How bad in Nitrite of .50 and under?

[knicks791]

Maybe you should try cleaning out your filters first and rinsing out your media.

 

[BODYDUB]

Maybe you should try cleaning out your filters first and rinsing out your media.

Haha, uh no. You shold never clean out your filters without having a back-up plan........

 

[Austin]

Huh? I clean my filters weekly? Cleaning them is fine (done correctly), but won't help the problem unless there is excessive food or something dead that is giving off lots of ammonia in said filters.

 

[pURPLEcHILLIrED123]

I clean my filters once month, clean one, then the next day clean another and another the next. I have 360 that I cant use right now because the garage needs to be cleaned out. That is the only reason I picked up the other new fishes. I will have the 360 with 30 sump setup in about 1 month(hopefully) if the garage is cleaned by then. But now the plan is to feed 2 times week and water change every other day.

 

[Toby_H]

No amount of detectable ammonia or Nitrite is acceptable in my tanks and will prompt an immediate water change(s).

In a new set up or a set up with major changes, 0.5 ppm nitrite isn;t a big deal. But any higher is reason for concern...

In a short amount of time te bacterial colony should expand to prevent any detectable nitrite from registering...

For starters I suggest feeding half as much, twice as often. I believe you said you feed every other day. I would feed half as much daily.

 

[pURPLEcHILLIrED123]

Just picked up 2nd used FX5 tonight with 2 trays filled with Ehiem media for only $140. Gonna hooked it up tomorrow. The 1st one was only for $125 with no media. Damn I love Craigslist.

 

[rhodes_96]

With the fx5s fill all trays with high surface area bio media such as matrix, ehiem substrate pro, biomax etc. leave a little space in the top basket for some filter wool, or fluval fx5 blue pad.

Your tank is quite heavily stocked. I was going to suggest to get rid off all those small filters and add another fx5 or a sump, but you already done it.
If your biofiltration is up to the task, then you should never have any reading for ammonia or nitrites more than 0.