(asap Response)help How Could This Be

[BiGBlak]

Earlier today around afternoon time after i got responses on my thread about cleaning the gravel . so i did about a 25% water change while cleaning the front part of my tanks gravel so about 30% of the gravel and rinsed the two cartridges for my HOB in tank water in the process. and completed that . Now i tested my water and i get these readings.
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
Nitrite .25ppm
How can i be getting a nitrite reading when nitrate is present ? i already did a re test and it turned that color again. what should i do ? will the nitrite disappear with time since i have nitrate present or what ? i just dont get how my readings could be like this because i thought nitrite was food for nitrate.. plz help ASAP.

[Dave66]

It is because the bacteria aren't yet in sufficient numbers to oxidize all the Nitrite yet, which is why you still see some of it. Try not to tweak, and in time, few days most, you'll not see any more Nitrite.

Dave

[waack]

was the tank cycled?? i had the same problem while cyclying after weeks of zero did a gravel vac and got a spike i got the answer the doing the vac stirred up the gravel (obviously) and in doing so exposed some of the decaying waste to the water and caused the spike. otherwise the waste would have been coated in the bacteria and never exposed.
thats the answer i got

[Lady Hobbs]

In your other thread, you were also advised that since your tank is newly cycled to not clean the gravel and the filter all at once. To only do part of the gravel? Your tank will go back to normal in a day or so.

[Lab_Rat]

Too many fish added too quickly to a questionably cycled tank. You need to wait several weeks in between adding fish, not days.

[jimw/oscar]

Earlier today around afternoon time after i got responses on my thread about cleaning the gravel . so i did about a 25% water change while cleaning the front part of my tanks gravel so about 30% of the gravel and rinsed the two cartridges for my HOB in tank water in the process. and completed that . Now i tested my water and i get these readings.
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
Nitrite .25ppm
How can i be getting a nitrite reading when nitrate is present ? i already did a re test and it turned that color again. what should i do ? will the nitrite disappear with time since i have nitrate present or what ? i just dont get how my readings could be like this because i thought nitrite was food for nitrate.. plz help ASAP.

Hopefully the nitrites will be consumed as those nitrafiers recover. 30% gravel vac might have been too much for the system yet. It appears most of your nitrite metabolizing bacteria reside in your gravel bed and you stirred some stuff up.

Maybe you said before but what kind of cartridges did you rinse? Really the only thing I'd be doing if I were you would be replacing filter floss or rinsing ONLY mechanical media. If your cartridges contain any of your biobed it has to be left alone and if you don't have some kind of pre-filter mechanical media to keep the gunk out of your bio-bed you have problems.

I have sponges on the intakes of my canisters as prefilter mechanica media which I rinse in tank water so no chloramine water ends up going down into my biobeds.

Hang in there, you're still doing better in some ways than I did at your age and if others here were honest they'd have to admit the same thing.

[Lady Hobbs]

No, I did worse! I decided to change my substrate immediately after cycling. And had a grand ammonia spike. DOH!

[BiGBlak]

In your other thread, you were also advised that since your tank is newly cycled to not clean the gravel and the filter all at once. To only do part of the gravel? Your tank will go back to normal in a day or so.
I did a light vaac clean just to get the visable poop out the gravel on the front of the tank didnt move any of my decor to clean gravel neither did i dig to the glass. and while i was doing that i took the cartridges out of the marineland penguin ( whatever the blue cartridges that come with the filter are , i dont know if the hold the BB or not ) and put it in the buckest i was filling up and the shook them and put them back at the end didnt really think much because i havnt touched my eheim. Well this morning its still kinda showing but not exactly .25 a little lighter than .25ppm so will my fish be ok with those readings as it seems to be going away by the hours ?

[BiGBlak]

Too many fish added too quickly to a questionably cycled tank. You need to wait several weeks in between adding fish, not days.
I cycled with 5 fish. I was told that if after a week (7 days) my readings where not changing that it was ok to add a few more fish was i told wrong ? because that is what i have been doing with no problem until i messed with the gravel yea the nitrate jumped up a little bit after each addition of fish and then stayed at the normal in between 10-20 ppm after a water change but everything else was at zero and never got passed zero. now i hav 10 fish 2 and a half weeks after my cycle..

[SunSchein89]

No, I did worse! I decided to change my substrate immediately after cycling. And had a grand ammonia spike. DOH!

:doh: lol nice one.

