Nitrites again

littlehermit0 · May 18, 2024

So I know last time y'all said that it's normal to have nitrites in a tank with new animals, really I agree with that, but now it's too far...
My no2 is at 1-2 ppm, and NO3 50 ppm, the water is becoming cloudy even after water changes, even 100% what is happening? Ammonia is at 0 tho

For the people that weren't in my last post, I basically had an empty QT and I put ALOT of animals in there and this happened like the tank just re-cycled

Lavey29 · May 18, 2024

Nitrites are irrelevant in reef aquaria if your tank is producing measurable nitrates and this is not an emergency.

crazyfishmom · May 18, 2024

As long as ammonia is 0, do not worry about nitrites.

The cloudy water may be the result of a bacterial bloom and the fact that it doesn't go away and may even get worse after water changes points to that. For bacterial blooms all you want to do is make sure that your water is well aeriated so that oxygen levels don't drop for your fish and then just wait. They will die back on their own.

littlehermit0 · May 18, 2024

crazyfishmom said:
As long as ammonia is 0, do not worry about nitrites.

The cloudy water may be the result of a bacterial bloom and the fact that it doesn't go away and may even get worse after water changes points to that. For bacterial blooms all you want to do is make sure that your water is well aeriated so that oxygen levels don't drop for your fish and then just wait. They will die back on their own.

So will crabs anemones and snails survive the bacterial bloom? I'm just worried about that last time everything died for some reason

Uncle99 · May 18, 2024

littlehermit0 said:
So will crabs anemones and snails survive the bacterial bloom? I'm just worried about that last time everything died for some reason

When everything dies, that a serious problem.
You say you put ALOT of animals in a QT.
How did you control ammonia?
You have a pic?

littlehermit0 · May 18, 2024

Uncle99 said:
When everything dies, that a serious problem.
You say you put ALOT of animals in a QT.
How did you control ammonia?
You have a pic?

I controlled ammonia by only water changes, but here's a pic

You might get confused about the things I have in there, so it's a cold Saltwater tank

About the cloudy water, I said that some animals died, but it was during transport and the water was cloudy too, but it doesn't matter because it was a long time ago and after the 100% water change the water got cloudy again, but this time everything was alive, I believe this IS a bacterial bloom

Formulator · May 18, 2024

Bacteria blooms typically result in cloudy water. Yours looks pristine in the photo. Your nitrates are high. If you reduce those it may help reduce the nitrites as well.

littlehermit0 · May 18, 2024

Formulator said:
Bacteria blooms typically result in cloudy water. Yours looks pristine in the photo. Your nitrates are high. If you reduce those it may help reduce the nitrites as well.

It's the camera, in real life the water looks terrible! And about nitrates I had 100 ppm for a long time, already did everything, vodka dosing, waste away, water changes and other things, so it's impossible to decrease nitrates in my tank, so sadly no one can name a thing that could decrease no3 in my tank, I'm serious it's in my both tanks only saltwater idk what's going on

Formulator · May 18, 2024

littlehermit0 said:
It's the camera, in real life the water looks terrible! And about nitrates I had 100 ppm for a long time, already did everything, vodka dosing, waste away, water changes and other things, so it's impossible to decrease nitrates in my tank, so sadly no one can name a thing that could decrease no3 in my tank, I'm serious it's in my both tanks only saltwater idk what's going on

It is not impossible to decrease nitrates. If you tried those things and it didn’t work, you did them wrong or your source water contains nitrates. If a water change does not decrease nitrate, that is literally the only explanation. What is your water source for top-off and water changes?

What are the rest of your parameters (pH, salinity, alk, calcium, magnesium)?

If it is a bacterial bloom you need to aerate the water as much as possible to keep livestock alive and do some big water changes. Bacteria depletes oxygen in the tank quickly, which is what kills animals. But I’m still not convinced that is your problem.

littlehermit0 · May 19, 2024

Formulator said:
It is not impossible to decrease nitrates. If you tried those things and it didn’t work, you did them wrong or your source water contains nitrates. If a water change does not decrease nitrate, that is literally the only explanation. What is your water source for top-off and water changes?

What are the rest of your parameters (pH, salinity, alk, calcium, magnesium)?

If it is a bacterial bloom you need to aerate the water as much as possible to keep livestock alive and do some big water changes. Bacteria depletes oxygen in the tank quickly, which is what kills animals. But I’m still not convinced that is your problem.

About my the water, I use my own RO 12 tds and reef crystals 1.025
About the parameters, it depends on which tank you're taking about, in my tank with cloudy water, there's:
420ppm Ca
1270ppm Mg
8 dkh
7.7-8.1 pH
I aerate the water, alot yesterday I put a bubbler in my filter and changed the water, but how often do I change? I'll check today if something happened cause I just woke up

littlehermit0 · May 19, 2024

Formulator said:
It is not impossible to decrease nitrates. If you tried those things and it didn’t work, you did them wrong or your source water contains nitrates. If a water change does not decrease nitrate, that is literally the only explanation. What is your water source for top-off and water changes?

What are the rest of your parameters (pH, salinity, alk, calcium, magnesium)?

If it is a bacterial bloom you need to aerate the water as much as possible to keep livestock alive and do some big water changes. Bacteria depletes oxygen in the tank quickly, which is what kills animals. But I’m still not convinced that is your problem.

OMG WAIT I know why my tank is cloudy I'm so stupid :loudly-crying-face:
I dosed Waste Away and I completely forgot, that is bacteria that made my tank cloudy, it says on the bottle that the water might get cloudy, so definitely a bacterial bloom

taricha · May 19, 2024

littlehermit0 said:
I dosed Waste Away and I completely forgot, that is bacteria that made my tank cloudy, it says on the bottle that the water might get cloudy, so definitely a bacterial bloom

it's actually bacteria + some carbon source. So yes, it can totally cause cloudy water.