Stuck with high nitrites

Sonicblast12

Sonicblast12

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Aug 9, 2006
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I thought I had completed my fishless cycle, took it through to nitrates.

Turns out I didn't have the necessary bacteria to support my bio load and I have been stuck with toxic levels of nitrite for about six weeks. 75 gallon tank, bare bottom, 3 filters with 10x turnover. (Including a DIY stuffed with bio balls, ceramic cylinders, and a large sponge filter) I have two ryukin, two oranda, and a small comet. I've been dosing prime daily in an attempt to detoxify the nitrite and protect the fish. That appears to be working, the fish are fine, but the nitrites haven't moved. Been doing 2-3 50% water changes per week. 12 hours later, nitrites are back. Started adding Seachem's stability last week...day six...nothing. No change.

Are the water changes slowing down the process? Would I be better off just dosing and holding off on the w/c's? The opposite? Keep doing what I'm doing?
 
Do you have access to filter material from established tanks? If the answer is yes, then I would suggest using this material to seed your problem tank while testing your water every day, doing a water change if the tests show any ammonia or nitrites.

Good luck.
 
Hopefully you are using a good liquid test kit. What are your tap water readings? And exactly what kind of filters do you have? Have you cut back on your feeding a bit also?
 
I'm using an API Freshwater Master Test Kit.

My tap water registers .5 ammonia but 0 nitrite. That was an alarming discovery at first, but I didn't think much of it. After all, the ammonia is just going to be converted as soon as it's exposed to the existing bacteria and the water conditioner detoxifies the ammonia. But that just gave me a thought. Since there is ammonia present in my tap water, does that mean my stocking level would be lower than normal? But I suppose if that were the case I would be registering ammonia in my tank...I am not.

The filters are fairly old. I just used what I had laying around, but there's no reason they shouldn't work. Penguin 200, no bio wheel and I can't find a replacement wheel. A top fin 40 on the other side of the tank. And in the middle, I'm using an old aqua c remora skimmer as a freshwater filter. The intake is at the bottom of the tank and feeds a large chamber filled with bio balls, ceramic cylinders and a 12" sponge filter. 695 GPH in total.

I feed sinking sticks, and since it's a bare bottom tank every bit of food is consumed by the fish. Usually a pinch twice a day, no more.
 
I think some 25% daily WC's are in order if your nitrites are that high...

Stick with the Prime, your Tap is nasty with ammonia.... You might want to consider 2x dosing as a standard. There's enough ammonia in your tapwater to have done a fishless cycle IMO...

takes time to establish the nitrite consuming bacteria, especially with that much bio-load in addition to ammonia loaded tapwater...
 
I did 50% water changes daily for 6 wks including 2 table spoons of Prime until I completed the cycle on my 55g goldfish tank. Keep doing daily WC and add a double doze of Prime. Good luck.
 
Significant drop in nitrites today. Still detectable but about a quarter what they were. Nitrates climbed from 5 to 10. Almost there I suppose.

But when I cycled my saltwater tank nitrites were off the charts one day and completely gone the next. Does fresh work the same way, or is it more gradual?
 
Consider adding Dr. Tim's One and Only. It is from the creator of Biospira and contains both kinds of bacteria needed to process ammonia and nitrite. I have recently used it quite successfully both to jumpstart a new tank (with an old filter) and to battle an unexpected (and unexplained) nitrite spike. I did a 50 percent water change, added the bottle of Dr. Tim's per instructions and overnight the nitrite went from .5 to 0. I always have a bottle on hand now for emergencies.
 
Readings of 0-0-5 as of yesterday. I don't know if it was the Stability or just nature, but I'm happy the mandatory daily maintenance has come to an end.

Maybe it's just me, but the fish do seem more relaxed. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
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