Nitrites driving me nuts....

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
nfored;5067818; said:
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.
Click to expand...



Its been a week. There is ammonia block in the filters..
 
Im going to go get a new test kit here in a few. Waiting in the wife to get ready..........................................................waiting...............................................................
waiting...
Anyway, will post results when I get back. But since I just did a water change a few hrs ago, would get a better reading in the morning Im sure..
 
I dont think just removing carbon bags from a cannister would shock it.....and if it did then the FX5 would have more than taken care of it.....something is missing.....
What about the substrate? What is it? How deep? how often do you clean it?

What are you conditioning the water with when you do changes?


Weird!!!!
 
Freshwater Tim;5067840; said:
I dont think just removing carbon bags from a cannister would shock it.....and if it did then the FX5 would have more than taken care of it.....something is missing.....
What about the substrate? What is it? How deep? how often do you clean it?

What are you conditioning the water with when you do changes?


Weird!!!!
Click to expand...

Thats what I have been thiking, the Fx5 should have over powered it all..

Condition with Prime

Substrate is sand. Have not messed with it. Its about 1 1/2 deep.
Running to the pet store.. be back later..
thanks
 
Were it me, I'd stop bothering with the water changes. Add 2tsp of salt (any salt) to protect the rays and let the bacteria deal with the nitrite.

I have done this with rays in a tank and would do so again if I triggered a mini-cycle somehow. Not saying I'd let the nitrIte reading get too high but .25ppm wouldn't bother me with a lil' salt.
 
ok, got another test kit. Readings are the same with only the ammonia difference.
I decided to test with both old and new kit at the same time. To see the reading..
Ammonia is now showing somewere between 0 - 0.25ppm
ph on both kits show 7.8
nitirite show 0.25ppm
nitrate showing 20ppm

This is also after a 30% water change this morning... Did not condition water today.
 
If you now showing Ammonia, then that explains it. You have a mini cycle happening. You somehow killed off enough of your BB in the old cannister to cause it and now both the old filter and the new FX5 are trying to cycle.
Maybe purchase a bottle of "Cycle" to help speed the process along.

You did a WC without conditioning the water? The chlorine in the water will kill the BB. Every time I do a WC I shut down the pumps and make sure the tank is completely mixed using only the powerhead to ensure that the Prime has taken care of all the chlorine.
 
Ya, now that the new test is showing ammonia, I figured that is what it is..
I added some salt and conditioner a few min ago.
I do the same, shut the pumps off and let the powerhead do it work with the conditioner..

Thanks for the help. Like I said, now that its showing the ammonia, I figured it was going thru a cycle. I was puzzled when the ammonia was not showing in the tests which thru me for a loop also
 
Do you have chloramines in your water? If so, that might be what's giving you the ammonia reading. Water conditioners like Prime break the chloramine bond which results in chlorine and ammonia. The resulting chlorine and ammonia should be neutralized by the Prime, but I've read it can give you false readings for ammonia.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom