Sudden Nitrite Spike

[voyagerxp]

Hi i've had my tank cycled for a few months and everything has been running smoothly but the other day when i came in from work my neon's we at the top gasping so i ran a test and my nitrite was 2.0ppm. I did a 50% water change and it went down but not to 0. I was advised by the local aquatics to use Seachem Stability after every water change until it drops to 0, is this right!.

This is my recent sample, what do you guys think.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Your nitrItes look to be almost 0, but your nitrAtes are dangerously high...how often do you perform water changes?...clean the filter? (NOT the filter media)

You don't neeed the Stability, but you DO need a good quality water conditioner...Seachem Prime, or API Tap Water conditioner

 

[Naughts]

No, stability won't be necessary if you do a large water change any day that ammonia or nitrite are above zero or nitrate is above 20ppm. Test every day for the next week or two, once you've had a week of good results you can test weekly.

If you have used antibiotics/ antibacterials in the tank it could have 'un-cycled' the tank, as could chlorine.

 

[voyagerxp]

My nitrates are always high, ive been doing a water change every 2 days at the moment but found out my tap water has nitrate in it, how would i combat that.Also i have a canister filter, i've rinsed the media in tank water but not sure how to clean the filter itself. I'm all new to this lol.

 

[Naughts]

How high is your nitrate from the tap?
Floating plants are useful, as are the strict maintenance routines- large weekly water change, substrate clean, glass clean and filter rinse plus bi-monthly/ monthly filter cleans. To clean the filter you need to take the motor to the sink and clean the outlet pipe and the impellor (covered windmill shapes part) of any gunk. Some filters have a tiny brush to do this.
Remove dead plants/ livestock quickly.

 

[voyagerxp]

Between 5ppm and 10ppm

 

[Slaphppy7]

Yes, that canister filter needs to be cleaned, it will harbor nitrAtes when it's dirty, along with the other good advice from @Naughts above...and be sure to use one of the water conditioners I posted above

 

[Naughts]

Between 5ppm and 10ppm

You need to aim for 5-10ppm just after a water change and 15-20ppm just before a water change. Do larger more frequent water changes until you hit those ranges.

Read this from @AbbeysDad

Contact Support

 

[voyagerxp]

You don't neeed the Stability, but you DO need a good quality water conditioner...Seachem Prime, or API Tap Water conditioner

Do you treat the whole tank with a dose of Seachem Prime or dose the water your adding

 

[Essjay]

If you use buckets to refill the tank, add it to each bucketful at the dose rate for the volume of the bucket.

Filling with a hose is more controversial. The instructions say to add the dose for the volume of the tank, though many people use enough to treat the new water only. And it should be added as you start to refill.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

And throw in a load of floating plants. These'll gobble up nitrates like nobody's business.