Nitrite

[simoninbewdley]

Hi

I've recently started a tropical fish tank, can anyone tell me if I need to test for Nitrite? and if so how often? I have had conflicting reports some say I should test others say I dont.

 

[Ben.M]

Yes you definatly should, if you have fish in it while cycling then i would do it daily but if your doing a fishless cycle then do it every few days,

Ben.M

 

[Inchworm]

Hi simoninbewdley

Welcome to the forum! I'm happy you will be joining us.

I'll move your thread over to the New To The Hobby section. Our good members who post in there will help you get through cycling your tank.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi and welcome!

Nitrite testing is one of several things you will need to do with a new tank but its just one little tidbit in the middle of lots of new info you'll need. You've found the right place though. Try beginning by reading about the Nitrogen Cycle, Fishless cycling and Fish-In Cycling in our Beginners Resource Center. The members here are great about answering questions too.

Nitrite(NO2) is one of two substances that are deadly to fish and common in new tanks. A good liquid-reagent based test kit is needed to properly quantify the nitrite(NO2) in your tank. Nitrite levels above 0.25ppm can cause permanent nerve damage in some species. In a properly running tank, nitrite is handled, along with ammonia, by a "biofilter." It usually takes about two months to "grow" a biofilter and prior to that an aquarium filter is not yet ready for fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[simoninbewdley]

Thanks very much for this information, we have the tropical fish in a Orca TL-450 tank, but we are reading up and found that it is supposed to be for Marine fish, is it still ok to use?

 

[waterdrop]

The "container," usually a tank, whether made of glass or acrylic, won't matter. Whether it was intended for marine or fresh shouldn't matter unless there is some practical difficulty, like it being "drilled" for types of filtration you don't want to use, or things like that. Filtration matters a lot and marine and fresh generally will be found to be different.

How big is your tank? What filter are you using and what types of media have you put in?

~~waterdrop~~