nitrite very high

[SCAFFMAN]

i have a 90gal tank

of late the nitrite has been very high,

even after a 40% water change and a 20% water change a week later

i havent lost any fish of late and have reduced the food, and missing
feeding on some days.

any pointers



thanks

[KurtG]

SCAFFMAN wrote:
> i have a 90gal tank
>
> of late the nitrite has been very high,

How old is your tank?

I'd add some "seachem stability" which has all the seed bacteria that
you need to establish the nitrogen cycle.

[August West[_2_]]

What happened is the first water change removed 40% of the nitrates. Leaving
60% in the water. The second water change removed 20% of those nitrates, not
another 20% of the original level. So even though you have changed 60 % of
the water, you only got 52% of the nitrates.

If possible, changing aboout 70% and then another 70% will drop the levels
significantly. That should drop your nitrates by about 90% from the current
level

Are you using R/O water? The tapwater in my neighborhood has low levels of
nitrates in it. Over time, this built up in my tank.

Another thing I found way back when was a waste buildup in the hose leading
down to my filter under the tank.
"SCAFFMAN" > wrote in message
. uk...
>i have a 90gal tank
>
> of late the nitrite has been very high,
>
> even after a 40% water change and a 20% water change a week later
>
> i havent lost any fish of late and have reduced the food, and missing
> feeding on some days.
>
> any pointers
>
>
>
> thanks
>

[Peter Pan]

August his original post stated nitrites not nitrates. This sounds like he's
going through a cycle if its nitrites, but you are correct about the Nitrate
and reducing them. More frequent water changes are needed to reduce the
Nitrates. For nitrates, you should be 15 ppm or less Nitrites should be
zero.


ugust West" > wrote in message
...
> What happened is the first water change removed 40% of the nitrates.
> Leaving 60% in the water. The second water change removed 20% of those
> nitrates, not another 20% of the original level. So even though you have
> changed 60 % of the water, you only got 52% of the nitrates.
>
> If possible, changing aboout 70% and then another 70% will drop the levels
> significantly. That should drop your nitrates by about 90% from the
> current level
>
> Are you using R/O water? The tapwater in my neighborhood has low levels of
> nitrates in it. Over time, this built up in my tank.
>
> Another thing I found way back when was a waste buildup in the hose
> leading down to my filter under the tank.
> "SCAFFMAN" > wrote in message
> . uk...
>>i have a 90gal tank
>>
>> of late the nitrite has been very high,
>>
>> even after a 40% water change and a 20% water change a week later
>>
>> i havent lost any fish of late and have reduced the food, and missing
>> feeding on some days.
>>
>> any pointers
>>
>>
>>
>> thanks
>>
>
>

[George Patterson]

SCAFFMAN wrote:

> any pointers

Is this a new setup? If so, the tank is still cycling. You can expect nitrites
to start to drop in another week, assuming you have a decent bacteriological filter.

If this is an established setup, your filter mechanism is defective or
inadequate. If you have mechanical filtration, such as a wet/dry or a fluidized
bed, make sure it's functioning correctly. With a fluidized bed, check in
particular that the little pump that churns the bed up is still working. If you
have the Eheim wet/dry, make sure that water comes out in cycles as it's
supposed to. If you have an undergravel, it's probably clogged. The best thing
to do with that is to replace it. If you are using live rock, make sure the
water circulation around the rock is adequate.

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

[SCAFFMAN]

thanks for the replys guys,

but it was the test kit that was fubar, and that was a brand new £50
complete test kit.

i took a water sample to my local supplier and he done 3 seperate tests from
3 seperate kits and all passed.

..

[KurtG]

SCAFFMAN wrote:
> but it was the test kit that was fubar, and that was a brand new £50
> complete test kit.


Good catch.

[George Patterson]

SCAFFMAN wrote:

> but it was the test kit that was fubar, and that was a brand new £50
> complete test kit.

Glad to hear it. Hope you can get a refund.

George Patterson
If you torture the data long enough, eventually it will confess
to anything.

[August West[_2_]]

Ooops. My bad. You'd think if I have a computer I'd be able to read by
now.....
"Peter Pan" > wrote in message
. ..
> August his original post stated nitrites not nitrates. This sounds like
> he's going through a cycle if its nitrites, but you are correct about the
> Nitrate and reducing them. More frequent water changes are needed to
> reduce the Nitrates. For nitrates, you should be 15 ppm or less Nitrites
> should be zero.
>
>
> ugust West" > wrote in message
> ...
>> What happened is the first water change removed 40% of the nitrates.
>> Leaving 60% in the water. The second water change removed 20% of those
>> nitrates, not another 20% of the original level. So even though you have
>> changed 60 % of the water, you only got 52% of the nitrates.
>>
>> If possible, changing aboout 70% and then another 70% will drop the
>> levels significantly. That should drop your nitrates by about 90% from
>> the current level
>>
>> Are you using R/O water? The tapwater in my neighborhood has low levels
>> of nitrates in it. Over time, this built up in my tank.
>>
>> Another thing I found way back when was a waste buildup in the hose
>> leading down to my filter under the tank.
>> "SCAFFMAN" > wrote in message
>> . uk...
>>>i have a 90gal tank
>>>
>>> of late the nitrite has been very high,
>>>
>>> even after a 40% water change and a 20% water change a week later
>>>
>>> i havent lost any fish of late and have reduced the food, and missing
>>> feeding on some days.
>>>
>>> any pointers
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> thanks
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

