brishe Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 I have got a small tank with 20 litres of water in it. I am raising 18 baby bristlenoses and 2 gbas aswel, they are about 3cm long now and growing well. I had the tank set up for a week before i got the babies and had a basic sponge filter initially but had reasonably high levels of nitrite and ammonia so i was doing water changes every day until i got our new filter(aqua clear 20). It has been running now for a week tommorrow but the nitrite is even higher now (3.3) but the ammonia is nil and the ph has been stable at 7.0. The filter media contains a bio sponge, carbon and biomax. The bns are doing really well but the nitrite just gets higher each day i check it, i am still doing 20% water changes. Can any one help?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsarmina Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 how much water are you changing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 how much water are you changing? Well 20% of 20 litres would be 4 litres. I'd suggest that your filter doesn't yet have any of the bacteria that converts nitrite into nitrate - nitrifying bacteria I think it's called, that is to say it isn't fully cycled. I could be wrong - check your nitrate readings if you can. If they're zero then that's the problem. Try inoculating the tank with some of the guck from a filter in a fully cycled tank, even if you've previously done this (or added Cycle or a similar product). The ammonia-nitrite bacteria would've established itself fine then but there wouldn't have been any nitrite then for the nitrate-nitrate bacteria to feed on then so they might not have had anything to eat, and so wouldn't have established themselves in your filter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brishe Posted March 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 how much water are you changing? I am doing between 4-6 litres Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brishe Posted March 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 Well 20% of 20 litres would be 4 litres. I'd suggest that your filter doesn't yet have any of the bacteria that converts nitrite into nitrate - nitrifying bacteria I think it's called, that is to say it isn't fully cycled. I could be wrong - check your nitrate readings if you can. If they're zero then that's the problem. Try inoculating the tank with some of the guck from a filter in a fully cycled tank, even if you've previously done this (or added Cycle or a similar product). The ammonia-nitrite bacteria would've established itself fine then but there wouldn't have been any nitrite then for the nitrate-nitrate bacteria to feed on then so they might not have had anything to eat, and so wouldn't have established themselves in your filter. That is a good idea, i did put some of the ceramic tubes into the new filter from the old one hoping that would help when i first setup the new filter but maybe it wasnt enough.Do you think it would help if i put an ammonia media to the filter?( mind you there seems to be no ammonia) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 you mean like ammonia absorbing media? No, definitely don't do that. You want to keep the cycle going, and that will just disrupt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsarmina Posted March 24, 2007 Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 oops, sorry. got to learn to read properly :lol: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brishe Posted March 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 you mean like ammonia absorbing media? No, definitely don't do that. You want to keep the cycle going, and that will just disrupt it. Ok, so just wait it out and keep doing water changes until it starts to go??It was still really high when i checked it last night, ph still stable at 7.0, and ammonia nil. As long as the ammonia is nil does it just mean that it is stll cycling?? Will it harm the babies being so high?, they seem fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted March 24, 2007 Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 As long as the ammonia is nil does it just mean that it is stll cycling?? Yeap. The babies should be ok as long as you keep up with the water changes - bristlenose are pretty tough in any case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brishe Posted March 25, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2007 Yeap. The babies should be ok as long as you keep up with the water changes - bristlenose are pretty tough in any case. Ok, thanks for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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