cant figure out why nitrite is spiking!

[bzolnowski]

i have a 75 hex tank. it took me awhile to cycle the tank. last week i finally had good numbers and within about 6 days, they started to spike again. ever since, i just cant get the nitrite back down. i did two 5 gallon changes yesterday, made no difference. did 15 gallons today and still elevated but did come down some. i am not overfeeding. i have ten fish. most are small. any thoughts? i shouldnt have to do water changes so often! brian.

 

[ajroc31]

check your test kit, I had same problems and it was the test kit that was bad.

 

[ajroc31]

There is a chance that you are overstocked. If you added too many things at once, there is a possibility that you overloaded the system, and the bacteria can't cope with the heavy load. What fish did you add?

 

[beaslbob]

real simple. Your fish are causing the spike. Stop feeding and the spike will come down in about a week.

 

[bzolnowski]

i have five damels, two clowns, a goby, a longnose butterfly, and a koran angel, ten small fish overall. if i am overloaded, will it ever catch up? should i stop doing so many water changes and let the nitrite convert to nitrate on its own? how can i not feed for a week, that sounds crazy!

 

[dacia]

Fish can survive a very long time (and in good health!) without feeding. When I go on vacation, I tell whoever is watching over my tank to feed them either every other day or every 3 days to prevent overfeeding...
If your tank is still trying to cycle, then water changes can sometimes slow things down. If you can, you may want to try adding extra filtration to your tank, whether it be another HOB filter or more LS and LR. The more media you have for bacteria to grow, the faster your nitrite and ammonia levels will bottom out since you will have more bacteria to dispose of them.
I agree that you should slow down on feeding. Do you have a cycled QT tank? You could move your fish there until the nitrite levels are normal again.

 

[bzolnowski]

i will slow down on the feeding, its always so hard to tell what are good amounts! i try amd mix it up with different stuff to meaning flake, pellet, and frozen. i dont have a good q tank. i will slow down the feeding. i have a wet/dry, live sand, and lots of live rock. i just cant understand why it is still doing this. i will also stop doing the waterchanges and let it run its coarse. thanks! brian.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by bzolnowski
i have five damels, two clowns, a goby, a longnose butterfly, and a koran angel, ten small fish overall. if i am overloaded, will it ever catch up? should i stop doing so many water changes and let the nitrite convert to nitrate on its own? how can i not feed for a week, that sounds crazy!
I know it sounds crazy. But it is the most effective thing I have found. When i first started (late 70's) with my first salt (a 10g ), a single neon gobie caused nitrites to peg the test kit. That lasted for two weeks. When I stopped feeding, it took an additional week then they came down. Since then, when cycling I add fish and do not feed for a week. Nitrites will rise in the first two days and then drop after 4 or 5. This has happened several times since the late 70's with no loss of fish.
Also when I go on vacation for up to two weeks, I do nothing. I have never lost a fish that way and always come back to cleaner tanks, active fish who are glad to see me.

 

[bzolnowski]

that is absolutely unbelievable. i am not saying not true, i am just amazed! i actually am going away in a few weeks for ten days and i am nervous on the best ways to make sure i dont have any loss for whatever reason while i am gone. thanks for the advise. i thought you would loss some after that long. i will hold on the food for a little as well as the water changes and let it take its course. thanks! brian.

 

[reefnut]

bzolnowski, for your sake and the sake of you tank please ignore Bob's advise. He has proven time and time again that he has no understanding of the chemistry makeup of a balanced tank and he give his fish a life expectancy of two years which is absurd.

 

[reefnut]

P.S. Search in the Reef Forum for my post called "Headed to Michigan"... there is some good advice on preparing for a trip.

 

[bzolnowski]

thank you very much reef nut. so frusterated when i think i have been done cycling and i still get high nitrite from time to time. hopefully it will figure itself out. i appreciate it. brian.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by bzolnowski
thank you very much reef nut. so frusterated when i think i have been done cycling and i still get high nitrite from time to time. hopefully it will figure itself out. i appreciate it. brian.
Understand. It basically takes time for the system to stabilize. The nitrogen cycle actually never stops it just stops spiking. In my 55g I had ph drops after the nitrites stopped spiking. Then that finally stabilized. Hang in there, two years from now this will seem a distant memory

 

[reefnut]

Patience is a virtue in this hobby. It sound like to me also that the tank was probably cycled but with the addition of to many fish at one time it overloaded the bacteria colonies. With a wet/dry and a good amount of LR the system will most likely catch up but then you may have nitrate problems.

 

[bzolnowski]

once it catches up, i should be good overall though right? why would i have elevated nitrate after time? i only have ten fish, i know its a lot to have in the first six months but overall, that isnt that bad. what do you think? is there anything else besides wetdry, protein skimmer, live sand, and live rock that would help me? thanks, brian.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by bzolnowski
once it catches up, i should be good overall though right?
With that given bioload yes. If you add some more fish you can expect another spike as the bacteria catches up to the new bioload. And that new cycle should be smaller because you would be increasing the bioload by a much lower percentage. For instance say you had the equilivant of a 5 fish bioload. Adding one more fish only increased the bioload by 1/5 or 20%. When you added the equilivant of 5 fish the first time you may have gone from 0 to 5 for an infinte increase in bioload.
why would i have elevated nitrate after time? i only have ten fish, i know its a lot to have in the first six months but overall, that isnt that bad. what do you think? is there anything else besides wetdry, protein skimmer, live sand, and live rock that would help me? thanks, brian.
NitrItes comes down by being converted nitrAte. Unless there is something in the system to consume that nitrAte it will slowly build up over time. Live sand does reduce nitrAte with anaerobic bacteria. The plant life in the system including on the live rock will consume the nitrAte and also carbon dioxide plus filter out heavy ions, buffer ph, consume phosphates. So algae is actually your friend and makes for a stable balanced system. Adding pretty algae or marine plants also helps control the ugly algae by competing for the same resources. That is the reason i recommend adding plant life.

 

[reefnut]

I don't think it is the number of fish but how fast they were introduced. You should add one fish and in a week or two add another. This allows the bacteria colonies to keep up with the load.
IMO 10 fish in a 75g tank a is a heavy load. It is recommended that 1" of full grown fish for every 5g of water but that is only a rule of thumb.
As far as the nitrate control...
GOOD Skimmer
Water Changes
Macro Algae - preferably in a fuge IMO
DSB- can help - some pros and cons you should know before deciding.
HTH,

 

[reefnut]

BTW, sand will only consume nitrates if it is over 4" deep- DSB. Otherwise although very beneficial, it will not directly reduce the nitrates from what I understand. Now all the critters living in LS will help by consuming debris.
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