chriswpoole

i have a 72Gal bowfront tank that has been running for about 4 months. it is set up with a Fluval 405 with prefilter media in the bottom basket, carbon in the 2nd basket, peat media in the 3rd basket and bio in the 4th basket. my pH is 6.8, temp 76*, ammonia is 0.0, but my nitrites are off the charts 4.0+.im am currently doing 25% water changes every 2 days sometimes 50-75% if needed but they going back up, the tank set up as a natural tank and is currently stocked with 6, 2.5in bluegill(also called sunfish in some areas), and a 4.5in bullheaded catfish, all seem to be in good health, and are very active no signs of stress or nitrite posining, also they are on a natural diet( nightcrawlers, mealworms, ect). now when i added the fish the nitrogen cycle was completed and only added one fish every 3 days, i used Seachem Stability to cycle the tank and it worked great took about 2 weeks in a fishless cycle. now after the cycle what could be causing my Nitrites to be so high but not the ammonia?

aquarist48

Hello Chris and Welcome to Fish Lore. I'm sorry to say that Stability doesn't contain the necessary bacteria to cycle without using it for the life of the tank.

If you can find it Tetra Safe Start (TSS) is the only bacterial additive that appears to work and many members here have had excellent results with it. However, some have not.

I would do daily water changes of 30 to 50% adding some Prime or Amquel + to lower your nitrites. Continue with your water changes until you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and under 20 nitrates.

Best of luck. I hope your fish are going to be ok.
http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

Ken

Lucy

Hi Welcome to FishLore
Great advice from Ken.
Best of luck with your tank. I hope you share some pictures.

ynaggo

Make sure your fish eat all of the natural food, it can cause the nitrites to spike in some cases if they don't.

chriswpoole

thanks guys,
i havent been able to find tetra safe start and any of the LFS around here, they only carry, nutrifin cycle, and super bac, would any of these be decent choices?

aquarist48

Hello Chris.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...m?pcatid=19607

Above is a link where you can order Tetra Safe Start (TSS). It can be difficult to find in your local fish stores. I use Drsfostersmith often and they are very reliable.

Nutrifin Cycle and Super Bac are not highly recommended as is TSS. Those two would also have to be added for the life of the tank. Once you stop using it the cycle could crash (meaning high ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels) and cause harm to your fish. So if at all possible I would consider ordering the TSS. Many members have had good success with the TSS (however a few have not).

Best of luck!
Ken

chriswpoole

hey guys,
i just bought Tetra Safe Start at my LFS (found one around here that had it in stock) and so far its working great. my nitirtes have drop from 9.5ppm to 3.2ppm in one night. thanks again ken for the help everything seems to be going good for now, and i will be posting pictures soon once everything settles in the tank.