I have a 10 g brackish that has been set up for 4 mos. now but I still am getting nitrite and nitrate spikes. It has a penguin 200 biowheel filter on it, gets %50-%75 water changes at least once per week, and is stocked with 1-1/2 in green spotted puffer and 3- 1-2in flounder. Has sand for substrate. I also added a ball of marine algae (spaghetti algae?- looks like strands of angel hair rolled together). I am planning on moving everyone into a 20g long this week and wonder if adding some live sand/rock would help? Can these things live at 1.010 SG? I can raise the SG some but the puffer is still too small for full marine. I really want to get the spiking to stop. ( oh yeah ammonia is 0, pH 7.6, feed once/ day bloodworms, snails and squid- nothing left after 5 min in tank)
Live snad or rock in Brackish
- Thread starter ryverrat
- Start date
u need a bigger tank & live rock or anything marine will die in your sg and become no better than any rock. look into size requirements for your fish. ive read a million threads that say at least a 30g for a gsp.
my guess is the tank size is the reason for the spikes. good luck.
my guess is the tank size is the reason for the spikes. good luck.
You need a larger tank eventually for the GSP (>2" needs a 30g minimum). In the meantime, how was the tank cycled? Sounds like it wasn't cycled properly.
%50-%75 weekly tells me that your salinity probably fluctuates more than .002 with each water change, and that's disrupting your biofilter.
Nitrifying bacteria will only establish at a certain SG, and if it swings, it will kill it off.. I learned the hard way by killing my GSPs.
Also, extreme lack of water volume will make the problem more magnified.
Nitrifying bacteria will only establish at a certain SG, and if it swings, it will kill it off.. I learned the hard way by killing my GSPs.
Also, extreme lack of water volume will make the problem more magnified.
I have a bigger tank (38g), just getting a stand for it (need to make room). The tank was cycled using some of the water from my FW setups and a biowheel from them. The salinity was increased after 2 weeks running (no fish) FW at a rate of 0.002 per week until I reached 1.01. With the water changes, I check the salinity in the tank first, if over 1.01, remove some and add fresh to bring to 1.01 (of course everything is dechlorinated with Prime). All water added after is check and adjusted to 1.01 before adding. Been keeping the salinity as stable as possible. I am hoping a larger tank will cure some of this. Also I am planning on taking it full marine as the puffer grows (he is doing good, fat and happy).