Nitrate spike, after I cleaned up filters

[femmeartist51]

I assume my nitrates spiked because I forgot to turn filter off and the tank all messed up. Right? It went up to red before I finished shaking the tube. I only rinsed the filters off, didn't wash them thoroughly because in fresh water and in raising Koi, you remove the natural bacteria. I assume that is right in salt water??
I have a 90 gallon, thought it was a 95 gallon. Not a drilled tank, never trusted them.
A hang on back bio wheel filter
A protein skimmer (which I purchased on Ebay, thinking I need to upgrade that item to something larger).
Have an RO filter, but it was not put into our water system yet. I am using the under the sink canister filter until I can get the RO hooked up
Have sand and rocks. No coral nor any other item in that group
I did a 30% water change
Fish I have:
Niger Trigger, Clown (who has doubled in size really fast) and a damsel.
Just added a puffer and want to add a small lion fish
PH 8
Ammonia just under .25 (didn't test after water change)
Nitrites 0
Nitrates yesterday was up to the max on color chart. Today the chart shows between 20 n 40, so hard to tell the color on this chart.
So should I wait a week and do another water change??
Hard to see if any dead fish are around. I lost a crab the trigger ate it. I hope it ate the whole thing.
Add prime and think it is called strezz.
So any help would be great. Oh thought of adding some sand, or changing some out, but the sand has some good properties to it so I decided nah. So any help would be great. Thanks Lynda

 

[flower]

Hi, Are you using API test kits?
I had those kits and (3 different ones) they all gave a wrong reading on the nitrates. I use SeaChem now because that kits comes with a regent to be able to double check that whatever reading is correct.
Oh, and about the filter media, rinse it in saltwater not fresh and yes, it's the same as freshwater for keeping the good bacteria. However live rock should keep things in check when you swap out he media or rinse, so you shouldn't have to concern yourself too much.

 

[femmeartist51]

Thanks for answering. Oops used fresh water. Will remember next time. What an error right.
Not using strips. Using API. The testing could be off. So what about another water change. Wait a few days or a week??
I use to raise koi and had a fresh water aquarium. This tank is about a year old. Well maybe 8 months now. Should be done cycling. I would think so right?? I always had nitrate problems, just not as high as this time. Is that kit good API I will look for the kit you are using, SeaChem, I think I have issues with API testing items. I remember with fresh water it wasn't the greatest to use. Thanks again Lynda

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by femmeartist51 http:///t/394309/nitrate-spike-after-i-cleaned-up-filters#post_3509537
Thanks for answering. Oops used fresh water. Will remember next time. What an error right.
Not using strips. Using API. The testing could be off. So what about another water change. Wait a few days or a week??
I use to raise koi and had a fresh water aquarium. This tank is about a year old. Well maybe 8 months now. Should be done cycling. I would think so right?? I always had nitrate problems, just not as high as this time. Is that kit good API I will look for the kit you are using, SeaChem, I think I have issues with API testing items. I remember with fresh water it wasn't the greatest to use. Thanks again Lynda
Hi,
Your tank is finished with the first cycle when ammonia and nitrites are a beautiful fat 0...water changes will bring down our nitrates, which is at the end of the cycle. Get a different test kit, API kits are not reliable.

 

[femmeartist51]

thank you very much. Will get a diff test kit

 

[btldreef]

I think what happened is that you washed away too much of the good bacteria and killed what didn't wash away by rinsing it in the fresh water.
I'd do some small water changes over the next few days to get things to stabilize again.
Some side notes:
be careful with Prime. It can be great, but never add as much as they recommend. It lowers the O2 level in the water. If you use Prime to bring down nitrates, you then need to do a water change. Prime will trap the nitrates, but it doesn't remove them, so if you don't do a water change, eventually the Prime just leaks everything back into the water, for lack of a better way of explaining it.
API Nitrate kits are non for not reading correctly. I prefer SeaChems nitrite/nitrate combo kit. Very accurate and comes with a testing agent to make sure your kit is reading correctly.

 

[beaslbob]

You have a bio wheel filter which is probably acting much like a planted or algae setup.
What very well could have happened is you killed the bacteria but the algae is now consuming ammonia directly. And therefore not consuming nitrates hence the nitrate spike.
If true and you do nothing the aerobic bacterial will return and in a few weeks nitrates will drop down.
This is what I call the stability of a planted setup. The tank is simply adjusting back to the original operation in a safe manner.
my .02

 

[florida joe]

If you washed away too much good bacteria and rinsed and killed the rest you would see an ammonia spike not a nitrate spike
Aerobic bacteria does not consume nitrates anaerobic bacteria does

 

[femmeartist51]

Thank you all for your response. I knew not to rinse too much off, but forgot to turn the filter off, so that dirty water did go into the tank. I did forget to rinse in salt water. Which is a bummer. I know there is still good stuff in the filter. I will do another water change in a week. Don't want to shock the fish too much.