nitrite spike- PLEASE help

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by DPerna
alright thanks, well i guess the water change could help me bring up the salinity. its weird though because on my meter it shows the "target zone" being in between 1.020 -1.023. oh well 1.026 it is!
Are you using a swing arm hydrometer? They are terribly inaccurate. This site sells an excellent refractometer for $39.99

 

[dperna]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
While I fully respect Bang Guy, I have witnessed firsthand the damaging effects of nitrite. It needs to be lowered. If you only have one maroon clown, can you take him out and set up a qt tank for him? You can use a good sized piece of your live rock to prevent a cycle. It will take a few weeks for the nitrite to come down. Letting it finish cycling naturally is the best way to do this.
thank you for the imput sepulatian, i just have a few questions.
how will the nitrite eventually lower? and i just dont get how the tank isnt cycled. the tank had been running before i transfered it to my house with all the original rock, sand, and water... levels have been fine the last month that i have had it up and now all of the sudden this? i thought tanks only need cycling when there is either all new salt water or uncured live rock, etc. :notsure:

i can set up a qt tank if necessary though, and thank you for the advice about my sg gauge. i do realize that it is a piece of junk i should really check out some new ones

 

[sepulatian]

If there was not an ammonia source then chances are that some of the bacteria died on the rock. This does not mean that anything else on the rocks died. A fallow (fishless) system needs to be fed at least once a week. You drop food in and let it rot, creating ammonia. If the people you got the tank from did not do this then the bacteria will have no food source. Ammonia drops ALOT quicker than nitrite does. Your maroon will not have to be in the qt long. It looks to me as though you have enough bacteria to handle the ammonia, but not enough to handle the nitrite. That bacteria is growing right now. If you remove the ammonia source then the bacteria that breaks down nitrite will have a chance to "catch up" so to speak.

 

[dperna]

thats interesting, and makes sense because i know that the previous owner didnt do much to the tank while it was fallow besides top offs, maybe water changes here and there. but what your saying is that if i just remove my fish and just let everything sit for a while it should just be fine. also, how long of a process is this? thanks

 

[dperna]

tomorrow im going to recheck amonia level just to be positive it isnt present, so im not giving you the wrong facts.

 

[sepulatian]

It depends. No one can say exactly how long anything will take. The important thing is to not have your clown suffer while it is happening. It should be a few weeks though. You have enough bacteria on your rocks to handle any ammonia from your clown in a qt. By the time you get nitrite in the qt your dt should be clear. An established qt is always important to have anyway. Set it up somewhere where it can stay running.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by DPerna
tomorrow im going to recheck amonia level just to be positive it isnt present, so im not giving you the wrong facts.
ok, sounds good

 

[dperna]

alright thanks again. i will repost tomorrow evening, if you wouldnt mind checking again so i could j ust get everything straight one more time i would greatly apreciate it! nice to have this kind of help around here! = )

 

[dperna]

alright thanks again! i will repost tomorrow evening. if you wouldnt mind checking again so i could just get everything straight one more time i would greatly apreciate it! nice to have this kind of help around here!

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by DPerna
alright thanks again! i will repost tomorrow evening. if you wouldnt mind checking again so i could just get everything straight one more time i would greatly apreciate it! nice to have this kind of help around here!

It is my pleasure and you are more than welcome, that is what we are here for!!!!

I will be happy to keep checking this thread to make sure all is well! :happyfish

 

[bang guy]

For raising your salinity it's easiest and safent to just use saltwater for topoff until you have salinity where you want it. There's no hurry so don't feel it needs to be accomplished overnight, a week or two is just fine.
In my experience Nitrite is fairly harmless in saltwater.

 

[dperna]

when i add the saltwater as topoff, what should i have the salinity be on it so im not overdoing it. and can i just make a couple gallons and keep sitting around for top off or should i make new batch every day?

 

[thud]

Originally Posted by DPerna
last time i checked my water quality on feb. 1 everything was fine, but i just checked tonight and my nitrite was high. What caused this, how do i fix it, how big of a problem is it?
my levels were:
PH - 8.2
Ammonia-0
Nitrate-1
Phosphate-.2
Nitrite- in betwen 2 & 4
SG-1.022
also to my knowledge all the other levels are right, is this corect. its a 58g FOWLR

Fish love nitrates, what's the prob here?

 

[dperna]

Originally Posted by DPerna
when i add the saltwater as topoff, what should i have the salinity be on it so im not overdoing it. and can i just make a couple gallons and keep sitting around for top off or should i make new batch every day?
:thinking:

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by DPerna
when i add the saltwater as topoff, what should i have the salinity be on it so im not overdoing it. and can i just make a couple gallons and keep sitting around for top off or should i make new batch every day?
35ppt will be just fine. I'd actually recommend mixing up the saltwater and leave it sitting around for a while.

 

[dperna]

thanks bang guy

 

[dperna]

When i originally posted this thred my Nitrite was in betwen 2 & 4. My Ammonia was 0 but still you could match it up on the color chart with that yellow-ish color that mine reads. After doing a water change yesterday I re-checked my Nitrite and it did not change at all. Now this morning I decided to check it again just to make sure before i qt my clown and my Nitrite is at 0? and not only this my ammonia is completely clear, where before i had to match it up closely between 0 and 2 it has no pigment in it now. i also checked my other levels and PH was still 8.2, Nitrate still 1. is this possible?
I sure hope so

 

[dperna]

 

[dperna]

just trying to keep this alive... ^

 

[dperna]