High Nitrites

[FishNewbie]

Hello can anyone offer any suggestions on how to lower my Nitrite level. My tank has been cycling since Oct 25, It is a 20 Gallon with 5 platy, 1 guppy, 3 peppered cory and about 7 tiny fry. My temp is 78, Nitrites is 1.0 Amm is zero and it has been at zero for the last month. Nitrates is 20. The fish all seem to be fine but I do not know why I can not get the Nitrites down to zero, Is there anyting I can do to speed this up. I do daily water changes to keep the nitrites as low as possible. I am running an AquaClear30 with 2 sponge filters and the biological beeds. I really want to get the nitrites down to zero so the tank will be fully cycled. Should i add my carbon filter back in? I took it out to add a second sponge thinking it would give more surface area for my benefical bacteria to grow on. Thanks

 

[Castellop123]

Do you refill the tank with tap water... Tap water always contains small amounts of Nitrates ( usually 10 - 20 )...

If you want it as low as possible... then you will have to use RO water...

 

[mlawson]

Do you refill the tank with tap water... Tap water always contains small amounts of Nitrates ( usually 10 - 20 )...

If you want it as low as possible... then you will have to use RO water...

He was talking about Nitrites.

First check your Test Kit. If its old it may be faulty. Take a water sample to your fish store
and ask if they can test it for a small price. There may also be some Nitrites present in your
tap water, ring your local water supplier and ask for all the conditions of the tapwater.

If your water does contain large amounts of Nitrite you could use rainwater, but this wouldn't
be suitable for the platies or the guppies. So your last option is RO.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Do you refill the tank with tap water... Tap water always contains small amounts of Nitrates ( usually 10 - 20 )...

If you want it as low as possible... then you will have to use RO water...

Corin, he's talking about NitrItes, not NitrAtes. If I found 20 ppm of nitrites in the tap water I'd have something to say to the waterboard.

 

[Dave Spencer]

I think the thread is about nitrites rather than nitrates.

If you cycled your tank correctly, have had zero Ammonia for a period of time and all your fish are happy, you might have cause to suspect your test kit. I use a Nutrafin test kit that likes to tell me my nitrites are .1mg/l, but I am confident they are at zero. If the reading of 1mg/l is correct your fish should be showing signs of suffering.

 

[bobbicus]

hiya my 2penny........

dont clean ur filter sponges for a while (allow them to fully seed or basically no output- then literally squeeze once in old tank water)

dont clean inside of glass for a while as bacteria lives here too

if the NO2 level has been 1.0 for a considerable time and fish showing no signs of disease, illness or stress - maybe cut down w/c's to every other day or at least reduce amount changed every day....... and allow the tank to finish its cycle - as when cycling with fish we do w/c's to reduce harm to the fish we use - but this also slows down the cycling process

hth's?
rob

 

[beesnees]

just give the tank tank time to cycle give the water changes a rest for a few days 2-3 let the tank have time to cycle. keep doing regular water cheques it will tell you when its ready

if you have to do water changes keep them as little as possible or will slow cycle down let the filter do the rest

 

[TerraDreamer]

I wouldn't add the charcoal back in. The only use I see for charcoal would be for ocassional odor control or the removal of chemicals after treating fish. The idea of two sponges is a good one; the more the merrier. I agree with others here on not changing your water so often. If you don't change the water daily, does your Nitrite test actually show an increase? It could be you have a bad Nitrite test kit. Keep an eye on your fish while switching to water changes every three days, if needed. Feed lightly. I could be wrong, but I think you just need to let that tank settle in a bit more. And maybe spring for a new test kit.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Agreed. Go for a liquid test kit of some description. API Freshwater master test kit is recommended. Getting rid of nitrite is a bit of a catch 22 im afraid. You need some present in order for the bacteria that eat them to be able to grow. The less they have available the slower they will colonise. They also grow a lot more slowly than the ammonia eating ones. Unfortunately, as you are cycling with fish you are having to keep the nitrite levels down with water changes so will have to accept a longer amount of time for the bacteria to grow and be able to cope with breaking the nitrite down. If you cycle without fish this isnt a problem and you can allow your nitrite levels about to extremely high levels 2.0+ without fear of damaging any fish. Hence why a fishless cycle is quicker.

Hope that helps clarify some things. Im afraid you'll have to just stick it out and maybe change to a 20% water change every other day instead.