Water Level Help - Page 2

[littlemissdiva9]

2.0 nitrites is extremely high. I would not skip the water changes yet! Do a massive water change and then dose Prime. The nitrite stage I find is intense but usually short-lived

The nitrites are now 0.25 another water change tommrrow?

Is 0.25 okay? Do I do another water change?

 

[jdhef]

I merged your two threads. Please start one thread per topic.

Possibly. I would see what your nitrite reading is before doing a water change. If it is around .5ppm, I would just add enough Prime to treat the whole volume of the tank and hold off on the water change.

 

[littlemissdiva9]

I merged your two threads. Please start one thread per topic.

Possibly. I would see what your nitrite reading is before doing a water change. If it is around .5ppm, I would just add enough Prime to treat the whole volume of the tank and hold off on the water change.

Okay

I will try my best to keep all posts together. I'm new and when I feel like I'm may lose a fish I freak lol.

 

[Aquaphobia]

Sorry, was at work!

I agree with jdhef!

 

[Guppylover17921]

I find the tread quite interesting. I cycled 6 tanks so far and found that I prefer fishless cycling. I have however performed fish in cycling. The first tank I had I did what the original poster did. My tank took six months to cycle. After I found that when I performed a 10 to 25 percent change every 2 days with prime my tank cycled within 3 to 4 weeks. I tested every day and as long as the ammonia and or nitrites were under 1.0 I stuck to 10 percent waterchange only. I did not vacuum the gravel. It would lower my nitrates otherwise. until my tank was fully cycled I would only vacuum the gravel once a week. Stability. I really found to be just ok. I used it with two tanks but didn't find it helped the cycling but maybe it helped the fish not get as sick from the ammonia. I say it can't hurt to use it.

 

[Aquaphobia]

There's nothing wrong with lowering the nitrates during cycling Guppylover17921! They're just the end product anyway so removing them won't hurt anything

 

[Guppylover17921]

There's nothing wrong with lowering the nitrates during cycling Guppylover17921! They're just the end product anyway so removing them won't hurt anything

I thought the nitrate fed on the nitrites? So some was good?

 

[DanioDanny]

Nitrates are the product of bacteria that feed on nitrites, so essentially nitrites do go in to nitrates but there is no feeding happening

 

[Guppylover17921]

Nitrates are the product of bacteria that feed on nitrites, so essentially nitrites do go in to nitrates but there is no feeding happening

Ok. Thanks.

 

[DanioDanny]

I've written it in a little drawing for you - hopefully this clarifies it.

Any questions about the cycle just ask.

 

[Aquaphobia]

Wow, hey mods (jdhef) I think that picture should be included in the cycling section as its own sticky! Really nice work EBarb!

 

[littlemissdiva9]

My nitrites are high agian. They are at 2... am I doing something wrong??

 

[DanioDanny]

I read that for every 1ppm of ammonia you get 2.5ppm nitrite once it is converted. I am assuming that your fish are pooping and thus your nitrites will be constantly rising.

They will keep rising until bacteria can convert them to nitrate efficiently and then you will see the same constant rise but with nitrate.

Keep doing water changes to keep the toxic nitrite low but it's the natural cycle so don't think it's wrong!

 

[littlemissdiva9]

I'm scared are these water changes going to put them in shock, I have been doing them daily..

 

[DanioDanny]

Are you dechlorinating the water and letting it heat up to tank temperature before you add it?

As long as you do that then it shouldn't be too shocking. It's still far better than death my nitrite toxicity.

 

[littlemissdiva9]

its usually a little warmer and I'm addin prime.

 

[Aquaphobia]

Agreed! I regularly change out half the water but that's the key is doing it regularly. If you did it less often it would be more of a shock. Doing it frequently like you are keeps the parameters from varying too much.

How much warmer?

 

[DanioDanny]

A question - if I have a cold water tap and use a kettle to heat a portion of the water to match my tank temperature - will that cause any issue?

 

[Aquaphobia]

Shouldn't, but I find it easier to just adjust the temperature of the water coming out of the tap to what I want. If you have one of those dial-type faucet handles it's easy to remember the "sweet spot" where the water is just right

 

[DanioDanny]

Well I'm English, so the hot water comes from a tank that gets heated - but it often sits for a while and thus we shouldn't really use it (as far as I am aware).

 

[littlemissdiva9]

is 25 percent okay?

 

[DanioDanny]

Well 25% won't get it as low as it should be (2ppm will go to about 1.5), but if you do 25% every day then hopefully it will steady out about 0.25

You could do a 50% two days in a row and then go back to 25? Not sure what anyone else would suggest?

