Lowering nitrites in QT?

[sac10918]

Hi all
I have been trying to cycle my QT for about 3 weeks now. THe only filtration I have on the 10 gallon QT is a biowheel and a Phosban reactor running carbon. It is bare bottomed with no LS or LR. I used display water to fill it and added a coctail shrimp for a day or two to start the cycle. The problem is my nitrites have been at like a 4 for 2 weeks or so. I am really anxious to get them down (I have a fish on hold that I would like to pick up when the water levels are safe)...
Is there any way to hurry things along? I read once about a fellow QTer that took his sponges he wasnt using, put them in the display for a few days, then stuffed them inside the PVC in the QT so that there was more places for the bacteria to colonize? Shall I give that a whirl? Do a water change? Wait it out? Please help!

 

[bmeeder]

Buy some sand and rock....

 

[sac10918]

 

[beth]

The sponge idea is really a very bad idea. Throw some live rock into the QT, as long as it has not be medicated, the LR should be ok. No fish in tank, right?

 

[sac10918]

Hi Beth~
Tank has not been medicated....No fish in there
I will add a small piece of live rock tommorrow! Anything else I should do? Water changes?

 

[al mc]

IMHO a water change will slow your cycle down. Since there are no fish/inverts in the tank there is no pressing health reasons to do it. If you want to speed up the process consider having 1# of live rock per gallon of water in the QT. A smaller amount will work, but if you want to speed up the cycle you will have to introduce more 'good' bacteria.

 

[sac10918]

Is it a waste of money and a bad idea to buy the refrigerated packages of live bacteria? I am sure that I would be better off just adding a piece of live rock....
Also, is it acceptable to add the LR without any LS?

 

[al mc]

I have not tried the bacteria in a bag, but I understand many find it helpful.
I have live rock in my QT tanks with no substrate..that I know works fine.
Water changing will lower your nitrites but will give you a false sense of security as there is not enough bacteria present to complete the nitrogen cycle. You will then feel that it is safe to add a fish and all h..ll will break lose with your nitrogen cycle.
In the past I have always had a bottle of Amquel plus on hand if a nitrogen cycle in a QT went bad when there were fish in it. It is not a good substitute for a good working biologic filter but it can buy you some time while you are making water for a water change.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by Beth
The sponge idea is really a very bad idea. Throw some live rock into the QT, as long as it has not be medicated, the LR should be ok. No fish in tank, right?
Why is the sponge a bad idea? I have cycled a qt in three days with sponges that were well seeded with biological bacteria. Adding LR will certainly cycle the qt faster, but the rock will be pulled out before the fish is added. The sponge can be left in. There is no sand for the bacteria to colonize on. This is a QT. I would not stuff the sponge into PVC BTW. Here is a pic of one of my Qt's. There is a piece of rock in there, but I added that for the comfort of the goby. The spikes lasted three days. The rock was added after that. That being said, if the sponge has only been in the DT for a few days then it won't have much bacteria on it.

 

[sac10918]

I actually dont even have the sponge in the DT yet....I don't run it with sponges so I would have to put it in there for awhile, let the bacteria colonize, and then add it to the display. I do have a piece of live rock that has been in my display and would be easy for me to take out (its not a component of the cave structure) that I will put in there. Is it acceptable to just take it out and drop it in the QT (first making sure that there are no inverts on it)? I dont really see the point of acclimating the rock to high nitrite conditions...
AlMc~ I am going to get some aquel to have on hand as a precautionary measure if things go bad. I guess I wont bother with a water change (Im sick of them right now anyways!) and I will wait it out.... I hope the water is looking better soon!
Oh, and I have lots of algea growing on the bottom of the tank...Is that a problem?

 

[al mc]

Just drop the rock in..no acclimation needed. Algae..usually present from either too much nutrients (nitrogen cycle debris) and lighting.
Also..try to make sure you get Amquel Plus, not plain Amquel. The latter just does ammonia reduction while the former does ammonia, tritres/trates.

 

[sac10918]

AlMc~
Okay....I added a piece of live rock to the QT....Hopefully it will hurry up and cycle. I want to do it right but I am ready to go and get a new fish!
I wil make sure to grab the Amquel Plus next time I am out and about...Thanks for the info...