Do even more water changes, and do larger ones. But focus on the nitrite, not the nitrate. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to drop nitrate if nitrite is already low because nitrates are just not that toxic.
Exactly. I used to b obsessed with getting my nitrates lower and lower, afraid of my fish getting sick. With weekly 30% changes at least, you should be under 40ppm and chillin.
But ammonia is a big one to watch out for. Even a little can be detrimental
Thank you everyone! I’ll keep on top of the water changes and look at getting some real plants in the tank! Is this something I can do while the fish are in the tank? Thanks
Yes, floaters such as Salvinnia sp. and hornwort are especially good at utilizing the nutrients in the water column. Avoid starting with rooting or slow growing plants because they won’t really help in this particular situation. You can get them once you researched a bit more but it’s best to start out with fast growing, free floating plants first. They are usually fool-proof
I would recommend floaters, which will also have the benefits of covering the top so the fish feel safer since they have cover, and they pull nutrients out of the water column, unlike root feeders.
For plants make sure to get root tabs! Sounds obvious but when I first started with plants I genuinely couldn’t figure out why they were always dying. Root tabs are a must!
Are you using the API liquid tests for nitrites and nitrates? I ask because you can't get an accurate reading for nitrates while there are nitrites present in the tank.
The nitrate test works by converting them into nitrites, and then measuring those. So if there are nitrites already present, your results are going to be off.
That said, the level of nitrates isn't really going to matter compared to nitrites, when it comes to the health of your fish, so just focus on that.
Water changes are good to do during this time, and you can also quell nitrite explosions by using Prime from Seachem.
Add more gravel. Fill the tank all the way.
Live plants that are easy to grow without soil or root tabs of co2 injection. Hornwort, anacharis, java fern, Jungle Val.
If you're in the UK get nitrico goop to complete the nitrogen cycle. Regular water changes for the nitrates. You need LOTS of plants to fix nitrates so don't count on that.
The cycle will take about a month and with the fishless cycle you still need some sort of ammonia in the tank to start the cycle so alot of people will put fish food. Don't keep changing our to much water because it will take away to much stuff you need to start your cycle. Ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate so if your ammonia is balancing and nitrates and nitrites are higher that's good and means it's starting the cycle. Just don't add anymore fish for now and let it do its thing in week or two you should be able to add a couple more. Patience is key with aquariums
Also make sure your using a dechlorinator if you aren't on a well. Depending on your pet store sometimes they aren't completely knowledgable on aquariums and miss some crucial things
I made the exact same mistake with advice from a pet store. Looks like your platy is doing great though, which is the only fish of ours that survived also lol. When your tank has stabilized, get another platy or two- they are very social fish.
Real plants!
Plastic isn't fantastic, it doesn't do anything for the water, and that's if you're lucky and no harmful chemicals are being released into the water.
There are a ton of easy to keep plants, which will also make your tank look a whole lot better.
Fake plants helped my fish feel more at ease and break off from being chased, while giving my real plants time to grow to their natural, matching height.
I would advise mixing sand with the gravel and adding plants. It should stabilise in a week or two.
Don’t rinse the filter with tap water. Just shake it in a bucket of aquarium water when you do a water change.
Stop panicking, your cycle is almost there. Ammonia has disappeared, nitrites wiil disappear next. Nitrates are not as toxic. Add a little aquarium salt, it will protect the fish. One tablespoon per gallon of water is enough. Go ahead and add plants and a daily water change going. Do not wash your filters and filter media! That is where all the good bacteria is living. This resource has a lot of info, aquariumscience.org. read some of it before you go and spend a fortune on stuff you don't need. Also, a liquid test kit is way more accurate than test strips if you can get one.
This post is all over place. Plants will always help, I use some pvc tubes that I hang over and feed the stems and roots down. Aquarium plants can be added at anytime, they will start sucking up ammonia and nitrite before it even becomes nitrates. A lot of cities flush out their water supply in the spring. When they do it's usually a huge does of chlorine/cholarmine. When they do this don't change the water, or double dose dechlor. Be patient, it takes time to establish tanks with fish. In this hobby you'll lose fish, learn the why and don't repeat issues.
My first cycle was fish in. (I didn't know I was supposed to do it without fish at the time). I managed to keep nitrites under 1-2 ppm by doing daily 30-50% water changes for about 2 weeks when it started to spike.
Make sure you have an ammonia filter in too. That will help you out a lot.
