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View Full Version : How to reduce Nitrite levels in tank?

jgauna
03-25-2008, 08:36 AM
Filled 55 gallon up on the 15th. Added turbo start on the 19th and added feeder fish to help the bio process. Had 4 to 5 of the feeder fish die on me and end up in the filter took the fish out of the filter. Took a water sample to jfp and nitrites were high. Was informed that by sometime this week my nitrites would be at a level where i could add fish to it. Tested water again last night on my own and nitrites are still high. I have read the way to reduce nitrites was to do a major water change and add aquarium salt to the tank as well as directed. Is this the way to go? My question is by doing this will i have to add more turbo start and wait even longer to get fish into the tank?
biggin
03-25-2008, 08:44 AM
How high are they?
kewlkatdady
03-25-2008, 09:01 AM
leave it alone, don't do a water change....

it has to cycle.


when the nitrItes fall, they will go from high to 0.0 overnight.

when that happens the tank is cycle'd.


do you still have a couple fish in the tank? After the nitrItes fall, don't think you can add 10 fish at once. You need to add a few fish and let the bio colony catch up. The bio colony should only take a few days react to the additional fish an you may see some spikes...but they will fall quickly.
jgauna
03-25-2008, 09:11 AM
I do not know how to tell how high they are? How can you tell?
Yes i still have about 6 feeder fish in the tank now. So i guess the thing to do is wait it out. Then add fish a couple of fish at a time. Right?
kewlkatdady
03-25-2008, 09:20 AM
Too many fish to start with....

chances are you will lose more.

neither here nor there...

wait it out...I guess since you have so many fish in the tank, you can do a water change help lower the toxins a little.
supersmirky
03-25-2008, 01:12 PM
yes, trying to counter all the parameters in the beginning will have you adding too many chemicals. Let it do its cycle and you should be good
kewlkatdady
03-25-2008, 03:50 PM
As bad as it sounds...
since they are feeder fish...
I'd leave alone and not do a water change.

If they die, they die.



Man I know this is going to piss people off...
oh well.
Goathead
03-25-2008, 04:29 PM
I agree, let them die, and that should speed up the process. I dont feel bad, they are feeder fish, which will inherently be fed to something else.....so one way or another.:fw::beatdeadhorse:
supersmirky
03-25-2008, 07:21 PM
Yeah...but what if they live!!
kewlkatdady
03-25-2008, 07:52 PM
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i134/kewlkatdady/Two_Piece_Toilet.jpg

Yeah...but what if they live!!
supersmirky
03-25-2008, 07:57 PM
LOL...well alrighty
IC Casey
03-25-2008, 07:57 PM
Yeah, I have the same issue with my shrimp. Everyone says they won't last a cycle. I shrug. Little bastards are thriving, shaking their fists at me. They even get me to feed them.
supersmirky
03-25-2008, 07:57 PM
LOL... that's hilarious Casey.

Do they get you to tell them bedtime stories too?
rolloffhill
03-28-2008, 10:51 PM
:rofl:
flamenco-t
03-29-2008, 01:15 AM
I started with 2 convicts and salvini. After the tank was cycled, the salvini was eaten by my catfish. I couldn't find my convicts for ages...( I have a 240 gallon), next thing you know I saw the little buggers in my filter sock area of the sump, somehow they went down the overflow, into a 1" PVC down to the filter sock and "jumped" out of te filter sock into the sump.

Fast forwards, I have about a few hundreds babies now :)

Sometime, when you leave things alone, nature takes its course.. :)

stan
Trippy
03-29-2008, 09:37 AM
1 tablespoon of powdered birth control pills per 10 g of water for convicts .roflmao ALWAYS.
bra8ndy8
03-30-2008, 05:16 PM
Yeah, I have the same issue with my shrimp. Everyone says they won't last a cycle. I shrug. Little bastards are thriving, shaking their fists at me. They even get me to feed them.


:confuzeld:

roflmaoroflmaoroflmao
ElijahTurtle
03-30-2008, 05:40 PM
Do they get you to tell them bedtime stories too?
I can see the book title now: Bedtime Tales for Little Skrimps by Casey
roflmao roflmao roflmao
AndrewH
03-30-2008, 08:15 PM
Casey's an actor, it'd be a bedtime "skit/charades" :rofl:

What kinna shrimp are they?

@stan
Ask Skipp about fish in the sump... darn near same thing happened to him roflmao
rolloffhill
03-30-2008, 08:36 PM
Yup and it came full circle last night. The little guy I found in my sump has been growing out and is now ~2" and back in the tank with his parents....:D
IC Casey
03-30-2008, 11:58 PM
Casey's an actor, it'd be a bedtime "skit/charades" :rofl:

What kinna shrimp are they?

@stan
Ask Skipp about fish in the sump... darn near same thing happened to him roflmao

Garden variety ghost shrimp. I'm pretty sure they could survive in my college dorm's community toilets, which were one step above nuclear winter.