Nitrites are gone! Whooya!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
rallysman said:
now that it is cycled start checking for nitrates.
also keep your biological filtration alive. or your nitrites will go up again.
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OK - now the Ammonia which happened first I know is nothing more than Nitrogen. So then it breaks down - and turns into Nitrites. Then the Nitrites break down and turn into Nitrates? Is that the way it works? How do I test for Nitrates? I think the only tests I have (or at least that my LFS has) is for Nitrites?

Also - are the Nitrates doing the same damage that Nitrites do? That of kidney and liver damage to the fish if exposed for prolonged periods? Or is it doing something else?
 
gunther said:
get your master water test kit for some piece of mind
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I did - I ordered it Saturday night late. They should have shipped it today I would imagine. I should have it by the weekend, and then plan to do my own water testing on a daily basis.

Cannot wait to get a 10g tank for cleaning feeders before feeding them, but my LFS has really good clean tanks which I get the Guppies from. Same for the Minnows I get from my local bait shop, but I think keeping them quarantined for about 2 weeks prior to feeding them would be best. How long do you think it would take to cycle a 10g tank? Like some cheapy from Wal-Fart?
 
gunther said:
if speed is important how about trying bio spria. People seem to have good luck with it although I never tried it.
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I'm really trying hard to stay away from putting anything other than fresh, clean water in the tank. I think that problems arise when people start putting all kinds of s h i t in their tanks. I'm gonna just stay the course of water changes (5g to 10g per week) starting in about 2 weeks, and doubling up on the carbon filters during the month of August until they are all replaced, and let them go until January next year.
 
gunther said:
that is nothing more than beneficial bacteria to give you a head start from what I have read.
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Does it still provide or have any benefit moving forward after the initial cycle is done? Or do you mean it's a benefit in the early stages of tank setup?
 
its for early stages of tank setup...once you have a good culture of bacteria your all set. That stuff is like dumping in active ready to go bacteria to speed up the natural cycle process.
 
gunther said:
its for early stages of tank setup...once you have a good culture of bacteria your all set. That stuff is like dumping in active ready to go bacteria to speed up the natural cycle process.
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So - should I not be thinking about changing those filters out as I have already started to do? I was thinking maybe this is what caused the Nitrites to finally go down, but perhaps not?
 
you don't have to replace your filter pads on your emperor that often. the manufacturers suggest that you replace them every month because the carbon only works for a short amount of time before they lose their function as a chemical media. you don't actually need carbon unless you're trying to take out chemicals like meds that you put in your tank. you can just rinse your filter pads really well and then put them back in. your nitrite spike might have been caused by removing your pads because benificial bacterias can live on them as well. although i'm not sure if that was really the case.

and to start up your 10 gal tank you can use some media from your 90gal to help seed it instead of buying bio-spira. bio-spira is essentially like buying beneficial bacteria which you already have in your 90 gal.
 
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