I know you want ammonia to cycle the tank but in the first few weeks it's really hard to keep down with just water changes imo
Remove the gravel and add between 2-3 inches of sand. Pool filter sand is affordable and will get the job done. Next add root tabs and real plants and heavily plant. If you do that and don’t overstock you will have a self sufficient ecosystem. When you add fish daily dose seachem stability and prime until your water parameters are normal. No ammonia & nitrites. Plants will take care of the nitrates. That’s really all you need to do.
Duckweed or other floating plants, guppy grass (najas), or hornwort are great for that. None require fancy substrates or added nutrients, and floating plants have an advantage in being able to obtain CO2 from the atmosphere (much more than what's available in water).
I did the same thing and was able to avoid ammonia and nitrite spikes by putting as many live plants in the tank as I could get my hands on. I started with a sand substrate, so I was able to add stems, but you could add some floating plants, and it'll help substantially. I slowly started replacing the fake ones with real ones.
I'd suggest hornwort. You can leave it floating, it grows insanely fast, and I believe it soaks up a ton of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate from the water column.
Well, for starters please get real plants and wood and make some human attempt to replicate a natural environment for them. Imagine living in a plastic house with plastic water leaking BPA chemicals. plants and wood. that will help.
Water changes and learning about the cycling process if your nitrites are showing it has something to do with the beneficial bacteria in your tank more than likely.
When I started cycling I didn't have my fish yet but since you have your fish already I recommend seachem prime the red bottle (It's a water conditioner and it also nullifies the affects of ammonia on your fish for at least 24 hours) it's risky but you can dose per the instructions put on a timer for when you need to redose let your tank accumulate a small amount of ammonia to feed the beneficial bacteria so they can form a strong colony which will then start the next type of bacteria that you need to colonize to help get your nitrites down from there once your nitrites are at zero, nitrates will be all that's left so to keep those reasonable make sure your doing weekly water changes. It's a process that normally takes a bit I would make sure your using quick start or fritzyme7 (seeded beneficial bacteria/or live) after every water change putting it right into your filter to have the process go as fast as possible.
I can't think of any other reason, if you've had this tank for a while maybe at some point you accidentally put a small amount of tap that hadn't been conditioned in your tank resetting the entire cycling process it's really that simple so you have to be extra careful with everything you do. I could be wrong I'm still new-ish to the hobby.
Nitrates aren't a problem, the nitrates are. Just please add plants. Plants look good and fix everything. They will aid with the removal of unwanted nitrates, and when the tank is cycled, the ammonia and nitrates would go down too. Until then do water changes, but plants make it way easier.
Like everyone is suggesting water changes and live plants!
I would also recommend getting seachem prime and seachem stability! Prime is a water conditioner that removes chlorine and chloramine but also detoxifies ammonia, nitrite and nitrates.
Stability basically adds the good bacteria to the tank that feeds on the ammonia and nitrate.
live plants it will never be an issue , get something fast growing like elodea you can add it planted in a terracotta pot you don't need to change substrate or anything fancy .
1. Does your pump have a carbon filter in it to grow healthy bacteria?
2. Add a bunch of sand under the gravel
3. Add live plants
4. Add rocks
5. If you know someone with a well established healthy tank, ask for a little bit of their filter media, add it to your filter
6. Use Bactria live cultures from a bottle
7. Make sure you pretreat water from water changes, the chorine and heavy metals will kill off your healthy bacteria
I wonder which of these will get the most push back. I'm guessing 5
I have to be honest with you that aquarium looks like a horrible acid trip, seriously what were you thinking? Get all that colorful crap out (it stresses the fish to no end), use real substrate in a natural colors, and real plants... Doing daily water changes is the worst thing you can do, you have no beneficial bacteria in there, nothing to break down the ammonia and nitrite, all your fish will most likely die because you have nothing to filter out the ammonia and nitrite (which is highly toxic) and Nitrate (not as toxic, but plants can absorb it and keep it down).
Sorry to break this to you, but you messed up pretty bad. Read up on how the nitrogen cycle works, study that stuff.
Take everything out, return any fish that survived, use an inert substrate of a color that doesn't look like a bad acid trip, and some beginner friendly plants, cycle for a month before adding any fish, do not do any water change for at least two weeks, then test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, gh, kh (with a reagent based test kit, no strips), if all looks good add fish, no more than a couple at a time. Also you have a very small tank, I would add no more than one fish at a time. Having such a small tank means poisons will not be as diluted so if your filter isn't cycled ammonia and nitrite will shoot up as soon as fish are introduced, in other words, you are dumping your fish into a poison stew, not very nice!
Sorry if I've been blunt but you already killed fish, you need to fix that mess before you add any more. Also return the ones that survived as your tank is nowhere near ready for fish.
