nitrite issues

[vanuck]

hi all, i seem to be having some problems with my water quality. i have a 65 gal tank that is a year and a half old. for some reason i have nitrites at 1.0. my ammonia and nitrates are at 0. whats the deal?

 

[TRe]

something must have died causing an ammonia spike, ammonia turns into nitrites before turning into nitrates do a water change!

 

[vanuck]

nothing has died. i have been doing 15 gal changes every 4 days because 1 of my clowns came down with head and lateral line.

 

[TRe]

well in order to have nitrites present you defintly had an ammonia spike causing a mini cycle, what caused it i dont kno.... may not have nessacerily been a fish but it coulda been a snail,crab,shrimp,coral, ect...

 

[vanuck]

well i for sure will do another change. just weird that i dont notice anything missing for this to have happened. i have 2 tomatoe clowns, 1 lunar wrasse, 1 bi color angel, 1 orange spotted goby, rose bubble tip nem, hammertip, frogspawn, xenia, purple mush, lettuce coral, 6 hermits, 2 cleaner shrimp all healthy. oh well thanks.

 

[Joe Fish]

Have you added anything to the tank? How about any chemicals to the tank?

 

[vanuck]

i did add some blue vet red slime control about a week ago.

 

[Joe Fish]

It could have possibly cause a mini cycle...

 

[vanuck]

the red slime came around at about the same time i started more frequent water changes.

 

[TRe]

are u using ro/di for water changes? if not i bet thats where the cyano came from.. other causes can be low flow or high nutrients.... u should try n find the problem and coret it rather than adding chemicals cause if u dont fix the problem itll keep coming back

 

[vanuck]

i have always used ro water. no tap in my tank. possibly overfeeding. my bta doesnt always eat.

 

[TRe]

what r u feeding the bta? silverslides? uneaten food can cause an ammonia spike aswell as high phosphates which would cause the redslim/cyano outbreak

 

[vanuck]

silversides and krill.

 

[TRe]

ding ding ding! i think we have a winner i bet that where the spike came from.... how often r u feeding yur bta?

 

[vanuck]

twice a week.

 

[TRe]

way too much! thats why its not eating all the time... i feed mine twice a month

 

[vanuck]

you also have metal halides so yours gets nutr from photo. i dont have mh i have vho t5. i read that i need to make up for less light with more food.

 

[TRe]

HO T5's can be just as effective as MH (with the right reflectors) and over feeding isnt a good thing at all for the bta nor the rest of the tank thats suffering right now.... i suggest you slow down atleast to once a week n see how it goes

 

[vanuck]

anyway u r prob right. i have only been doing this for a year. thanks.

 

[TRe]

what equipment r u running? ie. skimmer lighting, flow, ect...