Nitrite spike

[justinf67]

I upgraded a few weeks ago from a 40g breeder to a 75g and used the 40g as a sump. I lost my 2 clowns about a week ago. I bought a new api test kit and ammonia is 0, nitrites are between .5 and 1ppm. Nitrates I get through 80-160.... I had my water tested at a LFS that specializes in saltwater tanks and they confirmed that the ammonia was 0, nitrite between .5-1, but nitrates they tested out at 5-10. I am assuming their kit is old or wasnt working correctly. My old kit tested out nitrates high, and so does the new one I bought. I cross checked the tests by testing fresh saltwater and got 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrates... So, I assume my nitrate kit is somewhat accurate.... I bought a big bottle of prime to detoxify the nitrites. I just dosed it right now. I know its 24-48 hrs of detox for the tank, I did 5 capfuls for my tank which is 115g of total volume, so twice the amount normally used. Should I have done more? Any ideas how long it will take for the nitrite spike to subside?

When I swapped over from the 40g, I used 80lbs of new sand, and only a cupful of sand from my old tank to seed it. I have around 40 lbs of live rock in the system, which is way too low, was fine for the 40g. I have 45lbs of dry rock that I am putting into a 20g tank with fresh saltwater and a powerhead. I am going to try and cycle the rock in my closet, so no nuisance algae. Should I just treat that tank as a new tank and add a piece of shrimp to make sure to kickstart a cycle? I will monitor ammonia, nitrite for a few weeks and nitrates....When the ammonia and nitrite are at 0, would I be safe to add all the rock to my display tank and not expect a cycle/mini cycle?

[ReachTheSky]

Most of your beneficial bacteria got tossed with the old sandbed. You should treat this as a new cycle and wait for it to stabilize.

[justinf67]

I thought it was common practice to not use the old sandbed, right? I figured with this spike that the sandbed was where the majority of my beneficial bacteria was, as the 40 or so lbs of live rock is not doing enough. diatoms just showed up as well, so i figured that I may be going through a mini cycle. I have 2 engineer gobies, a flame hawk, coral beauty, and yellow watchman goby....How can I keep them safe through this cycle? Will dosing prime every day or 2 be good? I will test daily and keep an eye on where the levels are. Any ideas on the dry rock I have? Once it cycles in a seperate tank, I should be able to just add it to my display right away, right?

[ReachTheSky]

You are correct on this. Reusing old sand is a bad idea. It was a good that you tossed the old sand out and put new sand. This will cause your tank to go through a cycle again but it's a far better option than the former. I would recommend you get the fish out and put them in a separate system if one's available until your tank is able to stabilize. Dosing Prime during the nitrogen cycle will only make the cycle last longer. You're taking out the nutrients that the nitrifying bacteria need in order to establish themselves.

You shouldn't need to cure dry rock. Just rinse the dust and sediments off and put it in. If it was live, then that's a different story. If you really want to cure it, there needs to be die-off first. You can use the shrimp you mentioned. Once that's going, keep an eye on the Ammonia, Nitrite and Phosphate levels in that water and do weekly water changes. Once they reach 0ppm, it's fully cured and good to go.

[justinf67]

I dont have another system to put the fish into at the moment. I didnt know prime would stop the cycle. Some of the rock that I have was formally live, I did a bleach mix for 2 days then did tap water changes on them once a day for a week.

Basically, I have to wait it out and hope that the bacteria catches up? What about getting some MB7, or carbon dosing to get more bacteria?

[justinf67]

Well, after more reading, I have found some good info. I'm used to freshwater, this is my 1st salt tank, even though Ive had it going for almost 2 yrs. Nitrite in saltwater fish is way less toxic than for saltwater fish from what I have gathered. This doesnt mean its ok to have it, but, I feel a bit better that they should be able to handle the spike till the bacteria can catch up. I will also ignore my nitrate readings as its false while I have nitrites in the system. I checked this morning and ammonia was still zero while nitrites were .5 ppm. I will monitor each day to see when they start coming back down. How often should I feed during this time? Every other day? I usually feed half a cube of frozen mysis which I now rinse out in a net before I add to the tank.

I also filled my 20g with my 45lbs of dry rock yesterday, in my closet with a maxijet 1200 powerhead pointed to the surface for agitation. I tested ammonia and nitrites this morning and got 0. Should I wait 2 or 3 days to see if there is any die off from the rock before I add a shrimp to kickstart the cycle, or should I just add it now?

[justinf67]

Bump

[justinf67]

Just as an update to this, my nitriteclimbed to 1ppm at its highest point, andyesterday got down to zero again. I think the amount of live rock in there isn't enough and the bacteria can't keep up. My rock in the 20g is still cycling though. Once it finishes , ill add it to the main display in batches.

[worm5406]

Just saw this post...

Very good so far.. Sounds like things are doing good.

+1 on the live rock addition. I just added close to 60lb of dry rock after letting it sit/wash off/seed. Biggest piece was about 26lb.

[coralsnaked]

Hind site is 20/20
Should have completely cycled new tank w/ whatever new rock and sand you were going to utilize prior to moving any livestock to the new tank. Once moved you could have then added the old tank to the new system as your sump.
One should never stress their livestock in these situations.
Happy reefing

[justinf67]

Just saw this post...

Very good so far.. Sounds like things are doing good.

+1 on the live rock addition. I just added close to 60lb of dry rock after letting it sit/wash off/seed. Biggest piece was about 26lb.

This is actually the biggest surprise of my ordeal. I have 45lbs of rock in my 20g cycling. I was curious if I would need to add shrimp to start the cycle, but by day 2, ammonia showed up and there has been enough dieoff on the rocks to get ammonia up to 4-8ppm on my api kit... :o.... Ammonia stayed high on them for almost a week and then leveled off down to zero. I still have 1ppm nitrite in that rock tank, so, the cycle is progressing nicely.


Hind site is 20/20
Should have completely cycled new tank w/ whatever new rock and sand you were going to utilize prior to moving any livestock to the new tank. Once moved you could have then added the old tank to the new system as your sump.
One should never stress their livestock in these situations.
Happy reefing

I ended up buying 25 more lbs to cycle, along with the 20 lbs I had. You are very right. I thought my rock would be enough to hold the parameters in check, but I was wrong. Sandbeds have way more beneficial bacteria than I thought, as when I swapped over, I ended up mini cycling. Hindsight is 20/20. I am going to be starting a new 40g tank, and I will use these lessons to make sure my livestock is never stressed. Plus, my father is upgrading his 36g bowfront to a 55g. So, I am going to make sure he gets more rock and cycles it before he moves over his stock.

One quick question, now that ammonia is at 0 on the cycling rock, should I feed pellets to the tank to make sure the bacteria doesnt die off?