High Nitrite and Nitrate after 3 Months

[Lindebrah]

Hi Everyone,

I have been dealing with high Nitrite and Nitrate for the past three months. I know there are many ways to lower Nitrate, so I am more concerned about the Nitrite but am unsure how to lower it. I have read the article by Randy Holmes-Farley on why Nitrite isn't harmful in a reef tank, but I still would like it to be zero as inaccurate Nitrate readings have been very frustrating. The tank was cycled roughly three months ago using dry rock and sand. I accidentally dosed ammonia to 8ppm and spent the first week putting three drops of AquaForest BioS into the tank daily (the tank is 75 gal, about 85 gal overall). I was recommended BioS from a reefing friend I trust, however I'm not sure if it is meant for cycling a tank because nothing happened after the first week. After the first week I added three bottles of Fitz Turbostart. The next day ammonia was reduced by 50% to 4ppm. After 4 weeks, my ammonia eventually dropped to zero but my nitrite remained at one. It has never gone bellow one since the tank cycled. I reached out to some of my reefing friends who said that because Nitrite is not harmful for fish and I should be good to go. I added CUC (snails, hermit crabs, shrimp, starfish) and they have all been fine. I also had four fish in the tank for about a month, but unfortunately lost them all to either ich or velvet (I have learned my lesson and will QT in the future). After the fish perished I expected the Nitrite to go down a little but it did not.

Here are the tank parameters:

Salinity: 1.026
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 2ppm
Nitrate: 40ppm (I realize this is most likely inaccurate since there is Nitrite in the water).
Phosphate: 0
pH: 8

Here are some things I have tried:

Testing my RO water by itself as well as mixed with salt for Nitrites and Nitrates
Dosed Fauna Marin Bacto balls as well as Bacto Blend
50% water changes
Tested Nitrite with an API test kit as well as Fauna Marin. In addition, I got my water tested from a Frag shop owner whom I trust very much. He tested with Fauna Marin as well and got the same results.

Any advice on how I can lower my Nitrite would be appreciated.

 

[brandon429]

False reading. Not possible to be an accurate one, assuming you’ve removed any dead fish. This is a prime example of why we don’t even test for nitrite any longer in updated cycling, it’s caused you complete concern and there is no concern, your living animals show.


quarantine and fallow from here on out, good to go.

once you have sustained an accurate nitrite reading we can compare it to what a cycling chart shows for nitrite control dates.

 

[Lindebrah]

False reading. Not possible to be an accurate one, assuming you’ve removed all the fish. This is a prime example of why we don’t even test for nitrite any longer in updated cycling, it’s caused you complete concern and there is no concern, your living animals show.


quarantine and fallow from here on out, good to go.

I added this to the original post as I forgot to mention I tested with API as well as Fauna Marin. In addition, I took a water sample to a Coral store close to me and had the owner test my water. He also uses Fauna Marin and got the same Nitrite reading.

 

[Doctorgori]

I’ll follow for perhaps better answers but its weird for nitrites to be that persistent. I’d wager no posters here would lay money it last another 3 months even if you do nothing....If you gotta have you tried Brightwells stuff?
I’m getting more and more a unpaid spokesmen for their stuff ....maybe Microbacter 7 ?

 

[brandon429]

his kits are wrong too, notice how nobody is using Hanna digital


clearly we are about to toil over nitrite here despite what you’ve read about its neutrality, will link to many posts to watch how this is finalized because we want the truth about nitrite for our study threads.

There is a strong likelihood a purchase will be made to remedy or further test this param. the final fact is nitrite testing will lead to offset purchases to a significant degree, nobody can live with a positive test it cannot be ignored or unfactored, even though the reef has been reefing since the summer.
Part of the reason we don’t test for it was the unspoken test adulterants, twenty times in + nitrite tracing threads they’d used prime water conditioner in response to another test kit reading but they didn’t tell it till page five

I blame the YouTube videos from bottle bac makers stating nitrite can stall a cycle for the misinfo and the retail purchase loops. This post is fully in line with cycling rules that have built the hobby, my claim is those rules also help redundantly fund it.

The hobby will accept a titration kit over logged chart timeframes in every instance with unlimited delay on how long it takes for the test kits to allow a safe start. old cycling rules would never allow a reef to begin with positive nitrite, this is the conflict between new and old tank cycling rules.

 

[Lindebrah]

his kits are wrong too, notice how nobody is using Hanna digital


clearly we are about to toil over nitrite here despite what you’ve read about its neutrality, I’m out but will link to many posts to watch how this is finalized. There is a strong likelihood a purchase will be made to remedy or further test this param.

I'm not worried about whether or not it's harmful, it's just frustrating as I can't get accurate Nitrate readings which I care more about. So regardless of how dangerous it is, I need it to be zero.

I will try and test it with Hanna, but the odds of both mine and the Frag shops test kit being wrong seem low. Not to mention, this person relies on accurate readings as they have hundreds of thousands of dollars in coral frags. I just can't see his readings being inaccurate when this is his livelihood. Regardless, I'll try and get a third reading.

Agree with you on the purchase loop stuff, I keep getting recommended a new product to buy which is frustrating lol.

 

[Lindebrah]

I’ll follow for perhaps better answers but its weird for nitrites to be that persistent. I’d wager no posters here would lay money it last another 3 months even if you do nothing....If you gotta have you tried Brightwells stuff?
I’m getting more and more a unpaid spokesmen for their stuff ....maybe Microbacter 7 ?

I haven't tried any of Brightwell's stuff. Microbacter 7 is similar to the Bacto Blend I was using from Fauna Marin so I'm not sure if that would make a difference.