Nitrite Spike in new tank

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
More bio filtration is needed. Seems like your tank was relying on the substrate to house bacteria which is never a good idea like you have now experienced. In your fluval 405 I would suggest removing charcoal etc and leave only your mechanical sponge filtration and fill the rest with seachem matrix. To temporary detoxify the tank while cycling try using some seachem prime.

Clear water will come in time once cycling has finished and your tank parameters have stabilized.
 
That's N interesting thought, I suspect you are right. When I moved the substrate from my 55 I moved quite a bit if the crap that was mixed in with it. The water parameters started to decline when I started vacuuming the gravel siphoning away all of the BB. I just ordered another fluval so will let you guys know how it goes. The water changes have brought the nitrites down enough for my red zebra to carry eggs.
 
Just a few thoughts,
I don`t think adding more of anything is going to help much right now.
More filters, more bio media, more chemical stuff.
I don`t think the 55 was all that stable, cycle wise, to start with.
Then you went to the 75 and didn`t have to cycle all over again, but did put a little dent in what you had going in the 55.
That small a level of nitrite wouldn`t send me into a big dither. I would do as you are doing, and WC my way back to stability.
I like having almost all of my BB in the tank.
I can muck up my filter media allot easier than the surface areas of the tank.
What you have going on, milky water wise, is just a bloom of bacteria settling into the new tank.
Ugly as sin, but nothing more than frustrating when you want crystal clear water.
Won`t harm your fish.
Time and WC will give you the results you are looking for.
$0.02
 
KaiserSousay;5001863; said:
Just a few thoughts,
I don`t think adding more of anything is going to help much right now.
More filters, more bio media, more chemical stuff.
I don`t think the 55 was all that stable, cycle wise, to start with.
Then you went to the 75 and didn`t have to cycle all over again, but did put a little dent in what you had going in the 55.
That small a level of nitrite wouldn`t send me into a big dither. I would do as you are doing, and WC my way back to stability.
I like having almost all of my BB in the tank.
I can muck up my filter media allot easier than the surface areas of the tank.
What you have going on, milky water wise, is just a bloom of bacteria settling into the new tank.
Ugly as sin, but nothing more than frustrating when you want crystal clear water.
Won`t harm your fish.
Time and WC will give you the results you are looking for.
$0.02
Click to expand...

Good advice. Well the reason I said anything about if you wanted to add an extra filter because I know most people wants moe filtration in their tanks now days. I think it can be a little overkill but I know it's better to over filter then under filter a tank. Mainly if it's a huge tank with a large bio load but then again yours is only a 75 gal. mid size tank. Prime will help detoxify the nitrite levels like directed on the label but like I said before, it will not remove them only help keep the fishes from nitrite poisoning. Done it before in an emergecy. Like Kaiser stated above about letting things be, time, and WC's. Now I will say a good mount of bio media in the filter is a big plus in the long run. Yeah nitrifying bacteria will colonize on every surface in the tank but works alot better in the filtration.
 
So my nitrites appear to have stabilized. The tank has cleared up some with the addition of a fluval 305. Got a new one for 90$, I just couldn't resist. I was expecting crystal clear water, but am not there yet. It's very clear up front but you see a fine mist up top near the light. It might be due to my mopani driftwood, but that's 5 months old now. I added some chemi pure that I had laying around, but it didn't appear to do much.
 
A guy asked me how to clear cloudy water in a mature tank here while that tryed just about everything. I told him to try a uv just to see if it was a bloom of some sort. Well took my advice and his tank started clearin up in acouple of days then about atleast a week was crystal clear he told me. Now your cloudy water problem might be the same as his was or it could be something else. Polishing pads and or a uv might be the next best thing to clear the problem. But I would try to polish the water 1st.
 
I thought about that as I have read the same thing. Something is going on in there as I get algae spots on my silk plants when I leave the light on too long. I dont have any algae eaters as they kept dieing until I realized they dont like salty water. I keep about 2 tsp p/5 gallons in the tank. Ill try a cheap UV light next month. I am through my fish hobby budget for the month. All of my water parameters that I can test are now perfect.
 
ck986;5021902; said:
I thought about that as I have read the same thing. Something is going on in there as I get algae spots on my silk plants when I leave the light on too long. I dont have any algae eaters as they kept dieing until I realized they dont like salty water. I keep about 2 tsp p/5 gallons in the tank. Ill try a cheap UV light next month. I am through my fish hobby budget for the month. All of my water parameters that I can test are now perfect.
Click to expand...


Why with so much salt? I use Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt in my tanks because mainly the minerals in it or aquarium salt when treating the fish for parasites and such. My pleco tolerates the salt in my tanks but I only add a very little though. If they are not a SW or BW tank then they dont need so much salt plus SW and BW tanks needs seasalt instead. If it was me I would do a 50% WC on the tank to lower the salt levels in the tank. Then you might be able to keep plecos if all other water parameters is ok also.
 
The salt I put in there is API aquarium salt. I started using salt early on when my fish were fry because i was buying them from petsmart/petco and they were frequently transmitting ick to my tank. I stopped buying fish from those store, increasmay salt levels, and began using a quarantine tank and have not really had any problems. I may reduce the level of salt slowly as I change about 10% per week. I may just bring it down to 1tsp per 5 gallons. So far all my fish have thrived in this salty environment.
 
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