Nitrites still havent gone to 0.0

[snookface1]

I've been around the post for over 5 months and have read everything. I setup my nano over 3 months ago. I used Tampa Bay Live rock, but not their LS. There is nothing in the tank but cleanup crew. My ammonia has been 0 for over a month, but my nitrites have never gone to 0 (nitrates are 2.5). I have a red-sea test kit and compare it with my 55 gal reef and the are never the same. My 55 gal reef is green and my nano is light blue (the kits suck and I should never have gotten it). I have left it alone for weeks to see it it will go to zero. I am getting tired of waiting. I want to add something to the tank. I am getting to the point where I want to replace the LR and start over.

 

I have (2) power heads at 180gpm and a AC 300 in a custom 13 gal, 96w PC. Any thoughts?

[Reefmaniac]

Try another test kit and a water change.

[snookface1]

I know the test kits are crap and will never get them again. My concern is if I test my 13 gal and 55 gal at the same time they do not produce the came color. The 55 gal reef is light green and the 13 gal is light blue. This tells me there is some Nitrites still in my 13 gal.

[snookface1]

Any more thoughts?

[KansasCoral-Nu-B]

i've got the same problem. did the water change thing and a few days later nitrate are back up. added a purigen, no change.

[snookface1]

Sorry guys, its not the nitrates I am worried about. Please re-read my first post. Its the nitrites which have never gone to zero. I guess its 0.50 to 0.25. The tank has been setup for over two months. I know some of you will say it is close to cycling, but there is nothing in it. I used LR from TBS that was taken out of the Gulf three days before I added it to my tank. Ive gone througt the sponge die off and they have all come back.

[snookface1]

Do think there is a problem with TBS liverock?

[drewmd.]

imo the first thing you did wrong was place a clean up crew in your tank without letting your tank fully cycle to begin with. also what type of water are you using in your tank? i hope not tap water!!! i really don't think your live rock has anything to do with your problem. how are all of your other tank parameters? and do you have alot of hair algae in your tank as well. if so this will be one of the possibilities. let me know what your parameters are and what type of water you are using.

[drewmd.]

also what type of filtration are you using? and i wouldn't do a water change until your tank fully cycles.(3-4 weeks) and one more thing, what type of salt do you use. some salts contain a lot of trace elements that are not beneficial to your tank and will cause a problem.

[zzpw3x]

How would placing the clean-up crew in the tank during the cycle cause him a problem? I've done it in the past with no problems and minimal losses.

 

Dale

[KansasCoral-Nu-B]

granted there is a higher risk of loss of life, but... my thought is that as long as the crew is added after the ammonia/nitrite spike it would actually be better to complete the cycle w/crew in tank. that way the tank cycles with a heavier bioload therefor establishing the bacteria needed for that load. your tank will only have as much bacteria as is needed for whats in the tank. so if you have more of a load you will have more bacteria. dont get me wrong there is a fine balance here. i wouldnt suggest adding very much. but a few snails and some hermi's i think would be okay. maybe i'm wrong my tank has only been up for 5-6 weeks now and i'm dealing with the nitrate issue too. but my understanding is that anerobic bacteria takes 14-16days to establish its self for the load that it is given. so i'm not to worried about my levels. i removed the prefilter that was on my PH (expecting to find my turbo stuck to it again) and i think that will help control my levels over the next few weeks. IDK just a thought. prob way off

[MrDumass]

This Gentleman's issue is his nitRITE levels, not his nitRATE levels.

It seems that his progress has reached a plateau at the Nitrite spike, and doesn't progress from here for some reason. If I could suggest something, don't do anymore water changes for two weeks and check the progress with a more accurate test kit (ex. seachem)

 

Again, just a suggestion.

[MrDumass]

Then again...I'm just a Dumass.

[KansasCoral-Nu-B]

see. i said i was prob way off.. guess i was right

[drewmd.]

>How would placing the clean-up crew in the tank during the cycle cause him a problem? I've done it in the past with no problems and minimal losses.<

 

well for one adding inhabitants to the tank with high levels of ammonia and nitrite will not only stress the fish/inverts but will also break down there natural immune system leaving them susceptible to many diseases and possibly death. (not very responsible) why kill an innocent creature with a lack of understanding of the nitrogen cycle and how it works. read up on it and understand it and know it. it is a key factor in maintaining a prestine aquarium. i am not going to get into explaining it to anyone due to the fact that it is readily available to you in almost every marine book and via the internet. once setting up a tank and adding live rock and live sand your already giving the tank the beneficial bacterial colony that it needs to begin the process.

while tank cycling you do water changes before it has cycled your only putting more strain onto yourself. you don't fully let the beneficial bacteria fully settle and take over. never do any water change with tap water which contains many harmful chemicals that will stunt the growth of beneficial bacteria. always use ro/di water. and adding inverts such as hermits or snails to your tank to help with the cycling isn't really benefitting you at all. (just killing an innocent animal) they don't produce much of a bio-load and will not help with your cycling time. and snook i'm still waiting for your water parameters and also what type of water are you using for water changes. let me know and we can go from there.

