Would Appreciate Your Opinions, Thank You

HI everyone. I'm new to the forum, intermediate in my experience, and looking for some friendly advice on my setup. I have just recently renewed my hobby after a 5 year absence and my aquarium has been occupied for 5 weeks now with 7 zebra danios. No casualties yet and all seem to be thriving. It is a 60 gallon tank, not planted as of yet, at 79 degrees, with a 350 gallon per hour filter hanging on the back that is equipped with two nice, fat 5 inch biowheels. Ph is stable at around 7.6, ammonia is zero, nitrates 5-10ppm, and nitrites are high at at least 5ppm (the upper limit of the scale on my liquid test kit). I am anxious to add some new residents, but of course will not until the tank finishes cycling, but my question arose after a visit to my local fish store where I asked for some guidance with the nitrite spike. I have been treating all the water with Prime at weekly 10-15% water changes, as well as two extra 1 teaspoon treatments for the whole tank. Nitrites remained pegged at 5ppm throughout. This seemed to alarm the fish store associate, who strikes me as generally knowlegeable. He said that it was really unusual to have such a big, resistant nitrite spike even at startup, and urged me to hang a second 350 gph filter. My immediate thought was that, although you cannot really "overfilter" a tank, do I really need a second filter and its associated costs, or do I just need to be patient and continue waiting for the cycle to complete? He assured me that Prime would not interfere with the nitrogen cycle and to continue treating the whole body of water until the nitrites were under control. He would not tell me, when pressed, exactly what he meant by continuing to treat with Prime. How often can I safely dose the tank and how often? He didn't seem to want to be responsible for giving me specific instructions. So, is my tank adequately filtered, in your opinion? My priority is fish well-being, and I am nervous that the nitrites are stressing out the danios, but my inclination is to remain patient as the fish seem to be fine. Thanks for your consideration!

 

WELCOME to Fishlore!!!

Your temp is high! I would lower it to 72F, zebra danios are cool water fish so the upper 60s to lower 70s. What is the parameters of your tap? Prime is only to condition the aquariu but not cycle it. What you want is Seachem Stability .


You will learn a lot on this forum and I hope you participate a lot!

 

I'm not sure about the equipment; however do a LARGE (80%) water change. 5ppm Nitrites are extremely toxic to any fish, and I'm surprised you haven't experienced any losses. Do WC's until Nitrites are under 1ppm. If all you have is one 350 gph filter, I think you're a bit underfiltered. I'd recommend a bottle of Seachem Stability as well.

 

Welcome to fishlore!

I would do water changes to get your nitrite below 1ppm. In a cycled tank nitrite will always be 0. For a 60 gallon tank you want 480-600gph filteration so 350gph is not enough. Nitrite is very toxic to fish.

I would lower the temperature, zebra danios need water below 75f.

For stocking ideas this is what I have in my 63 gallon
8 danios (4 zebra, leopard)
8 WCMM
4 Dojo loaches
5 Platies
3 Guppies

I plan to add 2 bolivian rams, 4 more WCMM, 1 more dojo, a BN pleco and some peacock gudgeons.

 

Wow, thanks for the prompt responses! I will gently and gradually lower the temperature and do extensive research before purchasing any new species in the future. I was initially using the Prime as a declorinator/heavy metal treatment. I know that Prime is not specifically for cycling, but it does say it in the label that you can use it in a new tank and it will clear nitrites from the water, but I suppose that may still depend on a mature, healthy biological filter. I will definitely get the second filter. As far as my tap water, it comes out at 8.2 pH, I suspect its pretty hard. I was hoping to keep Cardinal Tetras in the future, but I don't know if that's going to be a good idea unless I use a different water source...

 

Wow, thanks for the prompt responses! I will gently and gradually lower the temperature and do extensive research before purchasing any new species in the future. I was initially using the Prime as a declorinator/heavy metal treatment. I know that Prime is not specifically for cycling, but it does say it in the label that you can use it in a new tank and it will clear nitrites from the water, but I suppose that may still depend on a mature, healthy biological filter. I will definitely get the second filter. As far as my tap water, it comes out at 8.2 pH, I suspect its pretty hard. I was hoping to keep Cardinal Tetras in the future, but I don't know if that's going to be a good idea unless I use a different water source...

Prime doesn't clear Nitrites, it just detoxifies them. They're still harmful to fish, especially at 5 ppm.

 

Wow, thanks for the prompt responses! I will gently and gradually lower the temperature and do extensive research before purchasing any new species in the future. I was initially using the Prime as a declorinator/heavy metal treatment. I know that Prime is not specifically for cycling, but it does say it in the label that you can use it in a new tank and it will clear nitrites from the water, but I suppose that may still depend on a mature, healthy biological filter. I will definitely get the second filter. As far as my tap water, it comes out at 8.2 pH, I suspect its pretty hard. I was hoping to keep Cardinal Tetras in the future, but I don't know if that's going to be a good idea unless I use a different water source...

I believe prime just detoxifies up to 1ppm nitrites for up to 24 hours.

Cardinal tetras need warmer water then danios BTW, unless your planning on setting up a separate tank for them

 

Thanks again Lorekeeper! I did a 50% water change and added a twin filter to upgrade it to 700gph and 4 biowheels. My API test kit has almost identical shades of violet for 2ppm and 5 ppm nitrite, and the test tube is still indicating a bright violet, but at least I know I removed half of the toxins. I didn't want to go quite to 80% due to the difference in pH of my tap water and the aquarium water. I'll do another 50% change in a couple days. I researched Seachem Stability and will definitely get some tomorrow assuming I can find it at LFS or Petsmart (gulp). Tank is slowly cooling, the water change cooled it a degree, we're now at 76 degrees. It pains me to think the poor guys were suffering because of my ignorance. Won't happen again. All the fish still seem happy. They are having loads of fun playing in the new currents generated by the second filter! Thanks everyone for the advice and warm welcome

 

I'll do another 50% change in a couple days. I researched Seachem Stability and will definitely get some tomorrow assuming I can find it at LFS or Petsmart (gulp).

I would do 50% every day until you have your Nitrites under control - I know for ammonia you can up the dosage of prime to detox it - not sure about Nitrites, maybe check into that.
Anyway you have a LFS or buddy that you can grab a sponge/media from to help get your tank cycled? My LFS was nice enough to give me a sponge from a sponge filter when I bought my setup from them, might be worth a shot!