Water Stats

[Akasha72]

Ariel ... please please please ... don't throw sponges away unless they are falling to pieces. Just clean them lightly in some old tank water and pop them back into your filter. This will be why you have Nitrite in your tank. Everytime you throw a sponge away because it's dirty you put your tank back into cycling from the beginning. The filter manufacturers tell us to change sponges every 3 months (or what ever, depend on the company) ... this is purely to make more money from you. It is not for the good of your tank or fish.
 
Now, bottled bacteria. Well there's been several arguements over the years over whether there is anything in those bottles or whether they are just another money making scheme. I've tried a few myself - API Stresscoat, King British Safe Water being the two I can remember the names of. I've found them to be of very little help and now I've stopped wasting my money on them.
 
I've found the best way to keep the tank ticking over is to get as much sponge media in the filter as you can and only clean it when the flow from the filter slows down significantly. All I do then is rub the sponges in dirty tank water and put them back. I've not bought new sponges in over 3 years.
 
I hope that helps you get this nitrite under control

 

[arielsworld17974]

I'm going to try this. I have heard of people just rinsing them but I was told that it wasn't a good idea. But I'm going to try this instead and see if my tank clears up. I don't want anyone to think I'm crazy. Just trying to do the right thing on something I'm very new to. That's why I ask lots of questions .... I really love my fish and I want to take care of them the right way.

I really think the stability works. Maybe it's not but I'm going to use it until everything is fully established.

I'm going to test my water again today and see where my nitrite is at and I'll get back to you guys.

 

[Byron]

Briefly on the bacterial supplements (Stability, SafeStart, etc).  There is factual scientific evidence that these do speed up the initial establishment of the nityrifying bacteria (what we term the cycle).  They do not "instantly cycle" but they quicken the establishment, so on that score they can do no harm.  Even those that do not have the true nitrifying bacteria strains will still speed things up a bit.  I have used Stability, though with plants this was probably mute, and I no longer do.
 
There is so far only one that does cycle almost instantly, Dr. Tim's One and Only, provided one follows the directions.  There is fairly irrefutable scientific evidence of this, so I accept it.
 
Once the tank becomes cycled and established I wouldn't waste my money by adding these products as there is no need for them.  I won't go into the workings of bacteria and archaea, that would bog this down.  But once the colony of nitrifiers is established, and provided you don't push it over the edge by overcrowding, overfeeding, over-medicating, etc, you are fine.
 
Byron.

 

[arielsworld17974]

Wow just tested it again and it's significantly better! Not perfect but way better!!

 

[Akasha72]

nobody thinks you are crazy ... we are here to help you and remember - we have nothing to gain by helping. We arn't trying to sell you something that gets our tills ringing and our pockets fat.
 
Keep up the water changes and if adding the stability makes you feel better then you may aswell add it. I have in the past added some King British Safe Water when I've cleaned a filter but I suspect there's very little in the bottle that helps - call me cynical.
 
Your doing the right thing by asking questions here and I'm here to help you in any way I can - I want the best for your fish too! I want the best for every creature on the planet - except maybe rats snakes and spiders 

 *shudder*
Feel free to ask anything - there are no stupid questions and if I can't answer you someone else will

 

[arielsworld17974]

Well thank you. That makes me feel so much better. I never thought fish keeping would be so complicated. I had a goldfish as a kid, just in a simple bowl, and he grew so big over the years I had to get rid of him so someone that had a pond. I didn't do really anything for him and he lived a great life. So I never thought it would be this complicated, but I enjoy it

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Two comments here- As Byron noted most bacterial starters do not work because they contain the wrong bacteria, but this is because there is a patent on the proper ones for nitrite. Tetra Safe Start is also another one that will work. Dr Hovanec and Marineland shared the patent and when Marineland was bought out by the same pet conglomerate that owns Tetra, the bacteria was then produced by Tetra not the Marineland folks. Dr. Hovanec bought the old Marineland facility in Moorpark, Ca. and set up his own company.
 
As for Stability, this is a SeaChem product which is not really any good because it contains no live bacteria, only spores. The nitrifiers do not form spores, so Stability cannot contain the needed nitrifying bacteria. And to make Byron happy, I would note the same applies to the Archaea, so these are not in Stability either. If you dig hard on the SeaChem site you will see they admit that the nitrifying bacteria are autotrophic and they name mostly correct ones involved. But they make it very hard to find this information on their site as it contradicts what they claim relative to Stability and the actual bacteria at work. At best something else in Stability may help feed the proper bacteria which would get them to reproduce faster. I don't know. SeaChem makes some really good products, but Stability is not one of them, imo. I would not use this product in any of my tanks.
 
