I turned my 10g into a Dwarf puffer tank. I took out half the gravel and added Flourite black sand over it and did a 90% water change. Come to find out my tap has 1 ppm of Nitrites in it - even after letting it sit with Amaquel in it for 24-36 hours. I ran out to the store and bought jugs of drinking water put that in and boom everything is peachy. A day later has Nitrites in it, No ammonia and a healthy amount of NitrAtes. Not sure what to do at this point. No decaying plants, don't think i am over feeding the frozen bloodworms, water changes at least once a week with store bought clean water. I really can't figure it out. Right now the Nitrites are between .5 and 1, closer to 1 though. I am stopping feeding to see if that helps, but any advice would be fabulous. Oh! And there is no sign that the fish are being effected by the Nitrites.

Tank:
10g
3 Neon
2 Pea puffers
1 molly who is in there because she was mean to the new Gourami and made him sick with fin rot - trying to figure out what to do with her so she wont be in there long.

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26g BF

• Fully Planted
• Pressurized CO2
• 112w of light
• Dry ferts

2 1g planted Beta tanks

1 10g planted Pea Puffer tank with neons


~GeminiPrincess

Really? No one has any clues?

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26g BF

• Fully Planted
• Pressurized CO2
• 112w of light
• Dry ferts

2 1g planted Beta tanks

1 10g planted Pea Puffer tank with neons


~GeminiPrincess

Kind of a strange thing..... Are there no plants in this tank? Are your other tanks having the same issue? I wouldn't be using 100% bottled water.

No other tanks having problems, and yes there's plants. I did have a decay issue, but I quickly fixed it. Also, when I do my 50% wc, I use 75 % bottled and 25% tap. I check nitrites after an hour and they are barely showing up. I just cant figure it out there hasnt been any ammonia and I was testing 3 times a day sometimes trying to figure out whats going on....grrrr

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26g BF

• Fully Planted
• Pressurized CO2
• 112w of light
• Dry ferts

2 1g planted Beta tanks

1 10g planted Pea Puffer tank with neons


~GeminiPrincess

It's very unusual to have presistent nitrites in a fully cycled tank. Nitrites are very temporary once a tank has cycled. I don't know why they would show up in your drinking water unless your water has a contaminated source. Test it again with a stip test or take a sample of water to your TF store for testing. If your drinking water is contaminted with Nirites, don't drink it or use it for cooking. Nitrites will eventally cycle out in a fish tank.

I tested my main tank with the same test kit and that tank is nitrite free, so it is not my test kit. I have no idea why they are there, i cleaned the filter because it was dirty and was hoping it would help, but it didn't. I just can't figure it out - it couldn't be the black sand could it? This is the first time i've used it.

__________________


26g BF

• Fully Planted
• Pressurized CO2
• 112w of light
• Dry ferts

2 1g planted Beta tanks

1 10g planted Pea Puffer tank with neons


~GeminiPrincess

the best thing to do is not add food for a few days when a new fish is added.

NitrItes will spike up then down in a couple of day max.

Also in planted tanks what happens the plants prefer to use ammonia for nitrogen. So with a new fish the plants will consume any ammonia spike but stop consuming as much nitrAtes. Hence an initial nitrate spike. Then a few weeks later the nitrates drop down. but sometimes you do get a nitrIte spike.


my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden