nitrate/nitrite help
- Thread starter zspidel
- Start date
Your tank is still not cycled. It is bad for fish to be kept in nitrite or ammonia levels above .25ppm. For the health of the fish you need to be doing larger more frequent water changes. You can speed up your cycle process by adding some bottled bacteria.
Jkessler623;3954789; said:
i ran the filter in an established tank for about 2 wks if i remember correctly. i took the filter apart and started to do some cleaning. everything is just black. i think i didnt rinse out my black gravel good enough. maybe that has something to do with it. and while rinsing i tore the bag of carbon. crap. now i gotta spend more money
zspidel;3954807; said:
Note that I said ammonia or nitrite levels. Maybe you would benefit from researching, and gaining an understanding of how the nitrogen cycle works within your aquarium.
As it stands right now you are slowly killing your fish by keeping them in an uncycled tank with dangerous levels of nitrite, regardless of what the ammonia levels are.
Bderick67;3954857; said:
ok, i looked over the nitrate part. i just dont know where im at in my cycle cuz i already had the filter in another tank. also i do understand the cycle, but whats throwing me off is the fact the filter was already in an established tank. so i did another test and rinsed my filter after the test. the nitrite is at .5 and the nitrate is at 10, ammonia still at 0.
The ammonia is zero because these bacteria are ok, they're converting the ammonia to nitrites as it is produced.
For some reason the other bacteria (nitrite->nitrate) have died off, so the nitrite isnt being converted to nitrate. This is why your nitrite is there, and your nitrate isnt rising. Actually you've probably got a few of these bacteria and you're just waiting for their colony to grow.
So in effect the filter is half way through a cycle, and you need to keep nitrites below about 0.25/as low as possible, as has been said.
You say it was a mature filter. Did you leave it switched off, or without food (ammonia/nitrite) between tanks, or have you rinsed it in tapwater? You've done something to partially kill it.
For some reason the other bacteria (nitrite->nitrate) have died off, so the nitrite isnt being converted to nitrate. This is why your nitrite is there, and your nitrate isnt rising. Actually you've probably got a few of these bacteria and you're just waiting for their colony to grow.
So in effect the filter is half way through a cycle, and you need to keep nitrites below about 0.25/as low as possible, as has been said.
You say it was a mature filter. Did you leave it switched off, or without food (ammonia/nitrite) between tanks, or have you rinsed it in tapwater? You've done something to partially kill it.
blackghostuk;3955008; said:
i turned the filter off when i switched the tanks yes, but i left all the water in the canister. i just rinsed all the parts after i took the test that gave me the nitrites of .5 and nitrates 10 and ammonia 0 in treated tap water. i used the aqua safe (think thats it) to treat the tap water. i filled up a tub last night treated it, let it sit til about 45 min ago when i did the rinse. so as long as that stuff worked, it shouldnt have had anything to kill the bacteria correct?
Do daily partial water changes of 20% and pick up some bio-spira and/or get some filter media from a fellow fish keeper. You need that tank stable ASAP. Oscars and Bichirs don't fair well with poor water quality