Need help with my Salt water tank FAST! Nitrites and Nitrates up the roof!

[cthoughts1]

Hey all.. I've had my tank for about 3 months now. About a month into it I thought the tank cycled completely. I slowly added fish until i got to 4 clowns, 2 cobies, 1 skunk shrimp, 1 small hippo tang, a dart fish and a bi-color blenny.. About a week ago I got a little carried away and picked up a small 2" yellow tang and a powder blue tang (3-4") and a Naso tang.

Since I added those last 3 tangs my readings went up the roof with the Nitrites and Nitrates. My ammonia is still at zero, but my nitrites are between 1 and 2 and my nitrates are around 30. I know that is way too high. It's been like this for a few days now and I'm panicking quite a bit now. I've put in Bio-Spira as well as One and Only by Dr. Tim's and it doesn't seem to be helping the situation. I initially did water changes daily when I discovered this about 5 days ago but when I went into the pet shop they told me to stop doing the water changes.

I have an Eheim 2217 cannister filter (rated 125 gallons), an under gravel filter with two powerheads, a tetratec hang on (rated 125 gallons), a Berilin X2 turbo skimmer, and a UV sterilizer. This is a 75 gallon tank by the way..

Please give me some advice or ideas as what to do? So far I moved my blenny and the yellow tang to a 24 gallon nano-cube I have, but I don't wanna put any more fish inthere for fear of the same thing happening. Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, or similar experiences? I'd hate to lose any of my fish...

[le patron]

dont you mean through the roof? :D im not too sure about sw but i know with my fw tank theres a product called nitraban which is basically water conditioner used during water changes but it has added ingredients that lower nitri/ates

[cthoughts1]

Do you by any chance know if that works for marine aquariums as well?

[le patron]

Do you by any chance know if that works for marine aquariums as well?
oops! i just read its directions and it says for freshwater only! sorry man :( good thing i found that out before something bad happens.
ill look into this for you, and in the meantime just be patient. maybe the products you used will end up solving the problem in a day or two

[le patron]

here you go i found this article. should help. look through all the responses too. http://www.helium.com/items/653054-how-to-lower-nitrates-in-a-saltwater-aquarium
best of luck mate!

[cthoughts1]

Thanks a ton for your help. But the real problem is more the Nitrites than the Nitrates.. The Nitrates generally go away with water changes and are not as harmful. But I have no idea what to do about the nitrites...

[le patron]

ok ill see what i can do about that for you :) dont worry we'll get this resolved

[le patron]

this person had the same question. check out the answers and tell me if they helped http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090102033344AAaUh5a
i think bnotogai's answer would be most helpful to you

[cthoughts1]

Le Patron,

Thanks for all your help man. I just finished reading that as well. I appreciate it.. Do you think I should do a large water change or do you think that will only prolong the problem? I'd really hate to lose any of my fish, I've grown rather attached to these little guys..

[tylerperkins]

ditch the canister filter if you dont clean it all the time it could be creating your problems

[cthoughts1]

Tyler,

I haven't cleaned it in the 3 months I've had it, do y ou think now with the Nitrites and Nitrates up would be a good time to clean it?

[Finalfire9]

Mmm clean your filter media and try to fan your sand every few days so you dont get that kinda of nitrate build up make sure your skimmer prefilter is clean and running smoothly.

[Finalfire9]

If you really want to kill the problem think about getting a wetdry sump filter

[cthoughts1]

what do you mean by fan your sand? How do you do that? And what is a skimmer prefilter? I'm not sure what that is? I know the wet dry sump is a good idea, but I'm just working with what I have right now and trying to solve one problem at a time.. I just rinsed the cannister filter, added some decorations from an established tank I have, and inserted a filter from an established tank as well, I hope that helps..

Any other ideas or advice? Anyone heard of Prime by Seacham? Would that be a good idea to get? I'm open to any ideas or suggestions so feel free to chime in guys. And thank you to all who have chimed in so far, it helps calm my anxiousness to know there are other people who are willing to help, thanks..

[cthoughts1]

By the way, I'm not sure if this makes a difference, but I turned my skimmer off this morning because I added the Bi-spira, should I turn it back on of should I leave it off for the recommended 48 hours?

[cthoughts1]

What about the UV sterilizer.. I have that off as well, should I put it back on?