Help!

[ldb007]

I have had my 55gallon since the end of Dec. I finally had added fish at the end of January and my nitrite readings have been sky high. My amonia and nitrates have been at 0 and my ph has been 8.4 and my gravity is perfect. I have done water change after water change and cannot get my nitrites down. I lost ALL of my shrimp. My fish are still doing fine, but I'm afraid thats going to change. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get my nitrites down?? Please help, I don't know what else to do. :help:

 

[reefkprz]

nitrites should go down on their own, breaking down to nitrates. you can add live bacteria to help complete the cycle.

 

[promisetbg]

You may be overfeeding. What are you feeding, how much,& how often? How many fish? How is the tank set up, and how much clean up crew do you have? What size tank? Do you have a protein skimmer? What is your phosphate reading? What is the source for your water, is it RO/DI?

 

[ldb007]

I have been adding bacteria at every water change. Thanks for the advice though. I'm not sure what else to do. They are SKY high though, I'm getting frustrated!!

 

[reefkprz]

what kind of bacteria?

 

[krazekajin]

also, what filters do you use. Canister filters or HOB are notorious for contributing to high nitrates

 

[reefkprz]

what is your salinity? or specific gravity if you prefer (please be specific perfect doesnt really mean much)

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by KrazeKajin
also, what filters do you use. Canister filters or HOB are notorious for contributing to high nitrates
Idb is saying high nitrites not nitrates

 

[ldb007]

I haven't been over feeding, I actually have been feeding once every 2-3 days per-advice. I do have a protein skimmer. There are only nine small fish in my tank. 3 damsels, 1 angel, 1 clown, and 4 of those I fogot what there are called right now but its a "school" of 4. They begin with a C. I also have a horseshoe crab and a emerald crab. I mean....I can't even get the reading "slighty" lowered.

 

[reefkprz]

chromis

 

[ldb007]

what is your salinity?<---1.024 I have a BIO wheel 350 filter and corallife lighting. I only keep my lighting on 7-8 hours a day for my coral. (mushroom) coral, just 1.

 

[ldb007]

YES, chromis. I am adding...NITROMAX Marine High-density nitrifying bacteria and Oxygenating bacteria booster.

 

[reefkprz]

ok so a specific gravity of 1.024 is fine that would be a salinity of a little below 33. thats just fine. now just to double check are you talking high nitrites or nitrates. (its easy to mix them up but there is a world of difference)

 

[ldb007]

Nitrites. My nitrates are at 0. hahaha, the only problem I am having are with these nitrites. But from what I hear .....they are EXTREMELY toxic to my fish and no matter what I do, I can't get them down. My head is spinning.

 

[hatessushi]

What size is your tank, do you have any live rock or live sand? did you add all of the livestock at one time or did you wait a week or 2 between adding each fish?

 

[earlybird]

Can you define sky high? What are your exact readings of trites? What test kit are you using?

 

[ldb007]

What size is your tank, do you have any live rock or live sand? did you add all of the livestock at one time or did you wait a week or 2 between adding each fish?<

[hr]
I have a 55 gallon. I have 50 pounds of live rock. No live sand---crushed coral. I waited 2 weeks in between for adding new fish. Some I added together. If I could figure out how to post pictures on here I will gladly send pics.

 

[reefkprz]

ok I just wanted to be sure, I wasnt trying to be a wise acre or anything like that. the thing is your bacteria should develop on its own once an ammonia source was added, apparantly its breaking down ammonia to nitrite, but the next step of the cycle isnt happening. its kind of bugging me out. did you ever do anything to initiate the cycle? like add an ammonia source at the beggining? then wait for the tank to break it all down all the way to nitrate?
and like sushi asked did you get all the fish close together time wise or did you add one wait then add more?

 

[ldb007]

Here are pictures of my tank

 

[reefkprz]

as for the nitro max you can stop adding it. the bacteria you want to get in your system for breaking down nitrite is nitrospira, where your not having an ammonia problem its best to let your tank do this naturally rather than throwing off the balance by constantly adding more bacteria, wich tends to starve and die off causeing more ammonia to break down to nitrites. its a viscious circle and I would say could be they reason your having such high nitrites the battle for oxygen could be starving out the next step in the cycle. this is all hypothetical though.