Nitrite And Nitrate

OK first I apologized for lengthy post. I am having problems getting rid of nitrites.
First water change is not an option due to 2 issues, 1 tap water has 1 ppm ammonia, 2 I have a 125 gallon tank so ro water would be too expensive to by to do a 50 - 75% water change.
I have 2 hob 400, and 1 canister 360, so filtration is not the issue. Mechanical Media in all filters are 3 - 4 weeks old, the activated carbon is less than a week old. I have used Prime Seachem, nite-out II, and biological booster every 24 hours for 3 days on the nite-out and 7 days for the others. I have zeolite in the hob. Nitrite is 1-2 ppm, looks like color is between the 2 shades of purple, nitrates have went from 10 - 40 over past 7 days, nitrites have stayed same for over 2 weeks. I did a 75% water change 2 weeks ago, that's when I found out ammonia in tap water after 5 fish died hours after wc.
Is there something I'm missing?
Nitrogen cycle started with ammonia spike then I had nitrite spike then nitrate spike. Did 2 back toback 50% wc. The only problem is the nitrite never got 2 0, went down to were it is now and has been steady since.
I am desperate for a solution to this problem so I don't stress fish anymore.

 

Prime detoxifies ammonia, so that could be a solution. Also, if you are seeing nitrates, that's good.

 

You may be doing too many water change, if you do too many the bacteria won't have time to establish leave the tank for a bit and see what happens in 1 - 2 weeks time. Carbon activated filtration should help to remove nitrites.

 

You may be doing too many water change, if you do too many the bacteria won't have time to establish leave the tank for a bit and see what happens in 1 - 2 weeks time. Carbon activated filtration should help to remove nitrites.

Haven't done water change for 2 weeks. I have done 2 50% water changes on same day and 1 60% wc, and 1 75% wc. These were done over a 4 week period. Other than vacuuming the substrate weekly and replacing water taken out this is all I've done. I think Prime is only reason fish are alive.

 

HI there. So having ammonia can be an issue, but Prime should detoxify it, and once you are cycled it will process within 24 hours. That shouldn’t be too big of a deal. If you had more ammonia, I would be more concerned. 1ppm can be dealt with, using Prime. As long as your ammonia drops to 0, 24 hours after your water change. This won’t be an issue.

The reason you have Nitrites is that you are in the middle of the cycle. It is normal. You do need to do water changes to lower the Nitrites and the nitrates. It seems as if your cycle has stalled though. My guess is that a water change is going to help. Recharge things. Add the bottled bacteria everyday until you are cycled.

Ammonia + Nitrites = less than 2ppm, add full tank volume of Prime. Recheck parameters in 24 hours.
Ammonia + Nitrites = 2.0 or greater, do a 50% water change, add full tank volume of Prime. Recheck parameters in 24 hours.

Your primary goal is to lower your nitrites with the water changes to below 0.5ppm. You may need to change more than 50% to achieve that. For now I wouldn’t worry about your ammonia. As long as it doesn’t get above 1ppm, (the point that Prime doesn’t protect), you will be ok.

Add Prime everyday you see ammonia.

Carbon does not remove Nitrites. It is optional in filtration. The only thing that manages Nitrites is the nitrogen cycle.

What are your exact filters? Just for my info.

Your end goal is 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, +5-20 nitrates, 24 hours after your water change.

 

HI there. So having ammonia can be an issue, but Prime should detoxify it, and once you are cycled it will process within 24 hours. That shouldn’t be too big of a deal. If you had more ammonia, I would be more concerned. 1ppm can be dealt with, using Prime. As long as your ammonia drops to 0, 24 hours after your water change. This won’t be an issue.

The reason you have Nitrites is that you are in the middle of the cycle. It is normal. You do need to do water changes to lower the Nitrites and the nitrates. It seems as if your cycle has stalled though. My guess is that a water change is going to help. Recharge things. Add the bottled bacteria everyday until you are cycled.

Ammonia + Nitrites = less than 2ppm, add full tank volume of Prime. Recheck parameters in 24 hours.
Ammonia + Nitrites = 2.0 or greater, do a 50% water change, add full tank volume of Prime. Recheck parameters in 24 hours.

Your primary goal is to lower your nitrites with the water changes to below 0.5ppm. You may need to change more than 50% to achieve that. For now I wouldn’t worry about your ammonia. As long as it doesn’t get above 1ppm, (the point that Prime doesn’t protect), you will be ok.

Add Prime everyday you see ammonia.

Carbon does not remove Nitrites. It is optional in filtration. The only thing that manages Nitrites is the nitrogen cycle.

What are your exact filters? Just for my info.

Your end goal is 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, +5-20 nitrates, 24 hours after your water change.

My filter are as follows,
The canister is set up with all that came with it along with a filter pad that claims to catch and remove ammonia I bought from Petco
The hob 1 I have a filter pad that claims to trap nitrite and nitrates, just put in 48 hours ago, and a bag of zeolite
The other hob I have same filter pad and a bag of zeolite activated carbon mix.
I checked my peramiters this morning and the results are
Ammonia 0
Nitrite between 1.0 and 2.0
Nitrate between 40 and 80
Ph 8.2
Every time I've done more than 25% wc I've lost at least 5 fish. Even treating with Prime.
So not sure about bigger change, a little scared to do.

