Fighting elevated nitrites

[Apulo]

For the past week or so I have been fighting elevated nitrite levels in my 14 gallon tank.

It all started when I was using the Tidal 35 filter and I rinsed out both sponges in tank water. That's when I first noticed nitrite levels creeping up. Testing shows no ammonia, just elevated nitrite and nitrates.

I have since moved to a Fluval 107 which has much more sponge surface area and about 3-4x the biological media, I understand that change is going to take a bit to re-cycle.

Water params as follows:

Ammonia  0ppm
Nitrite  5ppm
Nitrate  50ppm
GH       150ppm
KH       40ppm
pH       6.8-ish

I'm doing water changes and treating with Prime every other day and adding API Stress Zyme daily. The fish look fine. The Otos are happily clung to the glass munching on a bit of algae and the Cories are eating and hiding and playing tag with each other.

Right now I'm riding it out but I'm open to other suggestions.

[Katherine]

Is that supposed to say 5ppm nitrite? Or .5ppm? 5 is a lot. I'd say at that point you need to be doing your water changes daily. Probably 50% until you can get that to stay much lower. I'd also cut back significantly on feedings for a bit, then bring the amount of food back up gradually.

[Apulo]

I am currently doing daily 50% water changes but I am trying to not disturb the substrate as much as possible.

I'm using ACO test strips and this is the color I am reading

As far as feeding goes, I'm feeding very minimally for the Cories and the food is gone within minutes. The rest of the livestock is feeding off what algae I have in the tank.

As I said, the Prime seems to be doing it's job detoxifying the nitrites. The fish are very active and show no signs of any ill effects.

[gardenman]

I tend to trust the fish to tell me if something's wrong more than the test kits/strips. Fish will typically show you something's wrong with behavioral changes. If the fish are acting fine, eating well, you've had no losses, and they aren't stressed, odds are everything's okay. The accuracy of home water testing isn't always the best. 

If your tank was cycled and working fine, then rinsing the sponges in tank water should have had minimal impact on the cycle. Bacteria are pretty tough little buggers. Once they're established, getting rid of them is more of a challenge than keeping them alive. And they wouldn't just be in the sponges, but on every surface of the tank. And some would be so deep in the sponge that you'd never totally get rid of them with a thousand rinses.

The fact that you've got elevated nitrates implies your nitrite eating bacteria are alive and well. Unless you're dosing fertilizer, the nitrates come from the nitrites being consumed by the nitrite consuming bacteria. Nitrates showing up tend to imply the tank is nicely cycled. I'd be more inclined to believe my fish than any test result. I'd sit back, watch the fish and see how they behave over the coming days and see if they show signs of distress. I only test my tanks when I see issues and then I test to see what's going on. Routine testing can drive you more than a bit crazy if something doesn't look right. Trust the fish more than the tests.

[Apulo]

That's the plan so far. I'm going to keep dosing Prime and watch the fish, if they start showing issues. I'll go from there.

The only problem is that I don't want to dose liquid ferts with that high of a level of nitrate so I'm thinking my plants are going to suffer a bit.

Only time will tell and I'll have to keep a close eye on it.

I will say with the Fluval 107 the water has been crystal clear compared to the Tidal 35

[Odd Duck]

On 3/21/2022 at 8:36 AM, Apulo said:

That's the plan so far. I'm going to keep dosing Prime and watch the fish, if they start showing issues. I'll go from there.

The only problem is that I don't want to dose liquid ferts with that high of a level of nitrate so I'm thinking my plants are going to suffer a bit.

Only time will tell and I'll have to keep a close eye on it.

I will say with the Fluval 107 the water has been crystal clear compared to the Tidal 35

Your plants will be just fine with less than perfect nutrients for a bit.  Fish will tell you if they don’t feel right.  Test and change water as needed, but you probably did do too good a job cleaning.  Any chance of running another filter for a while?  Just leave the extra running on the tank until things stabilize, then remove it?

[Apulo]

On 3/21/2022 at 9:52 AM, Odd Duck said:

Your plants will be just fine with less than perfect nutrients for a bit.  Fish will tell you if they don’t feel right.  Test and change water as needed, but you probably did do too good a job cleaning.  Any chance of running another filter for a while?  Just leave the extra running on the tank until things stabilize, then remove it?

I have a couple of ACO sponge filters arriving today. I was planning on putting one in temporarily to build up some bacteria on it before putting it in my new quarantine tank.

