How To Reduce Nitrite

[stang8689]

I have a freshwater 150 gallon tank with overflow and bottom sump. I have had it set up for about 2 weeks now. when I first tested the water a week ago everything was fine. Now I have a reading of of 2.0 Nitrite and 2.0 Ammonia. what i the bet way to reduce them? I just did a water change. I read to add some aqaurium salt to it, maybe put some in the bottom sump? ,

 

[BethK]

Have you got anything else in your tank, besides water?

YOu're entering your cycle, so over time it will go down to 0.

Do you have fish in there?

usually people on here as for;

pH:
Ammonia:
Nitrate:
Nitrite:
Temp:
Size of tank:
number of fish:

It helps for others to give you the appropriate advice.

I would suggest water changes on a regular basis, not too sure of the siez of your tank as to how much but I am sure someone will be along shortly to advise better x

 

[snowflake311]

Your tank is starting the second part of it's cycle. First you get ammonia then the ammonia gets converted to nitrites the last stage the nitrites convert to nitrates these are much less harmful to fish. Once you have nitrates your tank is cycled and you can do a big water change and start to add fish.

 

[Assaye]

I have a freshwater 150 gallon tank with overflow and bottom sump. I have had it set up for about 2 weeks now. when I first tested the water a week ago everything was fine. Now I have a reading of of 2.0 Nitrite and 2.0 Ammonia. what i the bet way to reduce them? I just did a water change. I read to add some aqaurium salt to it, maybe put some in the bottom sump? ,

I take it you have fish in the tank?

These are exceptionally dangerous levels of ammonia and nitrite if your fish are exposed to them. The are a few ways to reduce the levels and the most reliable and safe is to use large water changes.

How much do you know about the nitrogen cycle, which is what causes the ammonia to be broken down to nitrite and nitrate in the aquarium?

Basically, you have a cycle that goes like this:

Fish waste + uneaten food + decaying plants = ammonia. Ammonia > (converted by bacteria) > nitrite > (converted by bacteria) > nitrate.

Ammonia and nitrite are highly toxic and do no exist in a healthy aquarium or in the wild. This is because when they are produced there are enough good bacteria to convert them to safer chemicals. In a new tank (i.e. generally under 2 months) or an unhealthy and unbalanced tank, you get these very toxic chemicals because the bacteria are not growing properly.

At two weeks old, your tank is in the middle of what we call a "cycle". This is the process of going from zero bacteria to enough bacteria to get rid of all the ammonia the fish produce. There are two sets of bacteria, one for ammonia and one for nitrite. Nitrate is your end product and is relatively safe for the fish so don't worry about that.

With ammonia and nitrite, the goal is always to keep them at zero (not 1.0, not 0.1) if you have fish in the tank. Sometimes this is easy - there are loads of bacteria and you don't have too many fish - and sometimes this is very hard - not enough bacteria and too many fish. When you have a bad balance in the tank (as you do), you need to get both levels down to zero every single day in order to stop them hurting your fish. The easiest way to do this is with water changes.

As you have bad levels, keep testing your water. I would suggest once in the morning and once in the evening to give you an idea of how long it takes the levels to spike up from zero. After your test, you need to decide on some action. If you have zero readings on both tests, you can leave the tank and just wait for the evening test. If you have a reading above zero (even if just a little bit), you need to do a big enough water change to get the reading back down to zero. So that might mean 50%, 70% or even 90% water changes. And you might need to do those twice a day.

After a while you'll notice that your twice daily testing is always bringing up zero readings - this is good! Once you have gone for an entire week without any ammonia or nitrite, your tank is cycled and your fish are out of danger.

After that point, you just need to test every so often (I recommend once a week for new tanks) and do a weekly or fortnightly water change (depending on whether your tank is lightly stocked or heavily stocked) of about 20%. That's just an average - every tank is different.

Do you have your own testing kit? What you really need is a good quality liquid testing kit (none of this strip nonsense) for ammonia and nitrite, and ideally also nitrate, pH and hardness (KH/GH). These are the basic facts every fishkeeper should know about their tank.

For now, do a very large water change of about 75%. That means there will still be 0.5 ammonia and 0.5 nitrite which is still too high, so do a second water change a couple of hours after the first. This just helps spread the shock to the fish out a bit.

Some handy hints to keep ammonia and nitrite down:

+ Test reularly and always have an in-date liquid test kit in the house
+ Never wash filter media (sponges and beads) in tap water as chlorine kills the bacteria
+ Only replace your filter media 1/4 -1/3 at a time at several month intervals
+ Gently wash your filter media gently in tank water on a monthly basis (or more often)
+ Keep your gravel clean by using a siphon to such dirt up from your gravel at least once every two weeks
+ Don't over feed! If you have ammonia/nitrite problems, feed a small amount every 2-3 days until it clears up
+ Always remove uneaten food from the tank
+ Put the fish first - ammonia and nitrite can't be smelt or tasted in the water and the fish often look fine but you need to remember that these chemicals are highly toxic and can cause long term organ damage and death to fish

Here is TFF's essential guide to setting up a new tank and understanding the nitrogen cycle.

Now, some questions for you:

+ How did you set up the tank?
+ What readings do you have for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH right now?
+ How many fish do you have in the tank and what type?
+ What advice did you get when setting up the tank?

Obviously, if you don't have fish in the tank, we need to adjust our advice. However, all this stuff is essential to know so get reading

 

[drobbyb]

^^^

 

[stang8689]

sorry for the delay my cat spilled soda on my keyboard and had to get a new one. Thanks for all the great info and advise, I learned alot. yes i have my fish in the tank. I had a 55 gallon and i asked some people on here about moving the fish. i was told to use my old filters in the new tank and to run it for a week. I have the ATI test kit. I tested the water it was good. I have done a 60-70% water change for 3 days now. I tested it today about 24 hours after last change and have 0 Nitrite. I do still have Amonia but its down to almost 1. just did another water chage. Will the amonia eventually go away by doing a water change everyday?

 

[Assaye]

You need to get ammonia down to zero everyday. 1.0 is still far too high. Seems like a small number but the fish really feel it! Same with nitrite. Water changes will achieve this - they need to be big and frequent. By doing this the bacteria will grow as they need to in the background and you'll also be keeping the fish safe.

Did you run the filters for a week before adding fish or what? If you moved the filters across to the new tank before adding the fish and allowed them to run in a fishless tank for several days without adding an ammonia source (which is the food for the bacteria), many of the bacteria will have died. This could be why you are having problems now?

If moving filters or filter media, you have to move them into a tank with an ammonia source (be it bottled ammonia or fish).

Hopefully that didn't happen and you're just having a temporary spike. 1-2ppm are high levels though. Keep up with the water changes!

 

[stang8689]

I moved them back and forth from tank to tank for a couple days. well 1 of them the other I moved with the fish the ammonia is at .25 right now ill keep doing water changes

nitrite has been at 0 for 2 days now