I have used Dr Hovanecs product on several occasions because I needed pure bacteria and a brand new tank without other stuff in it to receive wild fish. It works as advertised.
 
Rinse biomedia only when it clogs. If you have bacteria in a tank using Stability daily or even weekly will do only two thing, make SeaChem richer and you poorer. Replace sponges only when they start to degrade.
 
Keeping fish is not all that complicated. The biggest problem is the wrong information that persists on fish sites and keeps getting repeated.

 

[arielsworld17974]

Well that's why I come here. So I know what to do the right way! I won't be changing my Filters now. Just rinsing them in old tank water.
Question: after rinsing should I dump that water or reuse it? Might be a silly question. But I feel like if your rinsing it all the good bacteria is going in the bowl.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Dump it.
 
The bacteria are not free swimming, they live in a biofilm they create to attach themselves to hard surfaces. Quite often there are a variety of other bacteria living in the biofilm with them. The biofilm also offers protection against things like chlorine or chloramine or protect it from drying out easily. The bacteria are a lot hardier than most folks realize or stat on forums. Rinseing media wont kill or dislodge them unless you blast the media with a strong jet of water.
 
If you have nitrite, it is because there are not sufficient nitrite bacteria present. This is quite harmful to fish, but unlike ammonia, there are ways to block it from entering the fish. Chloride, a component in salt (which is sodium chloride), can block the nitrite from entering fish and causing harm. It takes only a small amount so one can use plain old table salt to counter nitrite rather than doing water changes. The advantage is that by leaving the nitrite (up to a point when it will begin to stall or kill a cycle), it makes the cycle go faster. To make the bacteria multiply requires there is more ammonia or nitrite than they can use. This results in their multiplying until they can use it all. By lowering levels, you get less reproduction and that means getting a colony to full numbers will take longer.
 
While there is some lower level of ammonia that fish can handle for a while, it can easily reach levels that are too high and we then must change water to lower it. But the chloride that blocks the nitrite means it wont harm the fish because it can not get into their system. So one can allow it to build up during a fish in cycle and not harm the fish. You can read this in more detail here and how to determine how much salt you need for any given nitrite level (scroll down in the article) http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/433778-rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il/ As you will see it takes very little salt to achieve the desired result

 

[Byron]

Well that's why I come here. So I know what to do the right way! I won't be changing my Filters now. Just rinsing them in old tank water.
Question: after rinsing should I dump that water or reuse it? Might be a silly question. But I feel like if your rinsing it all the good bacteria is going in the bowl.

 
The bacteria is going no where, and certainly not into the water in the bowl (in your example) or down the drain (in my case).  Bacteria adhere to surfaces in a very sticky film called the biofilm.  It is not easy to dislodge them, and certainly simply rinsing the sponge/pad/media will not remove them..
 
There is no benefit to the dirty water, quite the opposite.  You do not want all that sludge back in the tank.
 
For 25+ years I have rinsed my sponge filters and filter pads, replacing them when they begin to fall apart.  I do now replace the fine white pad in my canisters at every cleaning (3 months on average) simply because rinsing out all the sludge causes them to literally lose shape and the water easily gets around rather than through them, which defeats the reason for using them.
 
Byron.
 
Edit.  Once again, TTA posted simultaneously.  

 

[Ch4rlie]

Well that's why I come here. So I know what to do the right way! I won't be changing my Filters now. Just rinsing them in old tank water.
Question: after rinsing should I dump that water or reuse it? Might be a silly question. But I feel like if your rinsing it all the good bacteria is going in the bowl.

 
I use the old tank water for my house plants, they seem to love it
 
In fact old tank water is full of nutrients for potted house plants, far more benficial than tap water imo.
 
Other than that, I chuck old tank water away.

 

[Akasha72]

^what they said^

funny that ch4rlie .... in the summer I syphon the dirty tank water from water changes out of my bedroom window via a long piece of pipe into my water butt and use the water for the plants in my little garden! Last year the plants put up such a show and my neighbours were asking what plant food I was using!! I laughed and said "fish poo" 

 

[Byron]

Yes, I too have used fish water for watering house plants.  No need for buying house plant fertilizers.  I now use rainwater which has also shown to be much better than tap water.