Canister help anyone?

[gabbie]

I own a fluval( even tough I dont like to admit it). I am having a problem with the trates and trites.
The tank has been running for 4 months now. We have been recently adding southdown to get a DSB
Everytime we add a little bit of the sand cleaned within a few days or so we have a trace of nitrite. So is it the sand??? Or the canister?? We tested the tap water and the sand water there was a little trace of trite in the sand water from the bucket we were cleaning the sand in.
So my question is what exactly do you clean when you clean your fluval out everything but the baskets??? Also how often the sponges ive been cleaning out weekly., But I never cleaned the canister till I cleaned It ALL out last night.
Our tank is 55 gallon fluval canister , new seaclone skimmer, Over the head regular filter we added when the we had the last trite problem, which was two weeks ago.
We have cleaner shrimp, scopias tang, bangai cardinal, percula clown. 1 serpant star. 2 hermits and a baby snowfake eel.which is about 7 inches.
Thanks gabbie

 

[frankl15207]

Gabbie
I ran fluvals for years on fish only tanks and never had a problem with them. They aren't used anymore, but are in storage.
Are you using filtered water? What water system are you getting the water from? When I used the fluvals they were rarely cleaned (rarely needed to be) and I never had a nitrite or nitrate problem.
You mention adding the sand a little at a time. Are you cycling the sand in another container? If so, what is the depth of the sand in the container and how are you cleaning it?