I don't really think filtration is a huge issue right now though. The Fluval turns the entire tank volume over 10x/hour. 🤣

[Odd Duck]

On 3/21/2022 at 8:59 AM, Apulo said:

I have a couple of ACO sponge filters arriving today. I was planning on putting one in temporarily to build up some bacteria on it before putting it in my new quarantine tank.

I don't really think filtration is a huge issue right now though. The Fluval turns the entire tank volume over 10x/hour. 🤣

But volume doesn’t replace bacterial growth in your biofiltration status.  Eventually your new filter will be more than enough, but your biofiltration media isn’t “born” with full filtration capacity, it has to grow, and there’s a limit to how fast it grows, especially those pesky nitrite to nitrate species that take longer.  I think that’s where you’re at now, your nitrite to nitrate species are lagging behind, hence the persistently elevated nitrites.

Great thinking on pre-seeding your filter for your next tank, but in the mean time, you’re needing a little boost in that section of your biofiltration on the current tank.  So you want some old filtration media to fill the gap until your new filter’s media can fully support the BB growth your tank needs.  Old filters are your friend!  I’d bet it wouldn’t take much to correct your issue.  A week running an old filter and your new one should be up to speed.

[Apulo]

On 3/21/2022 at 10:12 AM, Odd Duck said:

But volume doesn’t replace bacterial growth in your biofiltration status.  Eventually your new filter will be more than enough, but your biofiltration media isn’t “born” with full filtration capacity, it has to grow, and there’s a limit to how fast it grows, especially those pesky nitrite to nitrate species that take longer.  I think that’s where you’re at now, your nitrite to nitrate species are lagging behind, hence the persistently elevated nitrites.

All of the filter media (sponges and bio-media) from the old filter are in the new.

[Odd Duck]

On 3/21/2022 at 9:14 AM, Apulo said:

All of the filter media (sponges and bio-media) from the old filter are in the new.

Ah.  I didn’t realize that you used all the old media.  I thought you started fully new and just did a good swirl of the old filters to seed the new ones.  I’m guessing you rinsed out a little too much of the good old gunk out?  Then it’s just going to take time and light feeding to get things back on track.  Then gradually build back up to normal amounts of food.

[Apulo]

On 3/21/2022 at 10:21 AM, Odd Duck said:

Ah.  I didn’t realize that you used all the old media.  I thought you started fully new and just did a good swirl of the old filters to seed the new ones.  I’m guessing you rinsed out a little too much of the good old gunk out?  Then it’s just going to take time and light feeding to get things back on track.  Then gradually build back up to normal amounts of food.

That's what I assumed, I just wanted a second (and third, and fourth) opinion.

[modified lung]

Nitrifying bacteria grow extremely slow at pH below 6.7 and/or KH below 40ppm. I usually recommend they be raise a little at least temporarily to make the process faster.

[Apulo]

On 3/21/2022 at 1:24 PM, modified lung said:

Nitrifying bacteria grow extremely slow at pH below 6.7 and/or KH below 40ppm. I usually recommend they be raise a little at least temporarily to make the process faster.

I guess I can shut off the CO2 for a few days and dose some alkaline buffer to bring it up temporarily.

[Apulo]

On 3/21/2022 at 10:21 AM, Odd Duck said:

Ah.  I didn’t realize that you used all the old media.  I thought you started fully new and just did a good swirl of the old filters to seed the new ones.  I’m guessing you rinsed out a little too much of the good old gunk out?  Then it’s just going to take time and light feeding to get things back on track.  Then gradually build back up to normal amounts of food.

I briefly thought about getting some of the Fluval 107 nitrite remover pads but from what I understand I want the nitrites to feed the bacteria and the Prime should bind to it and detoxify it so it doesn't harm the fish but still feeds the bacteria.

Am I completely off base?

[Odd Duck]

On 3/21/2022 at 2:09 PM, Apulo said:

I briefly thought about getting some of the Fluval 107 nitrite remover pads but from what I understand I want the nitrites to feed the bacteria and the Prime should bind to it and detoxify it so it doesn't harm the fish but still feeds the bacteria.

Am I completely off base?

You’re on track.  As long as you don’t get excessive levels, but water changing through it is a better option, anyway.

[Apulo]

Fish and snails are still doing great. I even caught a glimpse of the cories grazing the substrate. When I get home I'm going to check the water and maybe do a 30% water change if I need to but so far, so good. 🤞

[Apulo]

Yay! No more Nitrite!