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Thread: Nitrites too high!

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    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Nitrites too high!

    I just got my water tested at the local petstore and they informed me my nitrites were too high! They asked how frequently I change my water (20% every other day) and he said that was way too much and was throwing off the chemistry. Instead he said to do the 20% changes once a week. Is this good advice?
    I am currently on the 7th day of Seachem's Stability and am probably doing an additional week with these readings. I also use Seachem prime to detoxify the nitrite, and to condition the water/add stress coat, etc.

    I will probably also pay a visit to hydroforums for additional knowledge.

    Everything is appreciated.
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    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
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    100+ Post Member mpmistr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Just do weekly 25% water changes and treat your water with prime. I really think throwing all these chemicals at the frog is not doing you any good. You need to just relax and let the tank stabilize.

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    100+ Post Member Louis Charles Bruckner's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    What kind of substrate do you have?
    I have ADF's and I do use gravel but the gravel is too big for them to get into their mouth

    I found that if I don't vacuum the grave at least once a month I get high nitrates.
    also I run a external canister filter and clean it twice a month in a bucket of old water.(water removed from the tank during a water change)

    Do you have any live plants?



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    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by Louis Charles Bruckner View Post
    What kind of substrate do you have?
    I have ADF's and I do use gravel but the gravel is too big for them to get into their mouth

    I found that if I don't vacuum the grave at least once a month I get high nitrates.
    also I run a external canister filter and clean it twice a month in a bucket of old water.(water removed from the tank during a water change)

    Do you have any live plants?
    No live plants YET.

    Right now I'm using a few large river stones as a "substrate"
    Typically I suck up the excess food with a turkey baster, so it's rather strange that the nitrites were high. Unless it's just part of the natural cycling process.
    Мy darlings :
    0.2.0 Calico and Tuxedo cats Ksyenja and Koshek
    1.1.0 Xenopus leavis Carlos and Cecil
    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
    0.1.0 Grammostola rose Megan Wallaby
    1.1.0 Heterometrus laoticus Ian and Isaac


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    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by mpmistr View Post
    Just do weekly 25% water changes and treat your water with prime. I really think throwing all these chemicals at the frog is not doing you any good. You need to just relax and let the tank stabilize.
    Alright and thank you, sir! I will probably still use the Seachem Stability to get the tank properly cycled, but the water changes were probably throwing things more off than they should be.
    Мy darlings :
    0.2.0 Calico and Tuxedo cats Ksyenja and Koshek
    1.1.0 Xenopus leavis Carlos and Cecil
    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
    0.1.0 Grammostola rose Megan Wallaby
    1.1.0 Heterometrus laoticus Ian and Isaac


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    100+ Post Member Louis Charles Bruckner's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    what kind of filter do you have?

    if you don't have any kind of substrate there is no where for the helpful bacteria to grow and break down the frogs wastes.
    other than the filter media.
    99% of the bacteria lives in the substrate.



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    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by Louis Charles Bruckner View Post
    what kind of filter do you have?

    if you don't have any kind of substrate there is no where for the helpful bacteria to grow and break down the frogs wastes.
    other than the filter media.
    99% of the bacteria lives in the substrate.
    I have a tetra whisper ex20. I mean, there is a fair amount of decor and some large river rocks, from what I understood, bacteria also like to attach themselves too.
    However, I do plan to go with a bottom layer of organic soil and put 2-3 inches in of sand so I can get some plants growing. But sadly, this has to wait another paycheck
    Мy darlings :
    0.2.0 Calico and Tuxedo cats Ksyenja and Koshek
    1.1.0 Xenopus leavis Carlos and Cecil
    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
    0.1.0 Grammostola rose Megan Wallaby
    1.1.0 Heterometrus laoticus Ian and Isaac


  10. #8
    carsona246
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Waterchanges do not "throw off" water chemistry. They limit the amount of nutrients the bacteria receive, but waterchanges should not harm beneficial bacteria, and do not cause high nitrite. You have too much nitrite because you do not have enough bb to convert nitrite into nitrate. I would do waterchanges until the nitrite is at a safe level. Make sure your temperature is the same when doing waterchanges, and everything should be fine.
    Doing waterchanges weekly will speed up cycling slightly, but it will also subject your frogs to ammonia/nitrite poisoning, which depending on the levels of ammonia/nitrite may not be significant enough to worry about.
    I agree with Michael about throwing in chemicals into that tank. Many products can actually harm your water instead of improve it, especially if you don't know what they actually do.

