Help-nitrite Rising

[SCORPIOCUPCAKE]

Am cycling with fish in a 200l tank, with a few inhabitants, am doing daily 20% water changes after some good advice recvd here recently, as the title says, nitrite has risen in last week from .25 to nearly one, I have the following fish in the tank

6 tiger barbs
1 platy
2 mollys
1 silver shark(soon to be rehomed as sold to a newbie in careless circumstances)

Help ? Should I up the water changes ?

Thanks in advance
x

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it's the second stage of cycling so it at least means you are making progress, do as many large water changes as you need to to keep it below 0.25ppm. Should be doing this every day to keep on top of it.

 

[SCORPIOCUPCAKE]

Thanks Miss Wiggle, as ever. What are the next signs that the cycle is doing its thing, nitrite lowering I guess ? Ammonia is 0 and nitrates are rising.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes what will happen now is that nitrite and nitrate will both continue to rise, ammonia should stay steady at 0. Obviously water changes will dilute the nitrite and nitrate rising so the effects will be distorted. Next thing to watch out for is ntirite dropping off, when that's down to 0 then your done, you'll need to keep monitoring it for a week or so afterwards as sometimes there's a little blip. But you are certainly on your way.

 

[waterdrop]

Agreed. Watching the stages of cycling in a "fish-in" cycle is harder, but the relief you will eventually get will be after a long time of strenuous water changes (trying to keep the poisons down to 0.25ppm and below) you will one day perform your tests and for once they will still say zero. If then, the next day, they still say zero without you having to perform a water change then that is a mjor sign and its likely your "monitoring" week will go well.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[SCORPIOCUPCAKE]

Agreed. Watching the stages of cycling in a "fish-in" cycle is harder, but the relief you will eventually get will be after a long time of strenuous water changes (trying to keep the poisons down to 0.25ppm and below) you will one day perform your tests and for once they will still say zero. If then, the next day, they still say zero without you having to perform a water change then that is a mjor sign and its likely your "monitoring" week will go well.

~~waterdrop~~

Thanks waterdrop, looking forward to the end of daily water changes ! My back is hurting from the 80litres of water I am carrying daily ! ( 40l out and 40 in !)
My kids think its great though, holding the hose in the bucket etc....they are really in to it at ony aged 2 and 4 !

 

[waterdrop]

Oh, at ages 2 and 4, anything WATER is FUN, right? Soon they'll point the hose at you!

Have you ever heard of a Python?

 

[SCORPIOCUPCAKE]

Oh, at ages 2 and 4, anything WATER is FUN, right? Soon they'll point the hose at you!

Have you ever heard of a Python?

Is this a trick question ? I am using a tank vacuum to vac the gravel and effectively perform water change too, I dont gravel too much as understand I want to keep some bacteria in the gravel.

 

[waterdrop]

Oh, at ages 2 and 4, anything WATER is FUN, right? Soon they'll point the hose at you!

Have you ever heard of a Python?

Is this a trick question ? I am using a tank vacuum to vac the gravel and effectively perform water change too, I dont gravel too much as understand I want to keep some bacteria in the gravel.

o no, sorry!, Python is just the brand name of one of the gravel cleaner long hose siphon things - sounds like you are already using a method like this (refills the tank from the sink faucet directly, right?)

The bacteria in the gravel is not significant. The vast majority of the bacteria you care about should be in the filter media. It is the other way 'round - you want to do a good job gravel vaccing because the debris left in the gravel is converted to still more ammonia and creates an even higher load of nitrite to be processed by your growing N-bac population. (Not only that, but the bacteria you care about cling tightly to both filter media and gravel and generally can not be sucked out by a vacuum.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[SCORPIOCUPCAKE]

Oh, at ages 2 and 4, anything WATER is FUN, right? Soon they'll point the hose at you!

Have you ever heard of a Python?

Is this a trick question ? I am using a tank vacuum to vac the gravel and effectively perform water change too, I dont gravel too much as understand I want to keep some bacteria in the gravel.

o no, sorry!, Python is just the brand name of one of the gravel cleaner long hose siphon things - sounds like you are already using a method like this (refills the tank from the sink faucet directly, right?)

The bacteria in the gravel is not significant. The vast majority of the bacteria you care about should be in the filter media. It is the other way 'round - you want to do a good job gravel vaccing because the debris left in the gravel is converted to still more ammonia and creates an even higher load of nitrite to be processed by your growing N-bac population. (Not only that, but the bacteria you care about cling tightly to both filter media and gravel and generally can not be sucked out by a vacuum.)

~~waterdrop~~

oh OK ! No mine does not fill the tank from the tap (aka faucett ) I am filling and carrying buckets of water, hence the bad back !!

Perhaps I need to change methods......so do you just add your dechlorinator directly to the tank ? And if so, is this before of after you add the water, before I presume ? I add mine to the tepid tap water in the bucket.

Thanks again for replying !!!

 

[kj23502]

I have a 125 gallon tank. What I did in initally, was take fill the entire tank (along w/all decor and stuff in it) then took out 5 gallon bucket increments marking on the side and towards the back of the tank in 10 gallon increments. now at water change time, I just run my python hose out the front door (free water for the grass ) and drain it to my desired level. When I put the water back in I start the water from the faucet then put half the declorinator in and about half way done I add the other half.

Hope this all makes sense. I wrote it really fast!!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah we just use a hosepipe to siphone water out, it goes straight out of the frnot door and down the drain, then when we want to fill it up again, add dechlor to the tank and stick the hose on a tap and fill it up.

 

[waterdrop]

Yup, and I'm just being a little more picky than MW because my tank is smaller. Yes, I am just tossing the conditioner (its just a tiny 1/4 capful in my case with Prime conditioner) directly into the tank water at beginning of fill then I toss the other half (another 1/4 capful, tiny!) at the end of filling up and yes, the filling up is just being performed by this long clear hose that connects to my bathroom sink where I can adjust the tap lever to roughly match the current temperature of my tank. (the temperature matching is arguably overkill but a lot of us beginners do it out of paranoia, esp. with smaller tanks)