Nitrites driving me nuts....

[bcfd144]

Posted this under filtration, but have not gotten any responces and since its a Ray tank, Id rather chat with the people I always chat with and trust..

OK, have a 150 gallon tank, has been set up for 2 years now.
When first set up, had a 305 and a 405 set up on it for filtration.
6 months ago, took the 305 off and put a Fx5 on it.
All has been fine the last 6 months..

So about a week ago, I took the 405 off and cleaned it. Did the usual cleaning.. Like you are supose to. Only thing I did different was there were some bags of carbon in there and I took them out.

So now for the past week, my Nitrites are up. They dont get any higher than 0.25ppm and the nitrates are around 20ppm. Everything else is normal. 7.8ph and 0 ammonia.
So, have been doing 40% water chages daily since.

You would think that all would turn normal fast, but its been a week and still doing it.
I do a 40% water change in the morning, check everything that night, and everything is fine. All levels were they are supose to be. Get up the next morning and see the nitrites are back up to 0.25ppm or so..
So do another 40% water change..

My thoughts are I shocked the 405 filter. Taking the Carbon bags totally out may have disturbed the bio load.

With the Fx5 still running (did not clean it) you would think the system would be back to normal fast.. but I guess I may have shocked the 405 filter and its now having to recycle..

any thoughts????? Am I right..


No trapped food in any of the filters. Have slowed feeding down and only feed half the amount..
Tanks has 2 Retic Rays in it.. thats it..

 

[xaznkewlguyx]

Whats inside the filters? Did you load em up with ceramic bio-rings?

I would fill all 3 trays of the FX5 with ceramic rings..

 

[bcfd144]

Yes, both the 405 and the Fx5 are filled with bio rings..
The Fx5 has been running for 6 months now. Its cycled.
Im thinking I may have messed up the bio load in the 405 when I took out the carbon bags and put more rings in there place..

 

[keepinfish]

get another test kit to make sure this one is still good.

 

[jcardona1]

Unless you have an extremely heavy bioload, the FX5 should be more than capable of handling that tank. Have you suspected the test kit? Tested tap water? How old is the test kit? These things are far from accurate. I had a 1yr old test kit and a new test kit give me differences of 20ppm+ when testing nitrates.

Just a thought...

 

[Freshwater Tim]

I agree with the test kit maybe being at fault....I have two sets of test kits. If I ever have doubts with what one reading is from one kit, I will test with the other just to be sure.

 

[bcfd144]

Thats what I was thinking, the FX5 should be big enought to filter that tank. I knew that when I added it to it. I just didnt want to take all the est filters off that tank when I added the Fx5 to it. I only took the 305 off the tank and left the 405 when I got this Fx5 and added it. That way I had a est filter on the tank while the Fx5 was getting est. I know by now the Fx5 has done its thing and I really dont need the 405 on it, but since I dont have any tanks needing a filter, I figured Id just leave it on there as a back up.

On the test kit, ya, I thought of that also this morning. I tested the ph of the tap, then the water in my other tanks. All tanks and tap are normal. Just this one tank is the only one that is reading different on the Nitrites. The test kit is about 9 months old I guess. Need to get another one anyway, running low on some of the bottles. Ill do that today.

 

[johno27]

May want to consider trying some bottled bacteria if everything checks out and your still having problems. This is a wierd one for sure.

 

[nfored]

Not really adding anything but its strange to have 0 ammonia and have nitrites you cant have trites without having ammonia, if the filter could handle the ammonia it makes no sense it couldn't handle the trites. Even if it had to catch up one would think it would have done that in a week or two.

 

[bcfd144]

May want to consider trying some bottled bacteria if everything checks out and your still having problems. This is a wierd one for sure.

Ya, never had this happen.
I took the carbon out because it had been in that filter for awhile. I decided to go with no carbon in my tanks. No real need for it anyway in my opinion on a ray tank.
Anyway, ya, cant figure it out. The levels are alot better than they were the first two days after I had cleaned the filter, but the last 4 days, they have stayed the same. Of course better after a water change, but by the next morning, rt back.
Do you think I may have shoced the filter by taking the carbon bags out, and adding more bio rings in there place. Every thing else is still the same in the filter. All original bio rings are still in there, filter pads just rinsed in tank water. Just a normal cleaning besides the taking out of the carbon and adding a few pio rings in the place of them.