Nitrite levels

[JMregan]

I am new to saltwater fish and have had my tank for about 2 months now. I cycled the tank with starter and and am using live rovck and sand for natural filtraton. I noticed my nitrite levels on the rise and after some research realized i needed a protean skimmer(th salt water fish store forgot to tell me about that one). I bought a protean skimmer yesterday to help the issue. So far the nitrite levels have no moved and are very high at 2-3 ppm. Could someone please help me with advice to take care of this problem before I lose my fish? I have already lost almost all my snails and a sea urchin

 

[OodleyBoodely]

Sorry to hear it, but, your tank is not cycled yet, or, it has been thrown into another cycle by die-off. An immediate large waterchange may save some of your livestock, but, I think your best bet is to remove all livestock...fish and cleanup crew and try to find someone with a healthy system to take care of them for you until your system is fully cycled and safe. Nitrite should be at 0 before adding any live animals. Also, make sure your source water is nitrite/ammonia free. Many city water sources can have leathal levels of nitrite...I learned that the hard way. Use ro/di water and if you buy your water from a 3rd party, test it, too. The skimmer will certainly help, and will help shorten the cycling of the tank, but be prepared for another week or two for your tank to cycle.

 

[JMregan]

Well that is not very good news haha. Thank you very much for the response I have began doing daily water changes to try and get the new water in there. I tested my tap water and it has no nitrites in it, so i hope that helps. Unfortunately I do not know any salt water enthusiasts to help me out close to home. I have begun doing 20% water changes per day to try and cycle out the junk in the tank, I did notice when i put that water in it stirred up alot of junk to the water. Most of my clean up crew are no longer around. Would you suggest stirring up my tank before i do a water change to see if i would be able to capture more of the junk. I guess i am just trying to find the best way to minimize the damage, even if i have to go buy some new cleanup crew. I will follow the suggestions of this forum, everyone here is vastly more knowledgeable then myself

 

[stingythingy45]

[welcome]
Neighbor.

A little more info about your tank would be great.
How long has it been set up?What size is it?
How are you checking salinity/parameters?
How much live rock?

 

[JMregan]

No problem.

How long has it been set up?What size is it? Set up for 2 months, 29 gallon
How are you checking salinity/parameters? I am checking all other parameters and i do not see issues here according to the stick test. PH 8.4, Alkalinity about 300, nitrite about 3,nitrate about 20
How much live rock? about 14 lbs of live rock

I was going to switch to a 55 gallon this weekend that I was given but i also dont know if i should wait till this water completely clears up do i do not have to completely cycle the larger tank. Let me know if you need any other information.

 

[75gsalt]

Most every new tank will cycle. You need to ditch the test strips and get a good test kit the will do ph, nitrite, ammonia and nitrate. API makes a decent one, but not the best. Also what if any is your ammonia?

 

[stingythingy45]

^^^

+1

API is a good test kit to start with.
The API master saltwater kit will 10x better than strips.

 

[ihavtats29]

test strips will give false readings like your posted 300 alk reading is that in dkh,meq/l?, when you dip them the dye can bleed into the next spot giving the false reading. api makes a decent test kit at a low cost and compared to my salifert tests and redsea tests i seeno major comparison except the calcium , mag tests which i use salifert, ive only had 1 issue with a api test that was the nitrate test that was giving high readings , if your going to switch to a larger tank id do it now it will also have a cycle use as much new saltwater as possible heated to the same temp and with the same salinity as the current tank. during the cycle weekly %5 to %10 water changes will help and livestock stay alive

 

[jtrasap]

What is your ammonia at? How many fish, what kind, and what size are in the tank? If you have a poorly established bacteria population and you add too many fish too quickly you will have some problems, especially in a smaller tank such as a 29g. The bacterial population will need to catch up to the added bio-load. This in turn will cause the tank to cycle again. Be sure and remove anything that dies, immediately as that will also pollute the tank. Your skimmer may need a bit of a break-in period before it really starts working good. What type of skimmer did you get? Is it producing skimmate yet?



Here's a list of reef clubs in the Northeast------>http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=534

Maybe you can find one near you. Clubs are a great resource for any reefer.

 

[Michael]

firstly dont panic, nitrite at that level wont kill your fish, the main concern would be ammonia rearing its ugly head, as the tank is 2 months old its possible the cycle is coming to an end and your on the tail end of things, id suggest you monitor ammonia very carefully, any sign at all, do an immediate water change with pure nutrient free quality water. unfortunately like most new aquarists you have started off completely wrongly, however all is not lost, dont add any more stock at all for quite a while until you are sure your free from ammonia poisoning.

 

[w16227]

+1 to Michael's comments - and keep asking questions.

to help all - use the user control panel and add to your signature your equipment list. Include specific manufacturer and model for items that you have (most important are skimmer and lighting).

You will get a TON of advice. Do not be overwhelmed - but there is a LOT to the SW hobby. Pick one area to concentrate on, make the changes you see fit - then move to the next. Perhaps the most important thing you can focus on short term is what Michael was saying - water changes. The first line of defense for many tank issues is a good water change.

