Nitrites...ugly ugly little things

[dahlia]

Heres my question. My husband has a fish only tank.
He has a dogface puffer, HumaHuma trigger and just added Porc puffer last night he's been waiting on for awhile. Can't get his nitrites safe no matter what we try....last night b4 adding porc tested and saw nitrates are now high as well.
What could be causimg these nitrites to stay so high??? Been doing 15 gallon changes 1 a week since problem started, cleaning filter system.....everything we can think of.....they just won't stay low...(It's a 65 btw)
Any ideas anything?? This is getting frustrating to say the least...We can't even seem to figure out the cause????? Thay may help as well....

 

[jason490]

What kind of substrate and filtration are you using? Cleaning too much filtration at one time could be removing important bacteria. Post your substrate and other tank readings, ammonia, etc.

 

[dragonzim]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but it's likely that your Nitrites are staying so high because all 3 of those fish are too big for a 65 gallon tank. Even 1 alone would be too big, so all 3 together is likely overloading your biological filtration.
That being said, do you have liverock in the tank? Those 3 fish are all messy eaters and produce a lot of waste. You most likely do not have enough bacteria in the tank to properly break down all the waste that your fish are producing.

 

[dahlia]

I ran out of testing materials unfortunatly our only lps just closed down a cpl months ago and we live about 1 hr 15 min from anything else.
I can only tell you the nitrites, ammonia and nitrates...
nitri 10.0 ... I know...bad!
ammo 3.0
nitrates 160..also unsafe now
sg and sali are fine
yes the 2 puffs are med size, the Huma is a baby yet, but yes they are also messy eaters. Don't know about the porc yet.
He's using canister filtration with biomesh. We are going to change the charcoal today. We think the filtration system might be hooked up wrong?? Not sure....Going to check it out good and see..Had a friend hook it all up for us.
Crushed coral 35 lbs.
And no lr at all.
I had to remove the fish ASAP today while husband at work...good thing I was home. They were crashing and burning badly.
Got them all in a 5 gall bucket atm with heater and filter...
"Sigh" Hope all works out well and can get this prob fixed...and soon

 

[reefkprz]

about 80lbs of live rock would help immensely.

 

[dragonzim]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
about 80lbs of live rock would help immensely.
Agreed. That level of Ammonia is toxic to fish, as well as any bacteria that may have been colonizing your canister filter. Also, your crushed coral substrate could be contributing to your high Nitrates.

 

[dahlia]

Thanks for the help! I had no idea cc would make nitrates high?? Wow..ok
Or is that just because of food waste maybe? And can we expect them to stay high? Or will they eventually just lvl back out do you think?
I have suggested lr to him but he seems to think he don't want it don't need it...think he may be changing his mind about that now...again thanks!

 

[reefkprz]

LR isn't just for looks it does most of the filtration for marine aquaria. without it your gonna be battling this for life.
gravel siphoning crushed coral is real important too because CC trap waste and doesnt break it down like a DSB does so you have to physicaly remove it via siphoning, having good flow in your tank can keep waste suspended longer so your filter picks up more too. keeping the filter clean with the messy eaters you have is going to play a major role in the long run.