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  12. #9
    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by carsona246 View Post
    Waterchanges do not "throw off" water chemistry. They limit the amount of nutrients the bacteria receive, but waterchanges should not harm beneficial bacteria, and do not cause high nitrite. You have too much nitrite because you do not have enough bb to convert nitrite into nitrate. I would do waterchanges until the nitrite is at a safe level. Make sure your temperature is the same when doing waterchanges, and everything should be fine.
    Doing waterchanges weekly will speed up cycling slightly, but it will also subject your frogs to ammonia/nitrite poisoning, which depending on the levels of ammonia/nitrite may not be significant enough to worry about.
    I agree with Michael about throwing in chemicals into that tank. Many products can actually harm your water instead of improve it, especially if you don't know what they actually do.
    Yeah, he suggests doing a weekly change. Mine should be within a few days. Right now the nitrites are high, but not dangerously high. And, as suggested, I dosed the tank with the proper amount of Seachem Prime to detoxify the nitrites and give them some suitable water.

    However, do you think the problem is a lack of substrate? I've heard of people using a bare bottom tank for their frogs and it working just fine.
    If not I'll probably do my best to rearrange some tank things. I want to grow some plants, so maybe this could be a sign to go ahead and get the right substrates. :O
    Мy darlings :
    0.2.0 Calico and Tuxedo cats Ksyenja and Koshek
    1.1.0 Xenopus leavis Carlos and Cecil
    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
    0.1.0 Grammostola rose Megan Wallaby
    1.1.0 Heterometrus laoticus Ian and Isaac


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    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by mpmistr View Post
    Just do weekly 25% water changes and treat your water with prime. I really think throwing all these chemicals at the frog is not doing you any good. You need to just relax and let the tank stabilize.
    That is what I was trying to do, but accidentally did some partial water changes by over-siphoning the bottom. I fixed this problem by using the turkey baster for most of the week, then doing the water change on a Friday.

    But if the nitrites rise to toxic levels, or even stressful levels should I do a water change?

    Also substrate: Yay or nay?
    Мy darlings :
    0.2.0 Calico and Tuxedo cats Ksyenja and Koshek
    1.1.0 Xenopus leavis Carlos and Cecil
    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
    0.1.0 Grammostola rose Megan Wallaby
    1.1.0 Heterometrus laoticus Ian and Isaac


  14. #11
    carsona246
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    if you have a filter you should be fine, that should be able to house all the bb necessary.
    I know people swear by Prime, but I don't think it detoxifies nitrite. From my knowledge it "detoxifies" ammonia by insuring all ammonia gets converted into ammonium, which is less toxic than ammonia, however 99% of that ammonia is already ammonium naturally in your tank. I've never used prime, so I could be wrong, but my method is always to do a waterchange whenever a toxin gets too high in a tank instead of relying on chemicals whose claims I don't know how to verify.
    Definitely do a waterchange if your nitrites reach toxic levels, there's no point in speeding up your cycling if your inhabitants don't survive the process.

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  16. #12
    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by carsona246 View Post
    if you have a filter you should be fine, that should be able to house all the bb necessary.
    I know people swear by Prime, but I don't think it detoxifies nitrite. From my knowledge it "detoxifies" ammonia by insuring all ammonia gets converted into ammonium, which is less toxic than ammonia, however 99% of that ammonia is already ammonium naturally in your tank. I've never used prime, so I could be wrong, but my method is always to do a waterchange whenever a toxin gets too high in a tank instead of relying on chemicals whose claims I don't know how to verify.
    Definitely do a waterchange if your nitrites reach toxic levels, there's no point in speeding up your cycling if your inhabitants don't survive the process.
    Definitely. Right now the nitrite is sitting at the edge of being unsafe so I will probably do a partial water change tomorrow. Take out about 10% and replace it with 10% and see if that detoxes the tank. If not I'll probably do a larger one.

    Also with the substrate, I thought BB grows on pretty much every surface, and I do have a fair amount of decorations/silk plants!
    Мy darlings :
    0.2.0 Calico and Tuxedo cats Ksyenja and Koshek
    1.1.0 Xenopus leavis Carlos and Cecil
    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
    0.1.0 Grammostola rose Megan Wallaby
    1.1.0 Heterometrus laoticus Ian and Isaac


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    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Just an update:

    I am still using Prime and Stability, but it looks like you can get false readings while using Prime and it can not really distinguish "bound" from free nitrites. With the combination of Prime and Stability my filter really should be able to eat it up.
    I have also heard that during cycling nitrites are usually the most annoying to level out. As in, one moment they are way too high, then the next day they are pretty much gone.
    Мy darlings :
    0.2.0 Calico and Tuxedo cats Ksyenja and Koshek
    1.1.0 Xenopus leavis Carlos and Cecil
    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
    0.1.0 Grammostola rose Megan Wallaby
    1.1.0 Heterometrus laoticus Ian and Isaac


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    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by carsona246 View Post
    if you have a filter you should be fine, that should be able to house all the bb necessary.
    I know people swear by Prime, but I don't think it detoxifies nitrite. From my knowledge it "detoxifies" ammonia by insuring all ammonia gets converted into ammonium, which is less toxic than ammonia, however 99% of that ammonia is already ammonium naturally in your tank. I've never used prime, so I could be wrong, but my method is always to do a waterchange whenever a toxin gets too high in a tank instead of relying on chemicals whose claims I don't know how to verify.
    Definitely do a waterchange if your nitrites reach toxic levels, there's no point in speeding up your cycling if your inhabitants don't survive the process.
    I contacted the Seachem support group through email and they basically said to do a water change then wait a bit before adding stability. They also pointed out that some tanks take longer to cycle than others.

