Newly Cycled Tank, are my Nitrites normal?

[isakrad]

Hi Nano-Reefers!

 

I just setup my new Fluval Evo 13.5. I started the cycle with Fritzzyme Turbostart 900 and thereafter added two small Ocellaris Clownfish. I have also feed them Hikari Brine Shrimp and they devoured it. Now I have a small question. My current parameters are the following:

PH: 8.0

Ammonia: 0.0 ppm

Nitrite: 0.25 ppm

Nitrate: 0.0 ppm

Temp: 78 F.

 

I wonder if the elevated Nitrite levels are okay for now? I'm fairly new to this hobby so I probably worry to much, hehe

 

Thanks in advance!

[Clown79]

Did you ever see ammonia spike?

 

Your tank doesn't appear to be cycled as nitrite is still present and there is no nitrate.

 

 

The fish should not have been added until ammonia and nitrite were 0, a waterchange completed to reduce nutrients, and then 1 fish at a time.

[Scotty Amen]

6 hours ago, isakrad said:

I started the cycle with Fritzzyme Turbostart 900

...thereafter added two small Ocellaris Clownfish.

How much time passed between these two statements?

[isakrad]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

Did you ever see ammonia spike?

 

Your tank doesn't appear to be cycled as nitrite is still present and there is no nitrate.

 

 

The fish should not have been added until ammonia and nitrite were 0, a waterchange completed to reduce nutrients, and then 1 fish at a time.

I saw a slight increase in ammonia. As for the fish the my lfs told me that adding the bacteria, and then not adding a fish would be counterproductive as the fish will release some ammonia to cycle the tank. I would like to add that I'm not feeding the fish every day. I'm feeding them maybe every other day, to reduce the waste as much as possible.

[isakrad]

52 minutes ago, Scotty Amen said:

How much time passed between these two statements?

I've had the fish tank setup 5 days before adding fish. When I added the fish I also added an extra dose of Turbostart 900. This is also a video that I saw from SaltwaterAquarium.com that told me to do the exact same thing as I did. 

 

[ReefGoat]

Dry rock and sand or live rock? Idc what that video says. You added fish too fast in my personal opinion. Especially if you used dry rock and sand. Your tank needs to be able to process 2ppm of ammonia in 24 hours before it's ready to add livestock. I would bet money your tank can't process 2ppm in 24 hours yet. You're basically just cycling with fish which is highly frowned upon by most in the hobby. 

[isakrad]

1 minute ago, ReefGoat said:

Dry rock and sand or live rock? Idc what that video says. You added fish too fast in my personal opinion. Especially if you used dry rock and sand. Your tank needs to be able to process 2ppm of ammonia in 24 hours before it's ready to add livestock. I would bet money your tank can't process 2ppm in 24 hours yet. You're basically just cycling with fish which is highly frowned upon by most in the hobby. 

I used live sand from Carib-Sea, and live rock

[Scotty Amen]

This frequently happens - people come here AFTER they've got things going instead of before, so they've already taken some steps they would have avoided.

2 months would be more appropriate before adding fish.

The fish store wants to sell fish.

You can still save the tank / fish but you have a bit of work ahead of you. 

Do a lot of reading / research on here about setting up new tanks.

Best of luck...

[Clown79]

6 minutes ago, isakrad said:

I used live sand from Carib-Sea, and live rock

Was the rock wet and cured?

[isakrad]

1 minute ago, Scotty Amen said:

This frequently happens - people come here AFTER they've got things going instead of before, so they've already taken some steps they would have avoided.

2 months would be more appropriate before adding fish.

The fish store wants to sell fish.

You can still save the tank / fish but you have a bit of work ahead of you. 

Do a lot of reading / research on here about setting up new tanks.

Best of luck...

Yes, I realize that now. I'm doing my best to fix the problem asap.

 

2 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Was the rock wet and cured?

Yes, the rock came directly from a up and running tank 🙂 so hopefully that will make the process a little easier, and less stressful for the fish

[ReefGoat]

18 minutes ago, isakrad said:

Yes, I realize that now. I'm doing my best to fix the problem asap.

 

Yes, the rock came directly from a up and running tank 🙂 so hopefully that will make the process a little easier, and less stressful for the fish

That's a good thing. You should be OK then if what you say is true. 

[ECLS Reefer]

1 hour ago, Scotty Amen said:

This frequently happens - people come here AFTER they've got things going instead of before, so they've already taken some steps they would have avoided.

2 months would be more appropriate before adding fish.

The fish store wants to sell fish.

You can still save the tank / fish but you have a bit of work ahead of you. 

Do a lot of reading / research on here about setting up new tanks.

Best of luck...

If you don’t want to help people, you don’t have to add super judgmental comments just because it’s frustrates you that they didn’t do it the way you would. At least they did ask for help rather than watch the animals all die. Not everyone is bless with your level of super intelligence I’m sure. Take your non wishes of luck somewhere else because you didn’t actually mean that, and don’t treat new-comers like that!! Your meanness can make or break their opinion of the site.

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, isakrad said:

Yes, I realize that now. I'm doing my best to fix the problem asap.

 

Yes, the rock came directly from a up and running tank 🙂 so hopefully that will make the process a little easier, and less stressful for the fish

If it came from an established tank then you normally don't get a cycle as the rock is established. 

Sometimes you may get a small spike that converts quickly.

 

You can either try a waterchange to get rid of the nitrites or use Seachrm Prime which will detoxify it preventing any issues with livestock.

 

 

[isakrad]

2 hours ago, Clown79 said:

If it came from an established tank then you normally don't get a cycle as the rock is established. 

Sometimes you may get a small spike that converts quickly.

 

You can either try a waterchange to get rid of the nitrites or use Seachrm Prime which will detoxify it preventing any issues with livestock.

