Coupla Questions . . . .

SCORPIOCUPCAKE · Jun 27, 2008

ok as some of you here know I am cyling with fish and been doing daily water changes of 20%, I have been doing this for over 2 weeks now, ammonia is zero, nitrates rising but really no shift on nitrite,in fact quite the opposite.... I saw a rise last week and posted here and was advised this was normal so I was pleased all was progressing. Now the nitrite is rising even more despite daily water changes and gravel hoovering. The reading last night was 1.0 which is concerning me...

I want to see light at the end of the tunnel ! Whats happening ?

stats as follows

200litre tank
11 inhabitants...further details if reqd....

Also, I have an algae remover sponge thingy....have scraped it from walls of tank, but its quite green on the stones in the tank and I would like to clean them, how would I do this ?

Thanks as ever guys

x

Spishkey · Jun 27, 2008

i use a toothbrush to clean my wood and rocks

SCORPIOCUPCAKE · Jun 27, 2008

Thanks, I meant more, can I wash them in tap water and just put them back in ok ?

minxfishy · Jun 27, 2008

Yes you can wash them in hot tap water to remove the algae, dont use any detergent though and put them back in.

SJ2K · Jun 27, 2008

Algae isnt a problem, 1.0 nitrite is though, if 20% a day isnt shifting it, do more. 40%, maybe even 2 changes a day

whatever it takes.

rabbut · Jun 27, 2008

Can you just remind me of your tap water stats? Nitrate at 1.0 is an issue, that will need resolving :nod:

I'd jump in with a 75% waterchange. The stress of that sized waterchange will be far less than that of leaving them in a nitrite reading of 1.0. This waterchange with high nitrite could literaly make the difference between life and death for your fish, so you need to keep on top of the level using waterchanges :good:

All the best
Rabbut

SCORPIOCUPCAKE · Jun 27, 2008

rabbut said:
Can you just remind me of your tap water stats? Nitrate at 1.0 is an issue, that will need resolving I'd jump in with a 75% waterchange. The stress of that sized waterchange will be far less than that of leaving them in a nitrite reading of 1.0. This waterchange with high nitrite could literaly make the difference between life and death for your fish, so you need to keep on top of the level using waterchanges

All the best
Rabbut

Tap Water was clear for nitrites, thanks for advice, gonna go for a biggie water change right now, any ideas why this may be happening ?

waterdrop · Jun 27, 2008

Yes, agree with SJ2K and rabbut on the action to take, except that I think what you are seeing may be a perfectly normal thing to see in fish-in cycling. I think your fish-in cycle is showing itself to be successful. Its just slower than you imagined probably. What I think is happening is that the A-bacs are getting more plentiful and are processing more ammonia... and producing more nitrite (remember, A-bacs produce 2.7ppm of nitrite for every 1ppm of ammonia they process) as they go. This is equivalent to the "nitrite spike" stage in fishless cycling, that goes on and on, requiring seemingly endless patience. In your case you'll just need to do the same thing you've been doing except increase the percentage of water changed. As said above, its much more important to do whatever it takes to keep both ammonia and nitrite (nitrite in your case) down hopefully at zero, but between zero and 0.25 realistically via water changes.

~~waterdrop~~

SCORPIOCUPCAKE · Jun 27, 2008

waterdrop said:
Yes, agree with SJ2K and rabbut on the action to take, except that I think what you are seeing may be a perfectly normal thing to see in fish-in cycling. I think your fish-in cycle is showing itself to be successful. Its just slower than you imagined probably. What I think is happening is that the A-bacs are getting more plentiful and are processing more ammonia... and producing more nitrite (remember, A-bacs produce 2.7ppm of nitrite for every 1ppm of ammonia they process) as they go. This is equivalent to the "nitrite spike" stage in fishless cycling, that goes on and on, requiring seemingly endless patience. In your case you'll just need to do the same thing you've been doing except increase the percentage of water changed. As said above, its much more important to do whatever it takes to keep both ammonia and nitrite (nitrite in your case) down hopefully at zero, but between zero and 0.25 realistically via water changes.

~~waterdrop~~

Well, after posting here I went and did another reading and am pleased to report reduced reading for nitrite at 0.25, I performed a 50% water change, and so hopefully as waterdrop comments, things may be going my way. Will keep ya posted, thanks again all.

x