Do NOT stir the sandbed. In freshwater tanks - vacuuming the gravel is a good way to remove junk in the tank. In a saltwater tank - this can cause more harm than good. If the sand starts getting nasty, there are different critters that can be added to keep it looking clean.

Two of the more important items to have at the start - a RO/DI water source. Several decent suppliers are sponsors on this site (the filter guys is one that I use). Many times, tap water contains a lot of dissolved particulate that you do not want in the tank. A good RO/DI unit will purify the water before adding the salt.

Next - a refractomoner for measuring salinity. The cheap swing arm hygronomers are just that - cheap. Maintaining the salt content in the tank is critical to the health of everything in it.

Be warned about the typical fish store - many times they are not as educated as you might think. Some stores are good - but even then, the advice might not be sound for your specific tank.

In your case - they did not mention a skimmer. Well - you might not need one for a 29 gallon. Yes - it will help the water quality, BUT --- for a smaller tank, changing out some water weekly is also acceptable.

Not that they are actively trying to misinform, sometimes they just do not know any better.

Another good example is the dip test kits. These are not bad if you want a younger child to test their fresh water tank without a lot of chemicals, but the majority of saltwater tank owners never use them as they have questionable accuracy.

good luck and welcome to the hobby

 

[aquabod]

plus you might want increase the amount of live rock in the long run. a minimum of 1 lb per gallon,especially if you upgrade to the 55 gallon.

 

[Saltyllama]

What type of filtration are you running????

I don't think anyone mentioned this but you have too little liverock in that system. I'd aim for 1 lb per gallon of water. The liverock houses the bacteria colonies that will consume the ammonia and nitrite in the system. Without enough surface area they will never be able to reproduce enough to clean your system.

First thing I would do is get you livestock into someone elses tank. LFS will sometimes hold them for you. Otherwise, find a local club QUICK. You tank still has some growing to do before it's ready to support that type of life.

Second thing I would do is to add 20 lbs of liverock to the tank. Slowly though, 5-10 lbs at a time with a week or two break in between.

Once you have all your liverock in start testing to water (with a quality test kit) until ammonia and nitrite are at 0. After that add livestock slowly (1-2 fish at a time) giving about two weeks in between additions.

 

[JMregan]

Thank You

Thank You

thank you everyone for your help i am off to buy some more live rock and a better test kit. I will make sure i do the water changes and then ill grab some inverts to help with the clean up. As soon as i have the 55 gallon tank set up i will list all of the new equitment i will be using as well as tank inhabitants. I was going to look into buing a reef cleaner pack online. The ones i was reading said they can survivce a on cycled tank.

http://www.reefscavengers.com/

About the water. I am confued on the RO/DI water source. s this a premade salt water I buy or another piece of equitment i should have and had no idea about.

I will post my ammonia tonight when i test it with a real test kit

My tank includes a dragon goby, dwarf fire angel, clarkii clown, 3 narassius snails, 3 narite snails, 2 emerald crabs, 2 condilactus anomie. currently i am running a filter for a 55 gallon tank that is prob 5 years old and a cheap bio cube protein skimmer. We have new T5 lighting, a much better protean skimmer and 2 new filters coming in. I will post them when i receive all of them

 

[JMregan]

Tests

Tests

Here are my test results with the new API saltwater test kit

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 1
Nitrate = 20
Salt = 1.027
PH = 8.4

 

[costellow]

Those params are much better. Your salinity is a bit high, I prefer 1024. Ph is just a bit high. And I would bet Nitrate is high because you have alot of fish and only 15 lbs of rock. I have a 29G with 50lbs of rock so I would get more (already cured).

 

[Michael]

Here are my test results with the new API saltwater test kit

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 1
Nitrate = 20
Salt = 1.027
PH = 8.4

looks fine, i think your ok with those levels,please keep testing for ammonia for a while though, and as mentioned, any sign of it do an immediate water change.

 

[JMregan]

Rock

Rock

I picked up some cured rock yesterday at the store and now am up to 21lbs. Also I added some water without salt to bring the level down. The Ph is that high due to a buffer i put in. My ph was origionally about 7.8 and I added something to raise it after sdeeing most fish needed an 8.1 - 8.8. At least I am going in the right direction haha

 

[stingythingy45]

I picked up some cured rock yesterday at the store and now am up to 21lbs. Also I added some water without salt to bring the level down. The Ph is that high due to a buffer i put in. My ph was origionally about 7.8 and I added something to raise it after sdeeing most fish needed an 8.1 - 8.8. At least I am going in the right direction haha

Don't go chasing PH around,it's a big time rookie mistake.
Just get the alk between 7-10 dkh and let the PH sit where it ends up.
PH goes up and down depending on if the light are on(up) or off.
BTW,you never did post your Alk parameter.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree. Don't add buffers to adjust pH, it only ends in alkalinity being too high. If the pH gets too low, there are better ways to correct it. pH 8.4 is fine.

I also personally think the original salinity as fine. I target a sg of 1.0264 or so to match nsw at 35 ppt, but a fairly wide range is fine.

Don't worry about nitrite. I wouldn't even bothering to measure it.

These may be useful:

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 1: The Salt Water Itself
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 3: pH
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners,
Part 4: What Chemicals May Detrimentally Accumulate
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/rhf/index.php