High Nitrites! Help!

[teekay37]

New to the forum looking answers! About 2 months ago I bought a 55 gal off people who were moving, they didnt do much with the tank for 2 years but add water and scrub algae. She told me she never did water changes but it has been running "just fine" with the two overhang filters. Wrong! Algae, nitrates, nitrites thru the roof! Over the past month and a half I have added water stabilizer conditioner and done routine water changes. Things seemed to be getting to normal and i was reading up a storm about how to properly take care of the fish that came with the tank. Upgraded to a 406 canister rated for 100 gal. Have a mature zebra eel, teenage puffer, 2 clowns, 3 three stripe damsels, 3 domino damsels, handful of hermit crabs and one BIG mama jama orange hairy hermit, 2 scooter blennys, 2 silver starters and down to 1 from 4 yellow tails. Marty the zebra eel will eat one occasionally. I haven't added anything new to the tank but the 2 scooters I got from *****. On the 8th I switched out to a 75 gal. When I changed out the tanks I did it in basically 1 day. Took out all the sand, vacuumed it along the way, put about 50% water then new water added new sand, then when it settled the next morning I vacuumed again and added more water and plugged up another 406, after that settled added the fish. I added nitrate reducer on the 5th before the tank swap. The ammonia levels are good, nitrates are ok but the nitrite and algae are still off the charts! The fish seem to be fine, but Marty was out and about this morning after I fed him and kind of in a panic and I'm worried he's stressed. He's hiding in the man cave now like normal but this morning was not normal. Oh and the algae is brown and before I swapped tanks I bought an actual tank light T5 (the one the had was a shop light) and cut back the time to try to control the algae. SO what should I do? The guy at the fish store said every 3-4 days do a 10% water change because there's nothing else I can do since the fish are already in the new tank and just hope they don't die.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by teekay37 http:///t/395243/high-nitrites-help#post_3518531
New to the forum looking answers! About 2 months ago I bought a 55 gal off people who were moving, they didnt do much with the tank for 2 years but add water and scrub algae. She told me she never did water changes but it has been running "just fine" with the two overhang filters. Wrong! Algae, nitrates, nitrites thru the roof! Over the past month and a half I have added water stabilizer conditioner and done routine water changes. Things seemed to be getting to normal and i was reading up a storm about how to properly take care of the fish that came with the tank. Upgraded to a 406 canister rated for 100 gal. Have a mature zebra eel, teenage puffer, 2 clowns, 3 three stripe damsels, 3 domino damsels, handful of hermit crabs and one BIG mama jama orange hairy hermit, 2 scooter blennys, 2 silver starters and down to 1 from 4 yellow tails. Marty the zebra eel will eat one occasionally. I haven't added anything new to the tank but the 2 scooters I got from *****. On the 8th I switched out to a 75 gal. When I changed out the tanks I did it in basically 1 day. Took out all the sand, vacuumed it along the way, put about 50% water then new water added new sand, then when it settled the next morning I vacuumed again and added more water and plugged up another 406, after that settled added the fish. I added nitrate reducer on the 5th before the tank swap. The ammonia levels are good, nitrates are ok but the nitrite and algae are still off the charts! The fish seem to be fine, but Marty was out and about this morning after I fed him and kind of in a panic and I'm worried he's stressed. He's hiding in the man cave now like normal but this morning was not normal. Oh and the algae is brown and before I swapped tanks I bought an actual tank light T5 (the one the had was a shop light) and cut back the time to try to control the algae. SO what should I do? The guy at the fish store said every 3-4 days do a 10% water change because there's nothing else I can do since the fish are already in the new tank and just hope they don't die.
Hi, welcome to the site.
No mature tank should have any nitrites. Is it possible that your test kit is no good, or you are doing the tests wrong? If you do have nitrites and you have fish in there, you have to soft cycle...that means you do a 10% water change every couple of days and hope the fish won't die.
Scooter blennies I think... need copepods to survive, if that's the case, without a refugium they will starve.
How many power heads do you have, and how much live rock? You have too many fish for your size tank, and you mixed fish that don't get along. Damsels are extra mean little devil fish, they will kill off each other and anything more timid then themselves...they will also bite you drawing blood when they mature.
Brown algae is normal for new tanks, and will go away on it's own.

 

[teekay37]

The tank isn't new new tho the people I bought it from had it for 2 years. I don't have any power heads but the canisters create a current on either end. The tank came with 2 over hang filters, an airrator and a salt tester. I've been using the strips to test. I took a water sample in and they got the same results and told me the same thing, soft water changes. It's good to know there's too many fish, all those fish (but the 2 scooters) came in the 55 gal when I bought it and there were 4 yellow tail and I'm down to one now. I've been contemplating taking the dominos out, the bite my wrist every time I reach in to put a rock up right or whatever. They are bully fish!! Te clowns are the only ones that fight back. I don't have any live rock. The rocks that came with the tank were from the beach they said, along with the sand. Those 2 big rocks were covered and I mean covered in brown algae. So I took them out and got new ones but not live. Also I know there are enough pods for the scooters, I read that's what they needed and to see how many scatter at night when you shine a light. Thank you for your reply!