 

 

Okay, thank you! If it gets worse I will definitely  do a water change or add some Seachem prime. I'll keep on testing the water to see what happens

[Scotty Amen]

3 hours ago, Nursecop818 said:

If you don’t want to help people, you don’t have to add super judgmental comments just because it’s frustrates you that they didn’t do it the way you would. At least they did ask for help rather than watch the animals all die. Not everyone is bless with your level of super intelligence I’m sure. Take your non wishes of luck somewhere else because you didn’t actually mean that, and don’t treat new-comers like that!! Your meanness can make or break their opinion of the site.

You completely misread the tone intended in my post. 

[Jeff Hood]

23 minutes ago, Scotty Amen said:

You completely misread the tone intended in my post. 

I didn’t read your post as negative at all.  In fact it speaks the truth and seemed helpful and hopefully others that are newbs read it and feel comfortable asking for help even before they trust a typical LFS owner. 

[isakrad]

36 minutes ago, Scotty Amen said:

You completely misread the tone intended in my post. 

I mean the truth is that I'm extremely new to this hobby, and believed my lfs was knowledgeable enough to help me with my tank setup. After researching the web today I've found that there are multiple ways to setup a tank, the way I did was also included. 

 

Newbies like me are prone to make some mistakes, that is how we learn.

[Scotty Amen]

36 minutes ago, Jeff Hood said:

I didn’t read your post as negative at all.  In fact it speaks the truth and seemed helpful and hopefully others that are newbs read it and feel comfortable asking for help even before they trust a typical LFS owner. 

Isakrad  thank you. I did not mean it to come across as condescending or insulting at all. I am sad that you are going through this and that you didn’t get a chance to learn the stuff early. You can save this tank with a little bit of effort and a lot of reading and research. I know you can do it. We are all pulling for you and I think that based on having live rock you are going to be OK. I would love to see a picture of your tank. 

[isakrad]

22 minutes ago, Scotty Amen said:

Isakrad  thank you. I did not mean it to come across as condescending or insulting at all. I am sad that you are going through this and that you didn’t get a chance to learn the stuff early. You can save this tank with a little bit of effort and a lot of reading and research. I know you can do it. We are all pulling for you and I think that based on having live rock you are going to be OK. I would love to see a picture of your tank. 

I'm hopeful that everything will be fine. This is my tank right now! Both of my clowns seem happy as ever 🙂 

[ECLS Reefer]

3 hours ago, Scotty Amen said:

You completely misread the tone intended in my post. 

If that was the case then I apologize. It just seemed slightly critical the way it read, and I remember I started my tank the exact same way this guy did. It has been an uphill battle I admit, but without the support and guidance of the people on this forum I couldn’t have done it. So just remember there’s more than one way to do a tank!

[Scotty Amen]

Nice aquascape, isakrad

[Scotty Amen]

17 hours ago, Nursecop818 said:

If that was the case then I apologize. 

Cool thanks.

 

17 hours ago, Nursecop818 said:

there’s more than one way to do a tank

Totally agree. But I think that typically, the advice on here is to not add 2 clownfish just 5 days after setting up a tank (and I don't think you did this). I'm a newb here too and so I read as much as I could before getting started. One thing that comes up over and over is don't trust the LFS. That's what I meant that people should do - read and research here first.

 

I realize it's too late for isakrad to do that but people reading this in the future can.

 

Nursecop I looked at your aquarium thread and your aquascape is really nice. I look forward to seeing more of that tank.

 

 

[ECLS Reefer]

5 hours ago, Scotty Amen said:

Cool thanks.

 

Totally agree. But I think that typically, the advice on here is to not add 2 clownfish just 5 days after setting up a tank (and I don't think you did this). I'm a newb here too and so I read as much as I could before getting started. One thing that comes up over and over is don't trust the LFS. That's what I meant that people should do - read and research here first.

 

I realize it's too late for isakrad to do that but people reading this in the future can.

 

Nursecop I looked at your aquarium thread and your aquascape is really nice. I look forward to seeing more of that tank.

 

 

Oh no, I added three clown fish immediately. I had live cultured rock and live sand with water from the same tank, so the LFS said it was like taking them from tank to tank. There was basically not much cycling involved. I had to do intensive frequent water changes for about two straight weeks to save everything in the tank and thank God I had the time to do so and didn't have to work at the time. We started with some corals too. I basically started this tank like climbing straight up a mountain, which I wouldn't recommend to anyone, at any time. I have a lot of time on my hands because I have a strange schedule as a nurse. And I do read a LOT about these tanks. But I learned early on not to trust the LFS. I had to return one of the clowns, and the two big clowns didn't end up pairing and one killed the other by running him out of the tank. So we have had to watch fish be fish along the way, but for the great majority of this journey so far, it's been successful and I love it. 

[isakrad]

12 hours ago, Scotty Amen said:

Nice aquascape, isakrad

Thank you! 

[Beer]

Just for some clarification, Fritz Turbo Start 900 is intended to be used as the LFS owner stated and as the OP did.

 

There are some independant tests going on over at R2R to test the validity of the claims and efficacy of several of these quick start products. Anecdotally, from the initial test, it does appear that the bacteria in the Fritz product is extremely viable and is able to bring 8ppm of amonia down to 0 in less than 48 hours. (There was some misdosing with the initial test. The current testing is a little bit more scientific with constant monitoring and constant lower level dosing to simulate fish in the system instead of a single big upfront dose to 2ppm)

 

I know this goes against common practice and what we understand about the nitrogen cycle, but some of these products do appear to do what they advertise. Though in this situation it appears that the conversion from nitrite to nitrate is a little bit slower to pick up than the ammonia to nitrite process.