Is This Good Or Bad News?

[bmonki]

i posted a few days ago about my new tank which had been stocked way too fast and given us major headaches with ammonia readings... well i tested this morning as my prime arrived and we were showing 1.0ammonia and 0.5 nitrites... i've since done a ~85% water change with the prime.

what im really curious about though is the fact we're actually getting a nitrite reading whereas before it was 0. does this mean the filter is actually starting to do its job? or is this bad news??

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

you may have nitrite in your tapwater?

 

[bmonki]

nope, no nitrite or ammonia coming from the tap... have tested both as that has occured to me too

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

were the nitrites before or after w/c? If it was before then yup, that's progress but be extra vigilant with your testing and water changes as it's harder to keep nitrite down than ammonia as 1ppm ammonia produces something like 2.5ppm nitrite. I don't think that's exactly right but you get the idea!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

i posted a few days ago about my new tank which had been stocked way too fast and given us major headaches with ammonia readings... well i tested this morning as my prime arrived and we were showing 1.0ammonia and 0.5 nitrites... i've since done a ~85% water change with the prime.

what im really curious about though is the fact we're actually getting a nitrite reading whereas before it was 0. does this mean the filter is actually starting to do its job? or is this bad news??

This suggest you have some ammonia eating bacteria now present, but are waiting (as per normal) for some nitrite eating bacteria to show up to the party.

What are the ammonia/nitrite readings after doing this 85% water change? Unless you have a pH >8.5 and are set at tropical temps ~25C, an ammonia reading <1mg/l should not be anything to worry about (you could always just add extra Prime upto 5x standard dose to temporarily soak it up for upto 24 hours), but a reading of 0.25mg/l nitrite or higher should be sorted out with an emergency water change of ~95% ASAP (again, you could use Prime, but a big change would be better in case things get worse in the next 24 hours).

 

[bmonki]

nitrites was before w/c as was ammonia... i havent tested since w/c as was only done an hour or so ago and thought id give the prime a chance to do its magical magoodery

yeah, i dosed about 4.5 - 5 times the usual to soak it.. i dont mind being extra vigilant tbh, im just glad we're finally getting some progress (which i think is fully in thanks to this forum and the advice ive been given etc)

 

[bmonki]

i've just tested again and readings are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites