I just set up my 55 gallon 2 days ago. I took my fluval 406 from my 75 gallon ( 75 had 2 Eheim 2217s and the fluval 406) with has a 9-10 Oscar and 8 inch Raphael catfish. I moved the fluval which has been up and running for almost 3 years and moved it to the 55 along with a peice of driftwood and some sand from the 75. I had filled the 55 the night before and added substrate. Yesterday I picked up a few rainbowfish and a small pair of rainbow cichlids. came home switched the fluval to the 55 and did a water change also have put a new c4 on the tank. Having crazy nitrite readings(2-5) and ammonia is around 1-2. I also have had nitrate readings around 5-10. Did I jump the gun on thinking the fluval had enough bacteria? Also any advice on wut to do now. All fish r acting fine as if nothing is wrong. Have done multiple water changes using prime
High Nitrites
- Thread starter guru101
- Start date
Not familiar with the fluval but a nitrate reading of 5 to 10 is normal depending on feeding and wc schedule. Most people aim for 20ppm of nitrates between wc's
The ammonia would be more concerning. Might be that the bacteria colony will just catch up to the new bioload. I woukd think with an oscar in the other tank this wouldnt be the case.
I would do a few large wc's wait a day then retest.
The ammonia would be more concerning. Might be that the bacteria colony will just catch up to the new bioload. I woukd think with an oscar in the other tank this wouldnt be the case.
I would do a few large wc's wait a day then retest.
Ty for the reply. I wasn't so much concerned about the nitrate I am glad to see them. It's 2-5 nitrite that has me worried
Nitrite like that is not good. I just did something kinda similar, with seeded media. Nitrites went away very quickly, fish didn't seem to notice, and it's now 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and 10-20 nitrate. I don't know what happened, I only measured nitrite for a day, so see what happens.
what else can you do?
what else can you do?
Yeah missed that part sorry man. Only thing you can do is do wc's to bring it down. Or add a bacteria in a bottle. Tetra safe start is what ive used in the past
Ty again. I added some seachem stability. How often do u think I should do water changes. I have been drivin myself nuts about it. Have done 2 today around 50 % each. I'm at the point where I feel like I need to leave alone for a day and see what happens.
Sometimes this is the best thing you can do, let it everything calm down after all of your additions, and changes and check the water to see what it looks like. I have driven myself mad in the past trying to get things sorted like that just to have them settle and the bacteria do it's job over night.
I think there is no need to worry in this case, it's just 2 days into cycling. The reading of Nitrate means that some amount of cycling already started and it takes a bit more time (usually weeks) to settle down. Nothing to worry about, just wait till it settles down before adding more fish to tank.
You may have just overloaded the tank, the fish will be fine. Prime is also known to give false positives when you test the tank after having added Prime so that could be your issue as well. The prime and stability will keep your fish healthy until the tank cycles properly, they will be ok.
It doesn't give a false positive for nitrates. It will cause a positive for ammonia but what you are actually seeing is ammonium which is what you get when the prime binds to the ammonia. Ammonium is harmless.