    But thanks a lot! Again, the community here is really great and full of kind, knowledgable people.
    Мy darlings :
    0.2.0 Calico and Tuxedo cats Ksyenja and Koshek
    1.1.0 Xenopus leavis Carlos and Cecil
    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
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    100+ Post Member mpmistr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by elliotulysses View Post
    Just an update:

    I am still using Prime and Stability, but it looks like you can get false readings while using Prime and it can not really distinguish "bound" from free nitrites. With the combination of Prime and Stability my filter really should be able to eat it up.
    I have also heard that during cycling nitrites are usually the most annoying to level out. As in, one moment they are way too high, then the next day they are pretty much gone.
    I don't know about Stability but testing your water after using Prime will give you a false positive on Ammonia every time. I personally have never found any levels of Nitrite in my tanks however from using Prime. I find it best to jump-start all new tanks using existing filter media and I even run tanks with 2-3 filters on them to have an extra filter on hand to jump start a new tank if necessary.
    Last edited by mpmistr; November 26th, 2013 at 11:23 PM.

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    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by mpmistr View Post
    I don't know about Stability but testing your water after using Prime will give you a false positive on Ammonia every time. I personally have never found any levels of Nitrite in my tanks however from using Prime. I find it best to jump-start all new tanks using existing filter media and I even run tanks with 2-3 filters on them to have an extra filter on hand to jump start a new tank if necessary.
    Right now I'm just running one filter, though I would like to have run more. I tried looking for pre-set sponge filters, only to find none at my pet store.
    Ideally I'd get Seachem's matrix and put it in a biobag into my filter, however it's been difficult to go out lately (I dont have a car and the bus system is terrible!). I'm beginning to think that ordering online may be better!

    Also is matrix or other products like that are what you mean by filter media? I mean, I have a friend with HUGE goldfish that are very healthy so I thought to ask her for some gravel or a used filter pad, however I have heard that goldfish are bad feeders because of the bacteria they usually carry. Do you think that using some of her "media" would help the process a bit or is it too risky?
    Мy darlings :
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    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
    0.1.0 Grammostola rose Megan Wallaby
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    100+ Post Member Louis Charles Bruckner's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    You'll have to become careful on how many filters you do add,
    Too much water flow in the tank Will make it so the frog can't rest and stress it out.

    Yes I recommend you getting a used filter from your friend or some gravel wrapped up in some nylon hose or cheesecloth and put that in your tank.That's what's commonly known as seeing bacteria.
    The only problem with feeder goldfishes that they carry parasites and you really don't want to feed those to your frog.
    As far as the bacteria that's not so much of an issue.



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    100+ Post Member mpmistr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by Louis Charles Bruckner View Post
    You'll have to become careful on how many filters you do add,
    Too much water flow in the tank Will make it so the frog can't rest and stress it out.

    Yes I recommend you getting a used filter from your friend or some gravel wrapped up in some nylon hose or cheesecloth and put that in your tank.That's what's commonly known as seeing bacteria.
    The only problem with feeder goldfishes that they carry parasites and you really don't want to feed those to your frog.
    As far as the bacteria that's not so much of an issue.
    I run extra filters on my fish tanks not my frog tanks. I use a canister filter on my frog tank and it works perfectly fine, it is healthy to have some flow in your tank otherwise you will wind up with dead pockets and bluegreen algae.

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    100+ Post Member elliotulysses's Avatar
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    Default Re: Nitrites too high!

    Quote Originally Posted by mpmistr View Post
    I run extra filters on my fish tanks not my frog tanks. I use a canister filter on my frog tank and it works perfectly fine, it is healthy to have some flow in your tank otherwise you will wind up with dead pockets and bluegreen algae.
    I'm working my way up slowly, but surely, to a canister. I've got the one I want picked out and everything.
    And I'm pretty sure that the flow of my filter is pretty good. I could tell by the way the plants move and how my one likes to take little current "rides", presumably for frog fun.
    Мy darlings :
    0.2.0 Calico and Tuxedo cats Ksyenja and Koshek
    1.1.0 Xenopus leavis Carlos and Cecil
    2?.0.2 Bombina orientalis Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Lenin and Putin
    0.1.0 Grammostola rose Megan Wallaby
    1.1.0 Heterometrus laoticus Ian and Isaac


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