first time they spiked like this.. I just did about a 30% water change and put some ammonia lock in there..

What am i doing wrong here.. I have a emperor 280.. the filter was changed about 3 weeks ago and i have some extra carbon in the empty cartrage in the filter.. i feed just a small pintch of food once a day...
 
Alright there are many possibilities:
1) make sure all your fish are accounted for. Missing fish = possible dead fish.
2) Test your tap water, there could be problems with it recently.
3) When you changed your filter, did you take it off completely or did you just throw it out and put on a new one? Because that would definitely mess up you tank, especially with an added fish for your bioload.

Check those out, and if none of that's a problem then I'll have to dream up some wacky possibilites.
 
Originally posted by yashinfan
Alright there are many possibilities:
1) make sure all your fish are accounted for. Missing fish = possible dead fish.
2) Test your tap water, there could be problems with it recently.
3) When you changed your filter, did you take it off completely or did you just throw it out and put on a new one? Because that would definitely mess up you tank, especially with an added fish for your bioload.

Check those out, and if none of that's a problem then I'll have to dream up some wacky possibilites.
Click to expand...

1. all fish are there... only have 3
2. just tested my tap water.. water test 0ppm on all
3. ya i just took out the old filter, tossed it out and put in a replacement cartrage (is this not the right thing to do?).. that was on december 10th. just added the 3rd angel fish tonight about 5 minutes before i tested the water..
 
Okay, so for filter this might be your problem. When you throw it out, you're getting rid of a lot of valuable bacteria that keeps your tank cycled. If there's not enough of it settled in the substrate then your tank will have to re-cycle, which it sounds like it is doing now. Instead of throwing out your filter, why don't you rinse it in tank water. For example, take out 2 gallons for your water change and wash the filter in there. Squeeze it out a couple of times until it looks pretty clean. This will keep the good bacteria alive and keep your tank from needing to cycle again.
 
Originally posted by yashinfan
Okay, so for filter this might be your problem. When you throw it out, you're getting rid of a lot of valuable bacteria that keeps your tank cycled. If there's not enough of it settled in the substrate then your tank will have to re-cycle, which it sounds like it is doing now. Instead of throwing out your filter, why don't you rinse it in tank water. For example, take out 2 gallons for your water change and wash the filter in there. Squeeze it out a couple of times until it looks pretty clean. This will keep the good bacteria alive and keep your tank from needing to cycle again.
Click to expand...

What about the carbon in the filter... doesn't it get old and need to be replaced...? the filters don't come apart so i can't replace that... I thought the biowheel was supposed to keep the bacteria levels up.... ??? what do you suggest?
 
ok i got an idea that i think might work... instead of just putting carbon in the extra basket that comes with the emperor 280 i just put a whole extra filter in there... and from now on i will stagger the filter changes with new ones.. that way there is always at least one filter that has been in there a few weeks... would this work?
 
Yea! That's a great idea. As for carbon, honestly, you don't NEED active carbon. It gets rid of toxic materials, such as ingredients in any meds you would use. You should change it every couple of months but if your tap water has no problems with heavy metals in the water then it should be fine. I'm bad, I haven't changed mine in 6 months :o
 
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