 

[jdhef]

Well I'm English, so the hot water comes from a tank that gets heated - but it often sits for a while and thus we shouldn't really use it (as far as I am aware).

For almost all people in the US, we have a storage tank where the water gets heated, and it is fine to use for your aquarium.

 

[DanioDanny]

Is it really? Don't have to do anything special with the water?

 

[littlemissdiva9]

the ammonia was at 0, nitrates 0, nitrites 5 , ph 7.6. I thought you had to have nitrates to have that high of nitrites.

 

[DanioDanny]

Don't forget to go back to the drawing - NitrAtes are the bi-product of NitrItes. Not the other way round.

If your nitrItes are at 5, I would recommend a 75% water change pretty sharpish. Again, what does everyone else think?

 

[littlemissdiva9]

I did 50 percent today, if you guys recommend 75 I will I did 80% two days in a row and it was at 0.25 stayed that way for two days and now it is back to 5. I may get nitrite remover my local fish store sells it. It gies into the filter.

 

[DanioDanny]

Your fish must be producing a lot of waste to get 5 nitrite from 2 this morning?

 

[littlemissdiva9]

My boyfriend looked at the results he said it was closer to 5. So this mornings result was closer to 5. I haven't tested it agian yet. I'm going to go with his eyes.

 

[DanioDanny]

I hate using my eyes to analyse results, why doesn't it just give me a number!

Well 5 is very high and could very well result in death. Was this result before or after your 50% water change?

 

[littlemissdiva9]

before I am testing it agian right now.

the test is at 1.5

 

[DanioDanny]

Okay good, so you could do another 50% and get it to 0.75~.

Definitely a good reason to keep doing daily changes!

 

[littlemissdiva9]

okay, this is day 6 or 8 of water changes when can I stop?

 

[DanioDanny]

If you had no fish in the tank, you wouldn't have to do any, you could just let the tank cycle until you had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and only nitrates.

Because you have fish you have to keep changing the water until your nitrites are and stay at 0. Could be 2 days, could be 6 weeks.

 

[el337]

How much are you feeding? I'd feed every other day so you limit the ammonia output while cycling. Are you making sure to vacuum the gravel at least weekly? Are you still dosing the Stability? If you still have some left, I'd dump the rest of the bottle in. Since Prime can detoxify up to 1ppm of both ammonia and nitrite, you can just dose Prime for the full tank volume if the sum of both are under 1. If above 1, do at least a 50% water change to get them under. You'll need to test daily and follow this method until you're cycled.

 

[littlemissdiva9]

okay, here is my update. The levels are now at .25 my cousin said it may be my filter so I bought a new filter and within an hour my nitrites started to lower, I know since it is a new filter I shoukd continue to check but I am hopeful and will check it first thing in the morning.

 

[el337]

.25 ammonia and nitrite? I do hope that you moved the old media over to the new filter? Personally, I wouldn't have touched your filter at all until after you were done cycling. What filter did you have and what kind did you replace it with?

 

[littlemissdiva9]

I had a fluval, I know have two marineland 350's

I have had no ammonia this whole time only nitrites.

 

[el337]

Right but did you move any of the media from the Fluval over? You would have wanted to save any bacteria that has colonized or else you're starting all over with your cycle.

 

[masstroy]

It sounds like your tanks hasn't completed the nitrogen cycle, and that many fish might be a little overstocked this early. Once the tank is going, that's probably about the right amount. You'll probably need to keep doing water changes like that until it settles out. Mine took about 5 weeks before it settled out. And then I had some serious algae blooms which I think are actually keeping my water clear right now.

 

[WalkGood]

Has anyone had success using "Microbe-Lift Special Blend" or "Microbe-Lift Nite Out II" ?

 

[littlemissdiva9]

so far my nitrites have stayed at a steady .25 , I have lost all my angels they had gained ick and I was unable to save them. my tetras and mollies have recovered and they seem to be doing well I am still adding prime, and I habe a cycled media in my filter thanks to my cousin, hopefully that will start helping.

 

[aquatickeeper]

I will still do water change to get it down 20 or below

 

[littlemissdiva9]

the nitrates are 0 nitrates are .25, I'm confused on what you mean

 

[aquatickeeper]

the nitrates are 0 nitrates are .25, I'm confused on what you mean

What do you mean? Is nitrate 0 or 25?

I will still do water changes to get nitrates from 25 to 20 or below