Nitrites too high!

[elliotulysses]

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.

[mpmistr]

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.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

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?

[elliotulysses]

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.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

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.

[elliotulysses]

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

[elliotulysses]

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.

[elliotulysses]

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?

[carsona246]

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.

[elliotulysses]

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!

[elliotulysses]

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.

[elliotulysses]

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.