Is It Dangerous?

[Mr.September15]

I was wondering if its a dangerous lvl for the nitrates to be at 5.0 and nitrite to be at .25ppm. The reason i'm asking this is because my tank keeps going up and down and its getting me nervous to keep any fish in my tank

 

[SkiFletch]

Nitrates are fine at 5ppm. Detectible nitrites are not OK. How long have you been able to test for that level of nitrite?

 

[Mr.September15]

Umm well its been zero for quite a while. Then for some reason it went up

 

[SkiFletch]

One of 3 reasons nitrite goes up:

Something died and is decomposing faster than the bacteria can catch up
Something killed the bacteria that process nitrite (usually you see a BIG spike when this happens)
Human error in testing with less than ideal kits

At the risk of being critical, the test is probably in error. Do it again today and see what you get. Remember to mix your chemicals well, dont cover the tube with your finger, and take water samples a couple inches below the surface.

 

[l337dave]

One of 3 reasons nitrite goes up:

Something died and is decomposing faster than the bacteria can catch up
Something killed the bacteria that process nitrite (usually you see a BIG spike when this happens)
Human error in testing with less than ideal kits

At the risk of being critical, the test is probably in error. Do it again today and see what you get. Remember to mix your chemicals well, dont cover the tube with your finger, and take water samples a couple inches below the surface.

hey ski I read this the other day, I found it quite suprising what he said about nitrites - ie don't worry about them!!!

http/www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

what do you think?


dave.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, in that article Randy reccomends quote

I do not recommend that aquarists bother to measure nitrite in ESTABLISHED aquaria.

The key word there is established. In an established system, nitrite will most likely be undetectable. Once a system becomes established, ammonia is usually consumed by calcerous algaes or converted into nitrites which are usually immediately converted into nitrates. Nitrite should really only be of concern for measuring within the first couple weeks of starting the aquarium, or if a significant dieoff or other decaying event occurs.