Question

[SLIM]

If alot of plants are planted at once in a fully cycled tank and ur filter gets alot of plant matter inside it, could that cause a small nitrite spike?

 

[KittyKat]

Possible, but quite unlikely. Nitrite spike is more likely to be because lots of fish crap gets stirred up in the planting process.

 

[Duz]

It is possible but there is a small chance. Fish produce ammonia (their wastes) your filter will convert some of this into nitrites, then into nitrates which your plants absorb, or they will convert ammonia into other molecules which aren't harmful to your fish.

 

[SLIM]

Oh ok. Because my water has always been really good iv never had a spike, but iv just planted £50 worth of plants last wednesday. Alot of crap did come up out the sand and alot of bits of plant also came off when I was planting. Then saturday I noticed my nitite had a reading of 0.3ppm (using tetra as api didnt go that low) it stayed at 0.3ppm saturday, yesterday and today and didnt move. Iv just finish a 60% water change, cleaned out my filter and now iv got it back down to 0.
Hopefully itll stay at 0 now!

 

[Duz]

I reckon you will be ok, like kitty kat said you might of just stirred up some of the crap whilest planting them. Your water change should take it back to 0 and if you just cleaned out the filter, they should do ok. Keep and eye on it and if it does spike then maybe think about doing another water change.

 

[SLIM]

Thanx for the good advice guys

 

[ian]

this it's why it's important to prune regularly after planting, as the plants will be getting used to their new environment and you may end up with a bit of melt. Rotting leaves can produce small amounts of ammonia and you'll end up with either diatoms or other unsightly algae. When newly planting a tank, i would personally suggest doing either daily or every other day water changes for a week or 2.

 

[SLIM]

Well my tank was planted before I added my recent new plants and iv never had a problem. Altho sayin that, iv never planted so much at once before. Thing is I only got a nitrite spike of 0.3ppm, my ammonia never moved and stayed at 0

 

[SLIM]

Well my Nitites seem to be stayin at 0 once again so i guess you where right kitty kat.
Il definately be more careful next time

 

[KittyKat]

If you're stirring up the substrate, it does pay to do a larger than usual water change after planting I usually do clean the filter a few hours later, but I'm not sure how much of an impact this has.

 

[SLIM]

Obviously it helps alot. This is somethin I will definately be doin in the future after planting.
Thanx again for the great advice