Anyway, BigBlak, I wouldn't really worry about it. My best guess is that you just stirred up some junk and possibly got rid of some bacteria present in your gravel. You should be back to normal levels in no time. I would just keep testing to make sure it doesn't go any higher and keep your hands off that filter unless water flow is actually restricted.

[BiGBlak]

:doh: lol nice one.

Anyway, BigBlak, I wouldn't really worry about it. My best guess is that you just stirred up some junk and possibly got rid of some bacteria present in your gravel. You should be back to normal levels in no time. I would just keep testing to make sure it doesn't go any higher and keep your hands off that filter unless water flow is actually restricted.
It seems that way because the nitrites this morning are not even exactly .25 its just not purple but not quite that 0ppm blue but thanks. the big reason for me messing with the filter and the gravel is because my water has been cloudy like stuff from the gravel has been kicked up and recycled in the tank making it look dirty and it was irritating me to not see clear water with the filters i have . And what i was/still am doing is seeding a AC110 sponge in my tank so that big ol sponge is slipped onto my HOB intake collecting BB and poo and all that .

[Scrup]

Cloudy water?

as in whitish foggy cloudy?

[BiGBlak]

Cloudy water?

as in whitish foggy cloudy?
its neither. it just seems like fish poo and dirt from the gravel and get stirred up and the the filters are pushing it around and around mixed with micro bubbles from the HOB outtake makeing the water look dirty.

[SunSchein89]

Yeah, it's annoying, but sometimes there's nothing you can do. As I have already learned the hard way, messing with the tank more than absolutely necessary usually just leads to more problems. Things will settle in time, it's all about the patience game.

[Scrup]

the gravel should be cleaned somewhat regularly, moreso if it is getting so much stuff that it is making the water look dirty. I would not refrain from doing it honestly. If anything it should (makes sense in my head anyway) encourage bacteria to grow more in the filters and less in the gravel, if it is in fact removing the bacteria from the gravel, so future gravel cleanings will have less of an impact.

[BiGBlak]

the gravel should be cleaned somewhat regularly, moreso if it is getting so much stuff that it is making the water look dirty. I would not refrain from doing it honestly. If anything it should (makes sense in my head anyway) encourage bacteria to grow more in the filters and less in the gravel, if it is in fact removing the bacteria from the gravel, so future gravel cleanings will have less of an impact.
so your suggesting that cleaning gravel will stir up the bacteria in the gravel and wo;; encourage it to grow in the filters ?

[Scrup]

I would not put money on the fact that it removes even a noticable amount (once the tank is established that is). But if for whatever reason it DOES have an impact, the bacteria will regrow to compensate, and some of it will regrow in the filter, on the walls, on the decoration, etc..which means it will not have as much in the gravel. It will level out, chances are you were just at a critical point in your cycle.

Honestly the main thing is, don't be afraid to gravel vac. Lots of people do it, no impact.

[Lab_Rat]

I cycled with 5 fish. I was told that if after a week (7 days) my readings where not changing that it was ok to add a few more fish was i told wrong ? because that is what i have been doing with no problem until i messed with the gravel yea the nitrate jumped up a little bit after each addition of fish and then stayed at the normal in between 10-20 ppm after a water change but everything else was at zero and never got passed zero. now i hav 10 fish 2 and a half weeks after my cycle..

10 fish in 2.5 weeks is a lot. I really don't think your cycle had completed from what I'd read from your other posts, but whatever. Add overfeeding (from another post of yours) to the sudden increase in bioload and the biofilter cannot keep up. I always recommend giving the biofilter 3 weeks to catch up when adding new fish. I also wouldn't recommend adding more than 50% of the current stock at a time when increasing the bioload on the tank.

[BiGBlak]

10 fish in 2.5 weeks is a lot. I really don't think your cycle had completed from what I'd read from your other posts, but whatever. Add overfeeding (from another post of yours) to the sudden increase in bioload and the biofilter cannot keep up. I always recommend giving the biofilter 3 weeks to catch up when adding new fish. I also wouldn't recommend adding more than 50% of the current stock at a time when increasing the bioload on the tank.
I didnt add them all at once after the first week i added 3 and 4 days ago added 2.

[BiGBlak]

Everything is back to normal now . Nitrates are alittle high at 20ppm but that will go down with a little water change right ? thats for the support i was scared i was gonn lose some fish .

[Cliff]

Everything is back to normal now . Nitrates are alittle high at 20ppm but that will go down with a little water change right ? thats for the support i was scared i was gonn lose some fish .

Yup, a simple water change should fix that. Anyweres from 20 to 50% should do OK. That's what I do when my nitrates start getting higher than I like them