Tackling Nitrite Issues!

[Harlequins]

I put 2 gourami's in an empty tank,the filter had been running on my fry tank, now i'm getting 0.25ppm -0.50ppm nitrite in there,ammonia is 0.

I'm awaiting arrival of my new external,but until then i'm doing three 50% w/c a day to keep the nitrites down to keep my gorgeous gouramis alive

This is why i hate fish in cycles,stressing too much they might die!

I'm just about to raid one of my big externals for more mature media,but the filter (fluval u1) seems very slow,whether this is the problem i dunno...

I'm also using prime.

Any ideas why i'm getting so much of a spike? i've hardly fed them, and the nitrite still going up!!

 

[Twinklecaz]

What size is your tank?

I dunno why this might be happening but doesn't Prime help to detoxify Nitrites? So though you're getting the readings it may not be as bad as you think? I could be wrong about that though.

 

[Geoff-]

the problem with prime is how much do you dose and how often to "lock away" nitrites? I've always been a bit sceptical, I'd rather see low numbers on the test chart. nitrites are a pain to control because they are produced at 3x the rate of ammonia, but you'll have to just keep up the water changes and wait for the bacteria to catch up.