Leaving On A Trip With A Nitrite Bloom... Ugh
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Not at all. The bacteria live on the surfaces, not in the water.
The problem with "Cycle" and "Quick Start" is that they AREN'T the bacteria you ultimately want in the tank, so they won't do what you need them to do.
You have bacteria in the tank, just not enough. They will colonize and deal with the issue... its just going to take some time. Ironically, they grow best at very low concentrations... So, getting the levels down will help the fish in two ways - less poison and the bacteria will multiply faster.
If you have a friend with a mature tank, a bit of their media will add to the numbers of the nitrite to nitrate bacteria and help to keep things safer and multiply faster.
The problem with "Cycle" and "Quick Start" is that they AREN'T the bacteria you ultimately want in the tank, so they won't do what you need them to do.
You have bacteria in the tank, just not enough. They will colonize and deal with the issue... its just going to take some time. Ironically, they grow best at very low concentrations... So, getting the levels down will help the fish in two ways - less poison and the bacteria will multiply faster.
If you have a friend with a mature tank, a bit of their media will add to the numbers of the nitrite to nitrate bacteria and help to keep things safer and multiply faster.
I dont have a friend and my LFS is no help in that regard.
Hopefully the WC will help and this will be behind me soon enough.
What about my filtration? Do i need 580gph or can i eventually decommission the 280 in a month?
Hopefully the WC will help and this will be behind me soon enough.
What about my filtration? Do i need 580gph or can i eventually decommission the 280 in a month?
10x turnover is standard in planted tanks, but isn't necessary unless you are trying to circulate CO2 and ferts to all parts of the tank.
Yes, it will be behind you soon enough... just not as soon as you may prefer.
Yes, it will be behind you soon enough... just not as soon as you may prefer.
If I was able to find a LFS that would let me trade bio-wheels.... how quick would this help remedy nitrite levels? Is this going to greatly increase the speed bacteria will consume my tank or is it a 'little fix'. I do not have much time before I go out of town so I want to use what I have wisely. If its worth it, I will call around and spend the time.
If the biowheel is coming from a tank that has a good number of fish, and the one you are trading is new, then this will greatly speed up the process.
I did a 90% wc and went from 1992822727 ppm nitrities to 0.25. I have no more time and hope this is good enough? Please help me feel reassured i wont be coming home to a fish cemetry
Anything that may help as a quick remedy?
Its a 55 gallon with plants / fish. Maybe 20 inches of fish.
Anything that may help as a quick remedy?
Its a 55 gallon with plants / fish. Maybe 20 inches of fish.
TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
Why did you have off the scale nitrite?
It depends (A) how quickly nitrite will build up (which itself depends upon what TTA asked) and (B) how long you will be gone for.
I will be gone 3 days. I dont know when or how it exactly went off cycle but I had moved my fish into it, when it was established. After a few feedings it went sour. I had an UGF and 9+" pleco which I removed. UGF was cleaned a month back so i dont believe too much was stirred up. Siphoned gravel at the time and did a 50%, 50%, and finally due to my trip a 90% WC.
The WC were over 3 days. Someone said to just do 90, so i did. Its a lot better but still present.
The WC were over 3 days. Someone said to just do 90, so i did. Its a lot better but still present.
Ah, yes, I remember now. Hopefully, since it's not a new tank, the bacteria won't take long to re-establish themselves. Obviously, it would be helpful if you did another WC as close as you can before leaving, but I would have thought the fish would be OK.
I agree with lock_man. One more large water change just before you leave would be best. If the nitrite is slowly rising now, that's good. If its rising quickly that's bad. If the nitrite has stabliized, that's ideal. Ultimately, the n-bacs are going to have to increase in population size to deal with the nitrite produced by the ammonia-bacs, which are ultimately getting their ammonia from the fish.
TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
Are you showing ammonia? If not you can try to combat nitrite using salt. the problem is the amount of salt one needs to add is a function of of the nitrite reading. You are really not wanting the salt perse, what you are after the the chloride part of sodium chloride (salt). Common table salt is about 2/3 chloride and 1/3 sodium.
Without going into detail, salt blocks the effects of nitrite in the fish, it does not change, neutralize or detoxify nitrite in the water. the problem is the needed level of chloride is 10 times that of nitrite. So you have to test the nitrite to know how much salt to add. In a tanks its easiest tow ork with mg/l for the salt since one must add weight to volume. If one know how many litres of water are in the tank then you need to add 1.5 mg of table salt per litre.
In your case you are in a bind. It appears as if you have the ammonia part under control since you do not report ammonia readings. You are building the nitrite bacs back up. Changing big water slows this process since the amount of nitrite being created will not drop- it comes from the amount of ammonia being produced. So you need enough nitrite oxidizers to handle that much nitrite. By changing big water to hold the nitrite level down you retard the process.
I can not tell you that leaving will not result in big build up and serious problems. I have no real idea what level of salt you might need to add before you go because you, and I, have no idea how high the nitrite level actually got. The amount of salt needed is not huge but it needs to be the proper concentration in the water since many fish dislike salt as do many plants. You don't want to "over dose" it when you are not there to monitor things.
I can not suggest what to do here since I do not have a firm grasp on what is going on in your tank.
And just an fyi- in a properly set up under gravel filter almost all the bacteria is in the gravel and not in any other filter one may also have on the tank. UGF and RUGF are still the single best bio-filtration out there. However, they do not work well in certain setups and they require proper maintenance. But where they can be used, they can not be beat for bio-filtration.
Without going into detail, salt blocks the effects of nitrite in the fish, it does not change, neutralize or detoxify nitrite in the water. the problem is the needed level of chloride is 10 times that of nitrite. So you have to test the nitrite to know how much salt to add. In a tanks its easiest tow ork with mg/l for the salt since one must add weight to volume. If one know how many litres of water are in the tank then you need to add 1.5 mg of table salt per litre.
In your case you are in a bind. It appears as if you have the ammonia part under control since you do not report ammonia readings. You are building the nitrite bacs back up. Changing big water slows this process since the amount of nitrite being created will not drop- it comes from the amount of ammonia being produced. So you need enough nitrite oxidizers to handle that much nitrite. By changing big water to hold the nitrite level down you retard the process.
I can not tell you that leaving will not result in big build up and serious problems. I have no real idea what level of salt you might need to add before you go because you, and I, have no idea how high the nitrite level actually got. The amount of salt needed is not huge but it needs to be the proper concentration in the water since many fish dislike salt as do many plants. You don't want to "over dose" it when you are not there to monitor things.
I can not suggest what to do here since I do not have a firm grasp on what is going on in your tank.
And just an fyi- in a properly set up under gravel filter almost all the bacteria is in the gravel and not in any other filter one may also have on the tank. UGF and RUGF are still the single best bio-filtration out there. However, they do not work well in certain setups and they require proper maintenance. But where they can be used, they can not be beat for bio-filtration.
I agree with you TTA, that in a normal situation, salt would be a good solution, but with the separation from monitoring, the water change method is the best option before leaving, imho.
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