[Peter Pan]

LOL
"August West" > wrote in message
...
> Ooops. My bad. You'd think if I have a computer I'd be able to read by
> now.....
> "Peter Pan" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> August his original post stated nitrites not nitrates. This sounds like
>> he's going through a cycle if its nitrites, but you are correct about the
>> Nitrate and reducing them. More frequent water changes are needed to
>> reduce the Nitrates. For nitrates, you should be 15 ppm or less Nitrites
>> should be zero.
>>
>>
>> ugust West" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> What happened is the first water change removed 40% of the nitrates.
>>> Leaving 60% in the water. The second water change removed 20% of those
>>> nitrates, not another 20% of the original level. So even though you have
>>> changed 60 % of the water, you only got 52% of the nitrates.
>>>
>>> If possible, changing aboout 70% and then another 70% will drop the
>>> levels significantly. That should drop your nitrates by about 90% from
>>> the current level
>>>
>>> Are you using R/O water? The tapwater in my neighborhood has low levels
>>> of nitrates in it. Over time, this built up in my tank.
>>>
>>> Another thing I found way back when was a waste buildup in the hose
>>> leading down to my filter under the tank.
>>> "SCAFFMAN" > wrote in message
>>> . uk...
>>>>i have a 90gal tank
>>>>
>>>> of late the nitrite has been very high,
>>>>
>>>> even after a 40% water change and a 20% water change a week later
>>>>
>>>> i havent lost any fish of late and have reduced the food, and missing
>>>> feeding on some days.
>>>>
>>>> any pointers
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> thanks
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

[August-18-search]

SCAFFMAN wrote:
> i have a 90gal tank
>
> of late the nitrite has been very high,
>
> even after a 40% water change and a 20% water change a week later
>
> i havent lost any fish of late and have reduced the food, and missing
> feeding on some days.
>
> any pointers
>
>
>
> thanks
>
>

More live rock. More sand. Add macro algea. Add xenia. add tridacnids.
increase circulation. Get a fuge if you don't have one.

Nitartes should be stable at 0 in a proper setup. you should not need to
do water changes for nitrates at all in a reef setup.

HTH.

[Wayne Sallee]

I think I smell a Troll.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


August-18-search wrote on 4/26/2007 3:37 PM:

>
> More live rock. More sand. Add macro algea. Add xenia. add tridacnids.
> increase circulation. Get a fuge if you don't have one.
>
> Nitartes should be stable at 0 in a proper setup. you should not need to
> do water changes for nitrates at all in a reef setup.
>
> HTH.

[August-18-search]

Wayne Sallee wrote:
> I think I smell a Troll.
>
> Wayne Sallee
> Wayne's Pets
>
>
> August-18-search wrote on 4/26/2007 3:37 PM:
>
>>
>> More live rock. More sand. Add macro algea. Add xenia. add tridacnids.
>> increase circulation. Get a fuge if you don't have one.
>>
>> Nitartes should be stable at 0 in a proper setup. you should not need
>> to do water changes for nitrates at all in a reef setup.
>>
>> HTH.


Why would you say that?

I did goof - the post was about nitrite, not nitrate. but the advice
still holds.

if the OP has any measurable levels of nitrite, something is very amiss
with the tanks cycle.

More live rock and sand should help. Fuge won't help nitrite, of course.
but the rest of the advice was sound.

[Wayne Sallee]

Ok, you changed your name from "Add Homonym" to
"August-18-search" and posted right after "Agust
West". It' looked fishy to me :-)

A fuge will help if there is live rock, or live sand
in the fuge.

And obviously the "tridacnids answer" was for
nitrates, not nitrites :-)

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets


August-18-search wrote on 4/27/2007 9:31 AM:
> Wayne Sallee wrote:
>> I think I smell a Troll.
>>
>> Wayne Sallee
>> Wayne's Pets
>>
>>
>> August-18-search wrote on 4/26/2007 3:37 PM:
>>
>>>
>>> More live rock. More sand. Add macro algea. Add xenia. add
>>> tridacnids. increase circulation. Get a fuge if you don't have one.
>>>
>>> Nitartes should be stable at 0 in a proper setup. you should not need
>>> to do water changes for nitrates at all in a reef setup.
>>>
>>> HTH.
>
>
> Why would you say that?
>
> I did goof - the post was about nitrite, not nitrate. but the advice
> still holds.
>
> if the OP has any measurable levels of nitrite, something is very amiss
> with the tanks cycle.
>
> More live rock and sand should help. Fuge won't help nitrite, of course.
> but the rest of the advice was sound.
>