[zzpw3x]

Nevertheless, adding a clean-up crew before the cycle is complete will not cause the problem that snookface is describing, which is what you implied his problem is. BTW, I perfectly understand the cycling process, I was simply asking you to explain how adding a clean-up crew would affect snookface's problem. The answer is it will not. I am not going to fall into the age old arguement of "it is cruel".

 

Also, changing water during cycling will not affect the cycle in any way except that any live animals that are in the tank will have a better chance of surviving. Saying it will impede the cycle is simply a myth.

 

Dale

[drewmd.]

i want to know where you get your info from. please let me know. this is funny. you are very irresponsible to even tell someone that doing water changes while cycling will not affect the cycling process and to introduce fish or inverts before it is done. i think you need to go back to the books my friend. i have been in marine keeping for a long time and also am good friends with a lot of marine keeping gurus. bob fenner, steven pro, lorenzo gonzalez just to name a few. your gonna tell me that they to are wrong in the aspect of cycling. well if you want to give someone bad advice then be my guest. knowledge is the key here and it seems you don't have to much of it.

[drewmd.]

and secondly if you were to read my previous post you will see that i never said that adding a clean up crew to his tank caused his problem. i said that it was wrong to do it.

[drewmd.]

i have hundreds of sources that i can provide you with that will back what i am saying. how many do you have. truly knowing what your talking about and thinking you know is two different things.

[zzpw3x]

It's this simple: As long as ammonia and nitrite exists in the system the cycle will continue. Taking out some percentage of that ammonia and nitrite by doing a water change does not slow down the growth of the nitrifying bacteria. The nitrifying bacteria "feeds" on the nitrite and as long as some level exists in the system the bacteria will continue to grow until equilibrium is established.

 

As long as there are even some small level of excessive nitrite / ammonia, and bacteria will continue to grow until it can consume all of it.

 

Now quit insulting me in your posts.

 

I have re-read your 1st post several times, and I still think I came to a reasonable conclusion, though I admit it may not be the conclusion you intended.

 

Dale

[drewmd.]

if i insulted you i didn't mean to. but let me explain it to you like this...when the cycle begins your going to have ammonia and nitrites in your system like it or not. but what you want is for the ammonia to turn into the less harming nitrites and then into nitrates. requires oxygen. when you do a water change while the tank is cycling your stripping it from the oxygen that was being consumed and allowing more ammonia to enter the system. the tank will never fully cycle that way because the bacteria will not be quick enough to stabilize it. you get what i mean. every time the bacteria stabilizes and you change the water your just stripping it of what it need to do. you can't beat mother nature. that is why you should always let your tank fully cycle and let everything haromonize before doing a water change. now once your tank has cycled and the bacteria has had a chance to multiply in very high numbers then yea doing a water change will not affect it due to the fact that there is enough bio spira to fight any unwanted bacteria. well if you took my other post as insulting then i just wanna say that i apologize. didn't mean for it to come out that way.

[zzpw3x]

I don't get it. I still disagree. I guess it's really a minor point anyway since i would agree that water changes during the cycle are generally a waste of time. We just disagree on the impact.

[MrDumass]

You guys turned snookface's inquery into a ####ing match...please just agree to disagree.

 

Snookface, just try to limit your waterchanges and let mothernature do her job...of that doean't help, then you might have some type of extenuating circumstance effecting your progress.

[snookface1]

The tank has does not have any Ammonia, nitrites are 0.25 (guess) and Nitrates are 2.5. The tank has been setup for almost 3 months. I only added a small cleanup crew. Crabs snails and an emerald. I only use RO/DI water, I have no algae in the tank and coralline is growing on the glass.

 

Ammonia 0.0

Nitrites 0.25

Nitrates 2.5

Ph 8.1

SP 1.025

Cal 430 (last time I checked)

Alk 13.2 kH

 

I have two power heads, and a HOB AC 300. Currently there is nothing in the AC (heater) , but have the light and divider to make a refum. Here's a picture of my tank.

[thefarmacist]

I would agree with the others and get a different test kit. I have the same problem with color matching on some test kits, a lot of times it seems to be between two results. Your other params look great.