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Help - Stressfully High Nitrites & Nitrates


nickkohrn

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So, over the past couple of days I have noticed that my corals were starting to look unhappy. I did a water test today and nitrites and nitrates are pretty high. My Firefish seems to be doing well, but my SPS frags have tanked and my new Lobophyllia isn't looking so well.

 

I recently added sand to the tank that was bare-bottom up to this point (tank is ~6 weeks old). I rinsed the sand in a bucket until it ran clear, rinsed with RO/DI water, and then added it to the tank. I haven't done anything else that I can think of that would cause this seemingly re-cycling of the tank.

 

Other than water-changes, is there anything else that I can do? I have added some AmQuel Plus, but it doesn't seem to be helping as my nitrites and nitrates are still stressfully high.

 

If I do large water changes will it only prolong the situation while lowering the toxicity?

 

I am going out of town this weekend (~2 hours away) for about half of a day. Since the closest shop that sells live rock is there should I just take a bucket of freshly-made saltwater in a cooler, buy cured rock, and replace what I currently have so that there is already an established colony of bacteria?

 

Or should I keep dosing AmQuel Plus until the levels decline? Since it only detoxifies the nitrites and nitrates, they will still show on tests, but they will be rendered non-toxic to inhabitants.

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It looks like the cycle was re-started when you added sand. It's basically bacteria trying to establish itself. I'm not sure why you would see nitrites unless you also saw ammonia because that is the natural conversion in the cycle. Ammonia affects the fish first so the fact that your fish is unaffected is curious.

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Nano sapiens

First and foremost, post your readings of everything you can test for and the type of test kit/device used (none are expired, correct?).

 

Second, you likely will see quite a low alkalinity reading after adding all that sand all at once (should add slowly over a few weeks to allow a bio-film to develop around the sand grains which then prevents further alk issues). Really low alk is very detrimental to stony corals...

 

Ammonia is the one to pay attention to as nitrate and nitrate are not nearly as toxic (if you had ammonia issues, your fish should be in distress as Kat mentioned).

 

When did you last test nitrate/nitrate? Could be that levels were high before you added the sand?

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It looks like the cycle was re-started when you added sand. It's basically bacteria trying to establish itself. I'm not sure why you would see nitrites unless you also saw ammonia because that is the natural conversion in the cycle. Ammonia affects the fish first so the fact that your fish is unaffected is curious.

Yeah, I'm stumped. I have zero ammonia, but nitrites and nitrates are high. My corals are definitely telling me that they aren't happy about it. I guess it's possible that there was a spike in ammonia a couple of days ago and I never noticed it because I didn't see signs that made me test for anything of the like.

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First and foremost, post your readings of everything you can test for and the type of test kit/device used (none are expired, correct?).

 

Second, you likely will see quite a low alkalinity reading after adding all that sand all at once (should add slowly over a few weeks to allow a bio-film to develop around the sand grains which then prevents further alk issues). Really low alk is very detrimental to stony corals...

 

Ammonia is the one to pay attention to as nitrate and nitrate are not nearly as toxic (if you had ammonia issues, your fish should be in distress as Kat mentioned).

 

When did you last test nitrate/nitrate? Could be that levels were high before you added the sand?

 

 

RHF writes that nitrites is not toxic to saltwater fish

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

in my experience high nitrates don't kill corals, it causes browning and algae.

Are you sure your test kits are good?

 

 

 

I just tested my water with all of the test kits that I currently have.

 

 

Salifert

 

Magnesium - 1320 ppm

Alkalinity - 10.2 dKH

Calcium - 410 ppm

Phosphate - 0.25 ppm

API

Ammonia - 0 ppm

pH - 7.6

Nitrite - 5 ppm

Nitrate - 40 ppm

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Nano sapiens

Interesting, I would have expected low alkalinity if the sand was brand new (was it new or previously used)?

 

The PO4, NO2 and NO3 are a bit high and pH is a bit low which would piss corals off a bit. Temp okay?

 

Can you post a pic of the corals.

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Interesting, I would have expected low alkalinity if the sand was brand new (was it new or previously used)?

