GuppygirlLol
New Member
Hello,
i’ll start with the details of my tank.
I have a 20g tall planted tank. Fluval substrate+ top layer sand substrate, with a piece of wood, and a few rocks. My heater keeps the tank between 78-80. I’ve had it running for nearly two months, and started it with a mesh bag of cycled substrate, old sponge filter, and a piece of wood from an old cycled shrimp tank.
As for fish I have two Guppies, one of which may have been pregnant from the store. I’ve had them for about three weeks and they are very active and (seemingly) healthy. I also have a mystery snail that i’ve had for about a year, transferred from an old tank to this one.
As for water parameters.. i’ve recently had a sudden nitrite spike of 5ppm. Also the PH of my local tap (brooklyn, ny) is only at a 6.8. so even with crushed coral it has stayed consistently under 7. I condition the tap water with Seachem prime before adding to the tank. I have 5 ppm nitrates, 0 ammonia, and a KH of 40 ppm. Hardness between 120-180. I have a master test kit and the api strip tests. Up until now, my nitrites have been at a 0, and I thought it had become established and cycled already. I bought some aquarium plants… name forgotten but was in a floating bunch with tiny leaves, after two weeks these turned nearly brown and i lost a lot of leaves throughout my tank. I took the plant out and cleaned several times with a long turkey baster. I also do this regularly for poop etc.
To combat the nitrites I have done several water changes over the course of a week. Two 25% and three 50% each dosed with the recommended seachem. I didn’t add more because i’ve read that seachem may actually not fix the nitrite problem? i’ve read mixed reviews on this and i still feel unsure. I also added another old sponge filter to increase aeration. I know I made a huge mistake when I rinsed my sponge in tap water for a moment to get some leaves and muck off of it but i did not thoroughly wash the inside. I now know tap kills beneficial bacteria so maybe that + the plants caused the spike?
My other question is.. what else can I do? I don’t want my fish to suffer but even a few hours after a water change my readings for nitrite are still at an emergency level of 5ppm.
Does nitrite still show as detectable after using seachem prime?
also want to mention i’ve added root tabs and florin multi (shrimp friendly) liquid fertilizer because my plants weren’t thriving and i’m hoping to get some shrimp in the future. i’m not sure if these ferts affect the nitrites???
thank you
i’ll start with the details of my tank.
I have a 20g tall planted tank. Fluval substrate+ top layer sand substrate, with a piece of wood, and a few rocks. My heater keeps the tank between 78-80. I’ve had it running for nearly two months, and started it with a mesh bag of cycled substrate, old sponge filter, and a piece of wood from an old cycled shrimp tank.
As for fish I have two Guppies, one of which may have been pregnant from the store. I’ve had them for about three weeks and they are very active and (seemingly) healthy. I also have a mystery snail that i’ve had for about a year, transferred from an old tank to this one.
As for water parameters.. i’ve recently had a sudden nitrite spike of 5ppm. Also the PH of my local tap (brooklyn, ny) is only at a 6.8. so even with crushed coral it has stayed consistently under 7. I condition the tap water with Seachem prime before adding to the tank. I have 5 ppm nitrates, 0 ammonia, and a KH of 40 ppm. Hardness between 120-180. I have a master test kit and the api strip tests. Up until now, my nitrites have been at a 0, and I thought it had become established and cycled already. I bought some aquarium plants… name forgotten but was in a floating bunch with tiny leaves, after two weeks these turned nearly brown and i lost a lot of leaves throughout my tank. I took the plant out and cleaned several times with a long turkey baster. I also do this regularly for poop etc.
To combat the nitrites I have done several water changes over the course of a week. Two 25% and three 50% each dosed with the recommended seachem. I didn’t add more because i’ve read that seachem may actually not fix the nitrite problem? i’ve read mixed reviews on this and i still feel unsure. I also added another old sponge filter to increase aeration. I know I made a huge mistake when I rinsed my sponge in tap water for a moment to get some leaves and muck off of it but i did not thoroughly wash the inside. I now know tap kills beneficial bacteria so maybe that + the plants caused the spike?
My other question is.. what else can I do? I don’t want my fish to suffer but even a few hours after a water change my readings for nitrite are still at an emergency level of 5ppm.
Does nitrite still show as detectable after using seachem prime?
also want to mention i’ve added root tabs and florin multi (shrimp friendly) liquid fertilizer because my plants weren’t thriving and i’m hoping to get some shrimp in the future. i’m not sure if these ferts affect the nitrites???
thank you
