Nitrite Problem!

[Lyle]

gotta 55 gallon with about 10-12 pounds of live rock, bout 50 pounds of base rock, and regular sand as a substrate. my only fish are 2 star fish, a green spotted puffer and a snowflake eel. my ammonia levels have been consistently around 0 ppm, my nitrate levels consistently 10-20 ppm, but my nitrites have been consistently very high for a while, and nothing i do seems to help it. i put new charcoal in my filter (some expensive stuff, better than normal charcoal), 25% water change every week, i've added more nitrifying bacteria (stuff called 'Cycle') ...... nitrites are still outrageously high. i even did a 50 % water change every other day for a week, and it just wont go down, with in a day it was right back to where it was before. its been about 1 to 1.3 ppm for a long time now and i'm very concerned. my fish seem perfectly fine but i know this can't be healthy. i plan on doing a very large water change tomorrow but i really need to find another way to keep them down because salt is not cheap. please help!! thank you!
-lyle

 

[tmreynolds]

gotta 55 gallon with about 10-12 pounds of live rock, bout 50 pounds of base rock, and regular sand as a substrate. my only fish are 2 star fish, a green spotted puffer and a snowflake eel. my ammonia levels have been consistently around 0 ppm, my nitrate levels consistently 10-20 ppm, but my nitrites have been consistently very high for a while, and nothing i do seems to help it. i put new charcoal in my filter (some expensive stuff, better than normal charcoal), 25% water change every week, i've added more nitrifying bacteria (stuff called 'Cycle') ...... nitrites are still outrageously high. i even did a 50 % water change every other day for a week, and it just wont go down, with in a day it was right back to where it was before. its been about 1 to 1.3 ppm for a long time now and i'm very concerned. my fish seem perfectly fine but i know this can't be healthy. i plan on doing a very large water change tomorrow but i really need to find another way to keep them down because salt is not cheap. please help!! thank you!
-lyle

Nitrites at that level are not dangerous to saltwater fish, in fact nitrites are not half as dangerous in marine tanks as opposed to freshwater. Ammonia is the killer, as long as this is zero you should be OK.


Read this, interesting article about nitrite

Link

 

[Lyle]

thanks alot man, definitly makes takes a load off my shoulders..... but why i'm really concerned is that i've also noticed my puffer resting on the bottom alot, not as active all the time, and i don't think hes eating too well either. and my eel hasn't eaten in a while i don't think (given he did eat 11 inches worth of fish over the holiday season, i'm trying to ween him from live food). they're both brackish fish but i've been assured they do very well in full salt. still i'm worried about the puffer, and my nitrites are the only thing i can find wrong. do you know if this behavior is normal for a green spotted puffer?

 

[SkiFletch]

thanks alot man, definitly makes takes a load off my shoulders..... but why i'm really concerned is that i've also noticed my puffer resting on the bottom alot, not as active all the time, and i don't think hes eating too well either. and my eel hasn't eaten in a while i don't think (given he did eat 11 inches worth of fish over the holiday season, i'm trying to ween him from live food). they're both brackish fish but i've been assured they do very well in full salt. still i'm worried about the puffer, and my nitrites are the only thing i can find wrong. do you know if this behavior is normal for a green spotted puffer?

Dunno about the puffer, but I'd be suspect of your testing kit... Its does not add up that you've seen a rise in nitrates but nitrites are also present in the system. Have your LFS verify your results?