 

Since you are leary about doing a large water change. How about doing a 25% water change x 3? You could wait an hour in between the changes. It should lower both the Nitrites and nitrates down to manageable levels. And if your fish are freaking out after the second water change, don’t do a third. You could do 2 back to back, 2 days in a row instead. You have to do what is right for your tank.

 

Since you are leary about doing a large water change. How about doing a 25% water change x 3? You could wait an hour in between the changes. It should lower both the Nitrites and nitrates down to manageable levels. And if your fish are freaking out after the second water change, don’t do a third. You could do 2 back to back, 2 days in a row instead. You have to do what is right for your tank.

I'll try the 25% and see how they do. Not sure why they stress so much on large ones. Every large wc I've done the fish that survive take 2 - 3 days to get back to normal. The 25 % change I was told does nothing for nitrite or nitrate levels. That's why I just didn't do any

 

I'll try the 25% and see how they do. Not sure why they stress so much on large ones. Every large wc I've done the fish that survive take 2 - 3 days to get back to normal. The 25 % change I was told does nothing for nitrite or nitrate levels. That's why I just didn't do any

That isn’t exactly true. The small wc do drop your nitrate levels, just not by very much. I personally prefer large water changes. Because it helps more. But your fish have issues with your water changes, so I would just be conservative. Plus the water changes do more than alter chemistries. It recharges the minerals in the tank. Which are vital to a stable pH. It also clears out any lingering bacteria that can harm fish. So water changes are for more than just Nitrites/nitrates.

Once you are cycled, I predict you won’t have these issues. But because your fish are being finicky, you just are having to put in a little extra work is all.

As far as your filter goes, you really don’t need all those specialty filter pads etc. the only thing I would consider keeping is ammonia absorbing pads/media. And only because you have ammonia in your tap. The rest of it, is taken care of once you are cycled. Although because your fish don’t like the large changes, nitrate absorbing media could be helpful. So for the future, when it comes time to replace the filter pads, I wouldn’t waste the money on all that stuff. Totally not necessary. Nothing really takes the place of a cycled tank and water changes.

 

That isn’t exactly true. The small wc do drop your nitrate levels, just not by very much. I personally prefer large water changes. Because it helps more. But your fish have issues with your water changes, so I would just be conservative. Plus the water changes do more than alter chemistries. It recharges the minerals in the tank. Which are vital to a stable pH. It also clears out any lingering bacteria that can harm fish. So water changes are for more than just Nitrites/nitrates.

Once you are cycled, I predict you won’t have these issues. But because your fish are being finicky, you just are having to put in a little extra work is all.

As far as your filter goes, you really don’t need all those specialty filter pads etc. the only thing I would consider keeping is ammonia absorbing pads/media. And only because you have ammonia in your tap. The rest of it, is taken care of once you are cycled. Although because your fish don’t like the large changes, nitrate absorbing media could be helpful. So for the future, when it comes time to replace the filter pads, I wouldn’t waste the money on all that stuff. Totally not necessary. Nothing really takes the place of a cycled tank and water changes.

OK. Thank you. I appreciate all your advice. I will continue doing small wc. Did couple today and fish didn't mind it. Your right they are some picky fish.

 

I don't have too much to add except that I feel your pain, as I'm going through the same thing right now. This week after adding plants,shrimp and snails my tank went into a mini-cycle. The fish were totally stressed out. The parameters are better, my ammonia is down but I'm still dealing with .25 ppm nitrites. I have been doing partial water changes everyday for the past 4 days and I believe that's the only reason the levels are getting lower. I also broke down my filters briefly today, carefully preserving media in tank water, to see if anything was dead in there. I found some live shrimp and the filter pads were filthy to the point they were almost entirely occulded. I swished them around in a bucket of tank water and added some extra floss to the trays. The fish definitely look better now. If all else fails, check inside your filters and under rocks, etc for anything decaying. Hopefully the cycle will level out for both of us soon!

 

I don't have too much to add except that I feel your pain, as I'm going through the same thing right now. This week after adding plants,shrimp and snails my tank went into a mini-cycle. The fish were totally stressed out. The parameters are better, my ammonia is down but I'm still dealing with .25 ppm nitrites. I have been doing partial water changes everyday for the past 4 days and I believe that's the only reason the levels are getting lower. I also broke down my filters briefly today, carefully preserving media in tank water, to see if anything was dead in there. I found some live shrimp and the filter pads were filthy to the point they were almost entirely occulded. I swished them around in a bucket of tank water and added some extra floss to the trays. The fish definitely look better now. If all else fails, check inside your filters and under rocks, etc for anything decaying. Hopefully the cycle will level out for both of us soon!

Appreciate the reply. I have looked under decor and just replaced filter media one at a time in hobs and cleans pads in canister. Tanks been running 5 weeks. So hope I'm in the home stretch. Hope your tank get done soon.

 

OK, I set up 125 gallon tank on 8/27/17, today 10/7/17 cycle is finally done.
Tested water this am and nitrite 0, nitrate 20, and ammonia 0, ph is 8.0
What a relief.