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by teekay37 http:///t/395243/high-nitrites-help#post_3518550
The tank isn't new new tho the people I bought it from had it for 2 years. I don't have any power heads but the canisters create a current on either end. The tank came with 2 over hang filters, an airrator and a salt tester. I've been using the strips to test. I took a water sample in and they got the same results and told me the same thing, soft water changes. It's good to know there's too many fish, all those fish (but the 2 scooters) came in the 55 gal when I bought it and there were 4 yellow tail and I'm down to one now. I've been contemplating taking the dominos out, the bite my wrist every time I reach in to put a rock up right or whatever. They are bully fish!! Te clowns are the only ones that fight back. I don't have any live rock. The rocks that came with the tank were from the beach they said, along with the sand. Those 2 big rocks were covered and I mean covered in brown algae. So I took them out and got new ones but not live. Also I know there are enough pods for the scooters, I read that's what they needed and to see how many scatter at night when you shine a light. Thank you for your reply!
Hi,
You NEED power heads and you NEED live rock. If you replaced the rock that was in there, you removed most of your good bacteria which explains the nitrite spike. You can use dead dried rock but you need some live rock to seed the dead stuff. The tiny critters that live in the rock is what makes it "live"....those tiny critters are an essential part of the tiny ecosystem you create in a fish tank.
The power heads create a wave in the tank, the wave is the life of the ocean, and your SW tank. Just having water flow from the top is not enough. saltwater has less oxygen then fresh, so you really need to move that surface water to get good gas exchange as well. Make the surface look like it's boiling. Put a power head at each end of the tank to blow across the rock to keep it clear of debris. You don't use air lines in a SW tank, it creates salt-creep and if you do use an air line DO NOT USE THE AIR STONE...the tiny bubbles mess with the fish' gills. You can't create the needed wave with an air line...you have to use power heads for that.
You also need lab type test kits, the strip kits are only used to tell you about your cycle, you need exact measures after you have fish. If you do not have a refugium, and removed the old rock out...the copepod population is going to deplete fast.
The amount of rock you need...dead or alive, is one pound per gallon, so two rocks is not enough unless they are giant pieces.

 

[teekay37]

Ah that makes perfect sense! I bought 60 pounds of base rock and dropped it in so I will be hitting the store tomorrow for some live rock. I left a few of the little rocks in from the old tank, they aren't huge but prob 15 pounds worth. The two big ones were big but not enough for even the old tank if its 1:1. No airstones in the tank and I will check out the power heads! Thanks!

 

[beth]

Quote:
Originally Posted by teekay37 http:///t/395243/high-nitrites-help#post_3518531
On the 8th I switched out to a 75 gal. When I changed out the tanks I did it in basically 1 day. Took out all the sand, vacuumed it along the way, put about 50% water then new water added new sand, then when it settled the next morning I vacuumed again and added more water and plugged up another 406, after that settled added the fish. I added nitrate reducer on the 5th before the tank swap. The ammonia levels are good, nitrates are ok but the nitrite and algae are still off the charts! The fish seem to be fine, but Marty was out and about this morning after I fed him and kind of in a panic and I'm worried he's stressed. He's hiding in the man cave now like normal but this morning was not normal. Oh and the algae is brown and before I swapped tanks I bought an actual tank light T5 (the one the had was a shop light) and cut back the time to try to control the algae. SO what should I do? The guy at the fish store said every 3-4 days do a 10% water change because there's nothing else I can do since the fish are already in the new tank and just hope they don't die.
Once you remove sand, vacuum sand and change out mass amt of water, the tank is no longer an established tank, and yeah, you will get ammonia and nitrites, especially with the bioload of fish you have in that tank. Live rock, and a substrate that consist of some live sand is the way to go. Yes, as much water movement you can create throughout the tank (but with live animals still comfortable) is best. So, pumping water for circulation is very important.
I would do a 1-2 gal change daily, rather then 10% weekly. Be sure to test for salinity in your tank, because you also loose water in evaporation and will need to replace it with fresh water.
Salt water used for water changes, should be premixed and allowed to circulate using a pump for a min of 24 hours. You need to test for salinity before putting new salt water in your tank.
Since your situation is not fish disease related, I'm going to move your topic over to the NEW HOBBYIST forum so that you can get more input on your tank.
I'd suggest sticking around the forum to get some help from knowledgeable hobbyists, and also invest in a good resource book, "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" by Robert Fenner. Great book with a wealth of info for beginning.

 

[beaslbob]

When I used to cycle a tank with no macro algae I used to not feed for a week. NitrItes would spike up and peg the test kit (api 5ppm max) for a couple of days then drop down.
But when I fed that first fish nitrItes would peg the kit for weeks.
So I recommend you stop adding food until nitrItes drop down.
my .02

 

[teekay37]

Thanks for the book tip Beth! I'll look on amazon! Any books I can get my hands on to read up so I know what I'm doing lol. I am doing the switch to 1-2 gal daily, I read somewhere else that's a good way to go. I'm hoping these fish are good and hardy because I know it is in bad shape but it was in worse shape when I got it. I obviously made a big mistake when switching out the tanks with the rocks but I went to the LFS and picked some up. Hopping for clear water on the horizon soon!!

 

[teekay37]

Oh and I also went down to feeding them once a day. The puffer is pissed lol. And I have the coral lights on a little longer then normal and reg light on a little longer than normal, I read extra light will boost up the bacteria.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by teekay37 http:///t/395243/high-nitrites-help#post_3518587
Oh and I also went down to feeding them once a day. The puffer is pissed lol. And I have the coral lights on a little longer then normal and reg light on a little longer than normal, I read extra light will boost up the bacteria.
Hi,
Aside from the seahorses, I only ever fed my fish once a day. those tiny critters that live in the rock I mentioned...the fish love to pick at the rock, and feed on them. So your fish have more to eat then just fish food. I loved Robert Fenners book. Another really good beginners book is the "Saltwater Aquariums for dummies" The author assumed the reader knew nothing, so speaking plain English it is very easy to understand, and explains everything in detail.