 

The PO4, NO2 and NO3 are a bit high and pH is a bit low which would piss corals off a bit. Temp okay?

 

Can you post a pic of the corals.

 

 

Temperature ranges between 79ºF - 80ºF, and the sand was brand new (CaribSea Aragonite).

 

 

Pavona

help-1.jpg

 

Stylophora

help-2.jpg

 

Montipora

help-3.jpg

 

Pocillopora (Has bleaching from poor light acclimation, I assume.)

help-4.jpg

 

Lobophyllia (Mesenteric filaments exposed)

help-5.jpg

 

help-6.jpg

 

Zoanthid

help-7.jpg

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Z95TPAt.png

 

 

Hang in there. It seems like you're doing everything else right-- this too shall pass.

Thanks, MR.FEESH! I'm still learning patience, but doing so when things are out of whack makes it stressful. I will just keep an eye on everything and test again tomorrow to see how things are looking.

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I tested my nitrites today and they are still at the same point. Should I continue to do more frequent water changes, or should I just perform my standard weekly water change and use AmQuel+ to reduce the toxicity of the nitrites?

 

All of my frags have been lost. My clean-up crew and Firefish are still kicking, but I am not sure what I should do other than let the cycle continue to take its course.

 

I am really bummed. I thought the tank was done cycling a couple of weeks ago. I guess starting with dry rock and bacteria will not be my first choice for any of my future tanks. This has been really sucky. :tears:

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Nano sapiens

Ummm, that is indeed a shame. There are often 'bumps' on the road to a successful reef tank, so try again.

 

Having such a persistent nitrite problem is a bit unusual. My suggestion would be to perform a few water changes over the next week to clear out any Amquel/chemical residue and then swap in a few well cured live rocks and see how that goes. This should help to build up a diverse bacterial population over time. Remove any in use chemical filtration media, if used. Then keep the tank steady and stable (no other changes apart from the regular maintenance/water changes) for 2 months and if all parameters check out within accepted ranges, start with one of two hardy coral pieces. Observe for at least a month, and if okay, then add one or two more.

 

Ideally, you want the cycling to proceed naturally. Amquel (or any other chemical product) should not be needed during a tank break in, so I'd strongly suggest not using it for this purpose.

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Ummm, that is indeed a shame. There are often 'bumps' on the road to a successful reef tank, so try again.

 

Having such a persistent nitrite problem is a bit unusual. My suggestion would be to perform a few water changes over the next week to clear out any Amquel/chemical residue and then swap in a few well cured live rocks and see how that goes. This should help to build up a diverse bacterial population over time. If you are using GAC or GFO, replace with new. Then keep the tank steady and stable (no other changes apart from the regular maintenance/water changes) for 2 months and if all parameters check out within accepted ranges, start with one of two hardy coral pieces. Observe for at least a month, and if okay, then add one or two more.

 

Amquel (or any other chemical product) should not be needed during a tank break in, so I'd strongly suggest not using it for this purpose.

Thank you for your insight and recommendations. I'll be taking my clean-up crew and Firefish to my LFS tomorrow and cleaning out the tank in preparation for a fresh start.

 

Do you have any recommendations as to where I should purchase my live rock? I know that the shops around me have a lot of bubble algae, so I would really like to get some live rock from a clean, reputable source.

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Nano sapiens

Thank you for your insight and recommendations. I'll be taking my clean-up crew and Firefish to my LFS tomorrow and cleaning out the tank in preparation for a fresh start.

 

Do you have any recommendations as to where I should purchase my live rock? I know that the shops around me have a lot of bubble algae, so I would really like to get some live rock from a clean, reputable source.

 

Well, the last live rock I bought was in 1997, so I'm not much help there. I remember I bought it from Harbor Aquatics and they had a spray system that would keep the bacteria and coraline alive, but after a few weeks treatment most pest species would be gone. Really nice rock that I've had in multiple tanks over many years.

 

Maybe someone else will chime in with a good source...

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You could try to add a bacteria starter like instant ocean biospira. I think it would provide the bacteria for converting both ammonia and nitrite. Use live sand and cured rock. Premium aquatics has pretty good rock.

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