help!

[fishyes]

Hello all,

I have a 30gallon tank that has been cycling for about a month. I have 35lbs of live rock and sand as my substrate with a protein skimmer running. I have 3 green chromis and some hermits. I have a problem with my nitrite. My ammonia seems to disappear but I can not seem to get my nitrite levels to 0 the lowest it goes is .25 and stays there constant. please help!

 

[little_fish]

Hello and Welcome!

What test kit are you using and have you checked your test results against another test kit?

 

[fishyes]

I am using the Reef Master test kit. I also took a water sample to my LFS and they said it was that my nitrite was at .25 as well. I am researching what to do and I get different ideas. Some say water changes and other conflict with that.

 

[little_fish]

technically nitrites arent toxic to marine fish, so you could add a fish, however nitrites are toxic to inverts.

But what type of test kit are you use (ie salfert, API etc)

 

[fishyes]

It is API.

 

[little_fish]

Well the API kit is pretty reliable for nitrite testing, can you give me a run down on your numbers and time line. So something like on day 10 I had an ammonia reading of 0.5, and then by day 15 I had no ammonia but this much nitrite etc

 

[fishyes]

I started testing around day 10 and my ammonia was around 1.0 and nitrite was around 1.0 as well. day 14 0 ammonia .25ppm nitrite. 40ppm nitrate. and the nitrite remained constant till this day which is a little over 2 weeks later and the nitrate went down to around 20ppm and the ammonia was at 0.

 

[little_fish]

Why dont you do a water change and see what your levels are at

 

[Northstar24]

You've got a 30 gallon with 3 fish in it and it has been cycling for 3 weeks? My guess is the cycle isn't finished, and you've managed to stock your tank to capacity (fish wise) in one fell swoop. Your system is now trying to build up the necessary bio filtration to handle the fish load

 

[little_fish]

holy crap, i totally missed that. Good catch North

 

[sen5241b]

You've got a 30 gallon with 3 fish in it and it has been cycling for 3 weeks? My guess is the cycle isn't finished, and you've managed to stock your tank to capacity (fish wise) in one fell swoop. Your system is now trying to build up the necessary bio filtration to handle the fish load

North has you covered. 1+

 

[Smitty]

+2 Northstar...also, welcome to the site, we're glad to have you aboard.