Spike in Nitrite! (mini-cycle?)

[Good Wolf]

I lost a glass cat last night so I tested the water.

It appears as if I'm going through a min-cycle. Last week I took out the filters on my biowheels and lightly washed off some sand from the sand change. I really didn't think I would cause a cycle by doing this.

Here are my readings. They are the same on both tanks.

0 amonia
20ppm Nitrate
5ppm Nitrite
8.2 pH (so much for the drift wood bringing down the pH)

I just did a 30% water change in both tanks.

My questions are how often should I do the water changes and what % should I do until the Nitrites lower?

How long should I wait after doing the water change to test the water?

How do you change out your filter media without causing a cycle?

At what point should I decide that water changes aren't doing the trick and think about adding some aquarium salt or other chemicals? What chemicals would you recommend?

Right now I've feeding them every other day and no more than they can eat in a couple of minutes so I'm pretty sure this was not caused by over feeding.

thx

[emc7]

Add some Prime to "detoxify" the nitrite and try to change enough water to keep it down to "safe". If it doesn't go down in a day or two, consider getting some Stability or bio-spira to give it a boost . It does sound like a mini-cycle, but they usually pass quickly,

[Good Wolf]

We use Stress Coat+ and Stress Zyme. I added the Zyme to the tank and of course used the Coat for the new water I put in.

The guy that we bought the 75g from today gave us some chems I wanted to get your opinion on.

One is AmQuel Plus by Kordon. It claims to remove Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia. Right now my Ammonia is 0, and the Nitrate is @ 20ppm where it should be. I'm afraid to add this stuff becuase I know the plants need the amonia.

The other is is called Proper pH 7.0 and claims to make the water a perfect 7.0. I know you are no suppossed to modify the pH but would it hurt to do it once and then maintain it at 7.0 if the stuff works? I assume it isn't a good idea.

Let me know, thx.

[JustOneMore20]

Don't mess with pH. You will end up changing it drastically with chemicals and you could kill some fish. There is no "perfect" pH.

I wouldn't use the Amquel either. Do water changes (daily if you have to) to get the nitrIte down. That should cover it. If you have to do 30-40% at a time.....that would be fine. Just match the temperature as close as you can and put in dechlor. Water changes won't hurt anything.

[Good Wolf]

Will do. I'll check it tomorrow and let you know where we are at.

How long should I wait after a water change to check the chemicals. Should the change be immediate.

I see very little change tonight after doing the water change this morning.

[emc7]

Amquel+, like Prime is supposed to detoxify ammonia, but leave it available to plants and biology. You can use it to condition new water. I don't recommend pH lowering buffers, other people have complained of cloudiness with this product, which makes sense because to lower pH and hardness you precipitate minerals out of solution. Once you start "messing with pH" you have to watch it like a hawk forever after and keep adding product with every water change. Avoid it if at all possible.

[Good Wolf]

Should I add it togather with the Stress Coat+ in the new water? Stress coat removes chlorine and chloramines while replacing slime coats.

In regards to my other questions can you help me out?

If lightly rinsing off the filter media can cause a cycle how do you replace the entire media without doing so?

I'm also curious how you can do daily water changes without messing up the cycle.

[JustOneMore20]

I would wait an hour or so before testing again. I'm not sure how long it takes, but I personally would wait, just to hope that they'd be accurate results then.

You can replace parts of the media, but you don't want to start doing that until well after your tank has been cycled (like 3-4 months after the initial cycle). By then, as long as you haven't changed out the substrate recently, you'll have enough bacteria to hold off a mini-cycle. Also, when you rinse the media, do it in tank water that you siphon or dip out instead of tap.

The bacteria lives on surfaces and not in the water.....so when you do water changes, you aren't taking out bacteria.

[emc7]

Use the Amquel+ until your "mini-cycle" is over and in the new tank until you know it has cycled. Then use one or the other, they both claim to stop chloramines and they isn't any reason to double dose. Of the two, I prefer the Amquel+. To affect a fish's slime coat, you either have to put slimy stuff in the water, or irritate the fish into making more slime. I don't like the idea of either one. So save it for transport and injuries, you shouldn't need it for every water change.

Stress-zyme is supposed to cycle tanks like Stability. I don't know if it works, but try it in the new tank.

Never change all you filter media at once. If your filter only has one cartridge, stick in a piece of sponge or filter floss so you can have something to keep when you change it.

Try not to let the bio-wheel get completely dry.

[slp2772]

Also, when you rinse the media, do it in tank water that you siphon or dip out instead of tap.

The bacteria lives on surfaces and not in the water.....so when you do water changes, you aren't taking out bacteria.

Excelent tip, Wish I would have thaught of that or had know that sooner.

[Obsidian]

In a real emergency with any of those numbers going really high, rather than doing large water changes all at once you can also perform several 20-30% water changes over a few hours, letting it sit for an hour or two in between. This will help change the parameters of your water more slowly and still help you bring the numbers down fairly quickly. Fish like slow changes