Nitrite/Nitrate Levels

blissninny

blissninny

Member
I set my tank up just over 6 weeks ago and used two cocktail sized shrimp to facilitate the cycling...the ammonia has spiked and gone down to 0 however, I can't get the nitrite and nitrate levels to go down. What should I do? I want fish!
 
hifi

hifi

Member
Have you cleaned the filters? They are a trap for bad stuff & from what I learned they get dirty fast, I take my 2 filters apart once a week & rinse out all the media & replace what needs replacing, the foam is the major trap use ro water to clean them. After a filter cleaning I can see the diffrenace in the tank
I use a fluval 104 & a 304, will be switching to a sump/fug in the future.
 
steve24

steve24

Active Member
Originally Posted by lionfish1
Have you been doing water changes? Is there any live rock in there? What kind of filtration are you using?

water changes during the cycle or after ???
 
blissninny

blissninny

Member
Nothing live in there yet...didn't want to kill anything. I use a Magna canister filter and have two powerheads. I was under the impression that while the tank is cycling, water changes are not recommended.
 
saltysteve

saltysteve

Member
Originally Posted by Blissninny
No water changes yet. I am using a magna canister filter and have an 80 gallon tank.
As far as i know - this point your tank has cycled and this is a normal bi-product. If I am correct - - this point I would do a 20% water cjhange and your levels should stabilize fairley quickley. I would do 10% water changes every 2 weeks or 20% every 4 weeks , levels will spike with the indroduction of fish so introduce fish slowley
 
blissninny

blissninny

Member
Okay, I did the 20% H20 change, changed the carbon in the filter and I still have a .5 Nitrite reading...what next?
 
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