Nitrite Problem

[avacyn]

I have a 30 gal. tank that is not quite 3 months old. It was cycled with about 40 lbs. live sand, 15 pounds of live rock and cycled in about 3 weeks. Now it houses a peppermint shrimp, a blue damsel, a scooter blenny, about 12 hermits, 5 turbo snails, a small snail that just appeared one day, an anenome of some kind (rock anenome), a brittle star and 2 feather dusters - plus some small brine shrimp looking critters that live in the filter pads. My problem is nitrites. All my other levels seem to stay good and my critters are healthy and growing but my nitrite level wants to stay between 1 and .5 which I believe to be too high. (I haven't tested for nitrates.) I'm running a penguin biowheel filter, a seaclone protein skimmer, and another filter that I filled with nitra-zorb and chemi-zorb bags. I'm feeding brine shrimp and frozne invert food. What can be causing this and what can I do about it besides water changes? I want to add a fish or two more, but an am afraid to unless I can get nitrite levels down.
Thank you.
Avacyn

 

[dad]

ok, nitrite is caused by the oxidation of ammonia. 1. is unsafe.
you have alot going on in a 30g.
for this much in a 30g you need a very good filtration system.
i'm not formiliar with all your filters.sorry.
but you are right:do not add any more fish until the problem is solved.your tank is very young for having so much in it.
sorry i cannot be more help.

 

[adrian]

What testkit are you using? It may be giving you a flase reading. HTH

 

[twoods71]

Could be a bad test kit, but i tend to agree with dad.
Your biological filter may not have matured enough to keep up with your load.
Did your nitrites ever read 0?
If so then your test kit is probably OK and you probably over loaded for such a new tank.

 

[i3luedragon]

Maybe you should feed every other day and maybe wait a bit and see. Or you could double your filtering size from maybe a 30 gal filter to 60 gal for safe measure. But you seem to have things ok right now. Nitrite is not extremely high right now so just wait and see. Water change would be a good idea too; however, it must be done super carefully if you are going to do a lot of water. The reason is a big change in salinity or other factors might kill your inverts, as they do not adjust very well.

 

[old salt]

I believe your bioload is really only the damsel, scooter blenny, and the anenome... there really is no added bioload for shrimp, hermits, snails or starfish... I may be wrong, but I don't think you are overloaded... Buy a different brand of Nitrite test kit and compare results....
I dont think you have enough LR.... (not the reason for your problem, but it would help)

 

[old salt]

Oh yeah... check to see if you have something dying in your tank... what condition is your anenome in? If the anenome is dying it could do all sorts of nasty stuff to your water....

 

[avacyn]

Thank you all!!
My nitrites have measured zero on a couple of occasions, but I will buy a new test kit and see. A place near here will test water for free, I'm going there this weekend and have her compare.
My anenome is in ok shape, I think. It's hard to tell. I've never had one before. He's pink with white, short tentacles. Most days he's open full when I get down to turn on the aquarium light. He likes to catch the morning sun. When I put some brine shrimp near his mouth, he folds up around it and then uses his tentacles to filter more out of the water around him. I don't know any other way of telling his health. I do know that one day when the protein skimmer got bumped and wasn't working right, he kind of wilted until I did a partial water change and fixed the skimmer. I've been watching him since. When he looks happy, I don't worry. When he looks a little wilted, I check the nitrite levels.
How often does the tank need to be fed for the health of everyone? My shrimp has split his carapice twice and all my hermits have moved into larger shells in the time I've had them. Am I feeding too much?
Avacyn

 

[avacyn]

What is LR?
Originally posted by Old Salt:
<STRONG>
I dont think you have enough LR.... (not the reason for your problem, but it would help)</STRONG>

 

[dad]

LR=live rock. and i'll agree,another 15lbs wouldn't hurt.
you didn't say how much you was feeding.so i'll say just feed every other day and just anough that it last for about 30 or so seconds.that doesn't sound like much but you don't want to over feed.

 

[avacyn]

Nevermind, it's live rock. (Sometimes my brain does do something besides keep my head inflated!)
Avacyn
<STRONG>What is LR?
Originally posted by Old Salt:
[qb]
I dont think you have enough LR.... (not the reason for your problem, but it would help)</STRONG>
[/QB][/QUOTE]

 

[avacyn]

I cycled with 15 pounds and added another 10 about the same time the damsel went in. (Had to wait until the only local pet shop got more in.) I've been feeding a block of frozen brine shrimp about the size of my fingernail twice a day with a piece of frozen invert food the same size once a day. I'll cut back.
Avacyn
<STRONG>LR=live rock. and i'll agree,another 15lbs wouldn't hurt.
you didn't say how much you was feeding.so i'll say just feed every other day and just anough that it last for about 30 or so seconds.that doesn't sound like much but you don't want to over feed.</STRONG>[/QUOTE]