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Well that means the tanks were never cycled, the stuff you added probably was not one of the better bacteria products. Best bet would probably be to do a huge water change, and add filter pads from an established tank to the filter. Most of the time, aquarium stores (not Petco/petsmart) will let you buy their old filter pads for a few bucks. That will kickstart the cycle. Some stores will even let you board fish there, pay some money to have them hold your fish. That might not be a bad idea until you get your tanks established. Fish can live through the cycle, but it's very tough on them, some or all might die.
Best of luck man
 
Well that means the tanks were never cycled, the stuff you added probably was not one of the better bacteria products. Best bet would probably be to do a huge water change, and add filter pads from an established tank to the filter. Most of the time, aquarium stores (not Petco/petsmart) will let you buy their old filter pads for a few bucks. That will kickstart the cycle. Some stores will even let you board fish there, pay some money to have them hold your fish. That might not be a bad idea until you get your tanks established. Fish can live through the cycle, but it's very tough on them, some or all might die.
Best of luck man
 
Gourami Swami said:
Well that means the tanks were never cycled, the stuff you added probably was not one of the better bacteria products. Best bet would probably be to do a huge water change, and add filter pads from an established tank to the filter. Most of the time, aquarium stores (not Petco/petsmart) will let you buy their old filter pads for a few bucks. That will kickstart the cycle. Some stores will even let you board fish there, pay some money to have them hold your fish. That might not be a bad idea until you get your tanks established. Fish can live through the cycle, but it's very tough on them, some or all might die.
Best of luck man
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Well I was refering to the tabk where I have my Oscars. I did a water change and something happen in between where I messed up it apiked up the Nitrite. I was able to get it back down by adding water from my big tank. The fishes look fine and everyone is looking good this far.
 
The nitrite comes from the fish, pretty sure you couldn't have done anything in the water change that would have caused the nitrite. Fish produce ammonia, that gets turned into nitrite by one type of bacteria. Then another type of bacteria, turns the nitrite into nitrate. When you have strong colonies of both types of bacteria, the fish's ammonia is successfully turned into nitrate. Your tank has started to grow the first type of bacteria, which is why the nitrite is there. But you don't have the second type yet, so it is staying as nitrite, which is toxic. What you would need is the second type of bacteria, and that will take weeks to grow. Unless you add some e stablished media with the second type of bacteria, your nitrite is just going to spike right back up.
Adding water from the other tank won't help either btw, the water itself doesn't have much bacteria in it. It's the filter media you would want. But your aro tank isn't cycled either, so adding stuff from that tank won't work
 
Gourami Swami said:
The nitrite comes from the fish, pretty sure you couldn't have done anything in the water change that would have caused the nitrite. Fish produce ammonia, that gets turned into nitrite by one type of bacteria. Then another type of bacteria, turns the nitrite into nitrate. When you have strong colonies of both types of bacteria, the fish's ammonia is successfully turned into nitrate. Your tank has started to grow the first type of bacteria, which is why the nitrite is there. But you don't have the second type yet, so it is staying as nitrite, which is toxic. What you would need is the second type of bacteria, and that will take weeks to grow. Unless you add some e stablished media with the second type of bacteria, your nitrite is just going to spike right back up.
Adding water from the other tank won't help either btw, the water itself doesn't have much bacteria in it. It's the filter media you would want. But your aro tank isn't cycled either, so adding stuff from that tank won't work
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I had no choice but to remove the water, the wish were going to die. I know it would t help but it was the only way yo bring down the Nitrite.
 
slv3rarowana said:
I had no choice but to remove the water, the wish were going to die. I know it would t help but it was the only way yo bring down the Nitrite.
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water change is a good idea, not saying that was a bad idea. But it should be new, fresh water, not from the other tank, which likely has it's own issues. If you can, I would get some established media from a fish store, do a fin-level water change, and add the media. Otherwise the nitrite will just go back up again.
 
Gourami Swami said:
water change is a good idea, not saying that was a bad idea. But it should be new, fresh water, not from the other tank, which likely has it's own issues. If you can, I would get some established media from a fish store, do a fin-level water change, and add the media. Otherwise the nitrite will just go back up again.
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Alright, I can do that. Just add the new used established Medina to the Filtration system and leave it i side there?
 
Yes do a large water change, then add the media to the filter. Make sure the water is dechlorinated. Hopefully, the used media will kickstart your cycle. And will process the fish waste into nitrates.
 
Gourami Swami said:
Yes do a large water change, then add the media to the filter. Make sure the water is dechlorinated. Hopefully, the used media will kickstart your cycle. And will process the fish waste into nitrates.
Click to expand...

Alright I will do that. I appreciate all the knowledge.
 
Gourami Swami said:
Yes do a large water change, then add the media to the filter. Make sure the water is dechlorinated. Hopefully, the used media will kickstart your cycle. And will process the fish waste into nitrates.
Click to expand...

I have had a 55 gallon set up for about 2 plus months, could I use some of the gravel?
 
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