Power Outage / Nitrite Spike in 29 Gallon Aquarium

[Matthew Grob]

In need of some advice. We lost power for about 15 hours yesterday after we had a severe thunderstorm, power wasn't restored until 6am this morning. I put the filter media in bags in my aquarium with tank water. Back to this morning, my 29 gallon which houses my angelfish and bristlenose pleco was littered with bubbles across every edge of the aquarium. My angelfish was in distress with heavy breathing. Did a quick test and found that my nitrites were measuring in at 0.25 ppm, ammonia 0ppm, and nitrates at 40ppm. I did a 30% water change, dosing Prime and Stability. I'm going to retest later tonight and tomorrow morning. My question is, with my cycle "stalled" from the power outage, what can I do in the meantime until my nitrites are completely at 0ppm? I have 3 other aquariums running currently, and my 29 gallon is the only one having cycle issues after testing my other tanks. I can't take any filter media from any of the other tanks, I'm too afraid it'll cause issues as well for those tanks. First picture below is the test results from this morning, and the second picture is the 29 gallon as of right now. The angelfish and pleco seemed to have calmed down, both acting more normal now. Filtration running is a Aquaclear 50 with a Large Aquarium Co-Op sponge filter. What would you guys suggest in the meantime?

 

[Fish Folk]

A battery backup for _air_ could go a long way towards balancing out this issue. 

[Matthew Grob]

On 7/22/2022 at 4:56 PM, Fish Folk said:

A battery backup for _air_ could go a long way towards balancing out this issue. 

Which brand would you suggest? I've been interested in getting one especially after last night's nightmare. 

[Fish Folk]

How many tanks do you have? How many gallons of water total? Are you keeping tropical or temperate fish species? Do you have sponge filters in your aquarium(s)?

Edited July 22, 2022 by Fish Folk

[Matthew Grob]

On 7/22/2022 at 5:07 PM, Fish Folk said:

How many tanks do you have? How many gallons of water total? Are you keeping tropical or temperate fish species? Do you have sponge filters in your aquarium(s)?

All of my aquariums are tropical freshwater. I have a 5.5 gallon betta aquarium filtered by a small sponge filter, 10 gallon betta/clown pleco aquarium filtered by two sponge filters, and a 20 gallon corydoras and swordtail aquarium filtered by a Aquaclear 50 with an additional small sponge filter for added aeration. 

[Pepere]

An old school box filter can be filled with cycled gravel and add some quick biofiltration and aeration which helps.  These are incredibly cheap, and are great to add activated carbon to pull out medicines after treatment, to add zeolite to pull out ammonia, to add filter floss to polish water.

great temporary items.  Simple airstone functioning..

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=lee's+triple+flow+corner+filter&hvadid=77790636441461&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&tag=mh0b-20&ref=pd_sl_4uceafuith_e

 

[face]

a small amount of salt can detoxify nitrite but im not sure how much is safe for the plant's.