Trace Of Nitrite

[2excitedkids]

Hello all,

I wondered if anyone could advise.
We have a 260l planted juwel vision. We have had for oevr 1 year and change water weekly with gravel vac and- swish of filters weekly in old tank water and slightly more vigorous squish of one of filter sponges every couple weeks.

All has been well until the last 4-6 weeks when we have noted the slightest pink tinge in our nitrite readings...no where near reading anything on the colour chart as so faint - but it is there when before it was completely clear(nutrafin liquid test).
Our ammonia is 0.

We have not added new fish for months, our stocking is in my profile and works out at 1 and half inch per gallon and no particularly messy fish.

We tried feeding alternate days,being less vigourous with our filter cleaning, being more vigorous with filter cleaning but it is still there when we come to testing.

I didn't think we were overstocked but are we ?, or is it a juwel filter thing where they become less efficeint. Should we swap our filter sponges for new ones (one by one over time of course), or add in additional filter.

Not sure what the cause is or what to do for the best...any thoughts appreciated!

 

[oswoldy]

How often do you clean your filter and how do you clean it?

Mike

 

[2excitedkids]

As mentioned in my post I swish them in old tank water weekly and give alternate ones a good squeeze weekly-there are 4 sponges so takes 4 weeks for each one to have had a good squeeze...if you see what I mean.

 

[oswoldy]

As mentioned in my post I swish them in old tank water weekly and give alternate ones a good squeeze weekly-there are 4 sponges so takes 4 weeks for each one to have had a good squeeze...if you see what I mean.

I would try not cleaning them as frequently try leaving it 4 weeks. I personally dont clean mine until flow is reduced or every six months whatever happens sooner. It could be that your sponges are getting old and therefore cannot hold as much bacteria. You should not need to replace them unless they are falling apart though.

Mike

 

[arobinson1984]

I think you are just cleaning the filters too often and subsequently cleaning away too much beneficial bacteria.

I'd change your filter cleaning schedule to every month rather than every week, this will depend on what sort of filter you have. If you have a large external filter, many find its fine to clean them out every 3-6 months.

Also another point, I think that with a 260L tank you are above the threshold when really you be better with an external canister filter. I found the jewul filter in my tank quite good but its only a 125L tank. I think any tank over the 200L region would highly benefit from larger filtration, especially if you are stocked to 1.5" per gallon

Andy

 

[2excitedkids]

Blimey - I didn't expect people to say I was doing too much cleaning!
We are toying with the idea of eventually replacing the filter with an eheim but not sure which one we would get/size we need etc.

 

[oswoldy]

Blimey - I didn't expect people to say I was doing too much cleaning!

I guess its that last thing you think, try it once every 4 weeks and see if that helps

Edit: If you have a 260 litre tank then you want something with approx 1300 Litres Per Hour Turnover that would be 5x turnover which should be fine unless you are or will overstock your tank.

Mike

 

[arobinson1984]

For 5x turnover you'd ideally be best looking at the eheim pro 3 range or 2 x eheim classics.

I have the eheim 2075 pro 3 and the flow rate is 1250ltr an hour and I find it an excellent filter apart from the pirce £170

Andy

 

[2excitedkids]

If you have a very high turnover rate ,does it make it difficult for the fishies to swim around? We have qyuite a strong current with our current filter so would it be much stronger with these better filters?

 

[oswoldy]

If you have a very high turnover rate ,does it make it difficult for the fishies to swim around? We have qyuite a strong current with our current filter so would it be much stronger with these better filters?

It depends because with most if not all Eheims you get a spraybar which helps to distibute the flow a little, if that fails you could point the spraybar at the glass.

Mike

 

[saz326]

To be honest a tinge of pink is kinda what you should be getting.

The filter bacteria need to have ammonia and nitrite available in order to be feeding and being maintained. If there was ever a true ZERO reading then there would be nothing in the water to feed the bacteria. There always needs to be a trace in the water or bacteria would start to die off.

As long as the reading is still the lowest it can possibly be i wouldnt worry. If it starts to creep up then that is a different story.