Nitrite Spike or Something Else?

[BeastlyBeard]

Hello all,

I set up my tank on 3/6 and started the cycle. I used Turbostart and my levels were all 0 on Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. So added a couple of fish. Fast forward to last week and my Nitrites have consistently been at 1 PPM. I have no Ammonia and no Nitrate - I purchased Prime hoping to bring the Nitrite levels down to reduce the chances of losing a fish but have yet to add it because I don't want to stall the cycle (if it's somehow still cycling).

Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated here.

Thanks!

 

[Tahoe61]

Try some more bacteria in a bottle like MB7, feed less, don't add any more fish for awhile.
Size of tank?
Three week old tank is still very unstable. With smaller tanks you can quickly develop new tank syndrome when adding livestock to a new system.

 

[KTrevino]

I agree add some bacteria in a bottle to help boost the cycle. Give it some time and nitrites will go down.

 

[brandon429]

We should use the collective power of the chem forum to prove or deny the possibility of sustained .25 ammonia in reefing

Why does it matter if reef tanks can have stuck cycles? Because when you move homes you don't want to lose animals, cycling science needs precision and predictability in order to protect our tanks. perhaps an emergency setup is needed, no wait time permitted or If you are invited to show...

www.reef2reef.com

that shows you can disregard the nitrite fully, save some $

 

[Arthacker87]

I'd say not to add anything and let it ride out. Depending on how many fish you added and size of tank, it can throw off levels (normally not nitrite) but a great rule of thumb I always go by is to let it run a few weeks before adding a fish or 2.

 

[BeastlyBeard]

Try some more bacteria in a bottle like MB7, feed less, don't add any more fish for awhile.
Size of tank?
Three week old tank is still very unstable. With smaller tanks you can quickly develop new tank syndrome when adding livestock to a new system.

my size of tank is 25G. I have two clownfish and two cardinals plus clean up crew 5 hermit crabs.
I’ll look into adding the bacteria again - is that okay to add again now that I have fish?

 

[BeastlyBeard]

Try some more bacteria in a bottle like MB7, feed less, don't add any more fish for awhile.
Size of tank?
Three week old tank is still very unstable. With smaller tanks you can quickly develop new tank syndrome when adding livestock to a new system.

 

[KTrevino]

my size of tank is 25G. I have two clownfish and two cardinals plus clean up crew 5 hermit crabs.
I’ll look into adding the bacteria again - is that okay to add again now that I have fish?

Yes! You can add bottled bacteria while fish are in the tank. Furthermore most bottles actually want you to add fish when you start adding the bacteria. Don't need to get anything expensive bio spira is reasonable or any of the other main names is fine. It won't "throw off levels" of your tank, people add bacteria to established tanks all the time... just follow the directions.

 

[Tahoe61]

Yup, add some bacteria in a bottle. Four fish in a new 25 gallon tank is probably too much right now.
Bacteria in a bottle is not going cause any untoward effects.
Many, many hobbyist have used it for decades.

 

[BeastlyBeard]

Yup, add some bacteria in a bottle. Four fish in a new 25 gallon tank is probably too much right now.
Bacteria in a bottle is not going cause any untoward effects.
Many, many hobbyist have used it for decades.

I will do that! Thank you all for your help! I ordered some BIO-Spira and will add that when it arrives.

 

[brandon429]

curious

what makes you want to buy the bottle bac after considering that thread above

the reason am asking: we are studying how the public is getting tricked into buying bottle bac, for a param they can't even measure correctly and one that has no bearing on cycling, or living animals we can see etc.


im interested in how the market wins out in these cases, where the supporting data comes from that says to buy more bottle bac (it comes from bac sellers then forum posts really push it)

 

[Tahoe61]

Brandon, no one is tricking anyone.
I have been using bacteria in a bottle for decades on numerous systems start up.
Skin a cat how you will but this is not some conspiracy by industry to sell snake oil.

 

[brandon429]

Prime causes false nitrite reads. we think this factors bigtime in the extra sales for bottle bac makers, and its even written on the instructions for some bac. to me its fascinating how the forum posts compel the purchases and in essence, the notion of a stuck cycle.

what we really study is how confidence in the cycling process affects buying habits. who gets to write the rules on cycling really matters, purchase data shows. the work thread above collects multiple tanks displaying nitrite/with fish to show patterns, of nitrite not factoring in reefing at any time.

 

[KTrevino]

Why? I'd rather be safe than sorry just spend a few bucks on the bottle, won't harm anything.

 

[brandon429]

I hear you

as we track these threads where the purchases proceed, I wanted to point out the false sense of risk instilled in this community by bottle bac sellers who also make the rules for cycling reef tanks, and that prime causes false nitrite positives with API. Its at least fair to say the thread shows its of no risk at all (the number of tanks we're tracking in there live time) but adding some bac also is no harm. we all spend $7 on a burger too.

 

[Tahoe61]

Never mentioned Prime or API test.

Save the livestock some stress, be it water changes and or some bacteria in a bottle.

Long story short, small tank stocked too quickly for a tank 3 plus weeks old.

 

[brandon429]

na they'd be dead and his water would be cloudy and he couldnt feed the tank or it would crash in 48 hours and it would have similar outcome posts in the thread we've linked


its been a month, that fulfills even a basic cycling chart not using bottle bac at the start.


but all that's missing from this thread, the actual tank and animals are fine.

extra bottle bac purchase was not needed here, but we still wanted to study how the forum promulgates the concern though its exactly like insurance sales where a concern is created and eased.

post pics of this full tank shot for closure proof.

first post:
-I purchased Prime hoping to bring the Nitrite levels down

I see he didn't add it. wouldnt hurt if he did or didn't, since the bioload was ok before the testing issue.

if we could just get a full tank shot picture here that would really shore up the issue, taken before the next round of bottle bac

 

[BeastlyBeard]

I did put turbostart a week before adding livestock. I then took my water to be tested at LFS before adding livestock to make sure it was ready. All reading came back good and ready to livestock. Diatom algae has started to produce which to my knowledge is a sign that cycling has nearly completed. Yes?
here is a pic
THe water is a bit unclear due to micro bubbles that my skimmer is producing.

 

[KTrevino]

I did put turbostart a week before adding livestock. I then took my water to be tested at LFS before adding livestock to make sure it was ready. All reading came back good and ready to livestock. Diatom algae has started to produce which to my knowledge is a sign that cycling has nearly completed. Yes?
here is a pic
THe water is a bit unclear due to micro bubbles that my skimmer is producing.

Technically the cycle is over when Ammonia and nitrite are 0ppm and nitrate is detectable. So the bacteria turn ammonia>Nitrite>Nitrate creating the latter. Usually a little diatom bloom happens doesn't necessarily reflect the cycle as far a I know, but it is normal. Best of luck!