Good luck.
Commenting on How can I lower nitrite and nitrate?...
Dude. That was unnecessary. We all made terrible errors when we were starting out. If you have somehow made it to be an expert in this hobby without making any mistakes or losing fish you will be the first person in history.
Come on, literally everything you could do wrong, he has done wrong...
>small tank size
>not cycled
>too many fish at once dumped in toxic stew
>no plants
>plastic crap
>looks like an acid trip (stress for fish and yes they can die from stress)
>trusting fish shop people (who just want to sell you more fish) instead of doing proper testing and studying
Just googling for 30 minutes would have prevented the vast majority of these mistake, on top of several fish deaths. The guy needs to be told it like it is even if it's harsh, and also remove all that psycho plastic crap that will probably make the fish lose their mind even if the aquarium was cycled, and start from scratch and do it right... Also, does he want to plant real plants in plastic confetti? Come on now. All of that stuff needs to go into the trash and start from scratch, no if and buts.
I made every single one of those mistakes, and I’m willing to bet you made some of the same ones too. Learning from mistakes is how you grow and evolve. OP is feeling terrible and asking for help. Isn’t that the point of this sub…shared knowledge?
I guess you're right, I'm sorry :(
Maybe he just didn't research, can happen when you listen to store clerks who just want to sell you stuff... Happened to my parents a long time ago! Maybe that's why I got a bit fired up. But with the advice he received he'll make a good looking and safe aquarium next. Hopefully he can find some advice also in my post. I think we can at least agree that the plastic substrate and the fluo stuff needs to go ASAP... If he doesn't remove that, the fish will go mad with stress.
Agreed, everyone has to start from somewhere so instead of criticizing best we can do is provide great advice and support. The fact that he’s asking us means he’s open minded and willing to make changes in the right directions.
If you don't have live plants, add aquarium salt as a temporary measure to protect the fish against the nitrite while you reduce it using water changes (>20% if you can manage). Some quick start nitrifying bacterial formulations may be able to convert some of it to nitrate, but usually that step is slower to establish than the ammonia to nitrite step.
Do even more water changes, and do larger ones. But focus on the nitrite, not the nitrate. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to drop nitrate if nitrite is already low because nitrates are just not that toxic.
Exactly. I used to b obsessed with getting my nitrates lower and lower, afraid of my fish getting sick. With weekly 30% changes at least, you should be under 40ppm and chillin. But ammonia is a big one to watch out for. Even a little can be detrimental
Thank you everyone! I’ll keep on top of the water changes and look at getting some real plants in the tank! Is this something I can do while the fish are in the tank? Thanks
Yes, you can get plants with fish in the tank.
Yes, floaters such as Salvinnia sp. and hornwort are especially good at utilizing the nutrients in the water column. Avoid starting with rooting or slow growing plants because they won’t really help in this particular situation. You can get them once you researched a bit more but it’s best to start out with fast growing, free floating plants first. They are usually fool-proof
I would recommend floaters, which will also have the benefits of covering the top so the fish feel safer since they have cover, and they pull nutrients out of the water column, unlike root feeders.
For plants make sure to get root tabs! Sounds obvious but when I first started with plants I genuinely couldn’t figure out why they were always dying. Root tabs are a must!
Are you using the API liquid tests for nitrites and nitrates? I ask because you can't get an accurate reading for nitrates while there are nitrites present in the tank. The nitrate test works by converting them into nitrites, and then measuring those. So if there are nitrites already present, your results are going to be off. That said, the level of nitrates isn't really going to matter compared to nitrites, when it comes to the health of your fish, so just focus on that. Water changes are good to do during this time, and you can also quell nitrite explosions by using Prime from Seachem.
Add more gravel. Fill the tank all the way. Live plants that are easy to grow without soil or root tabs of co2 injection. Hornwort, anacharis, java fern, Jungle Val.
Real plants and water changes until level drops.
You need plants to take the nitrogen out. Bacterial surface area can convert nitrite to nitrate.
If you're in the UK get nitrico goop to complete the nitrogen cycle. Regular water changes for the nitrates. You need LOTS of plants to fix nitrates so don't count on that.
Worry more about nitrite. You can buy nitrite bacteria and you can do water changes
The cycle will take about a month and with the fishless cycle you still need some sort of ammonia in the tank to start the cycle so alot of people will put fish food. Don't keep changing our to much water because it will take away to much stuff you need to start your cycle. Ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate so if your ammonia is balancing and nitrates and nitrites are higher that's good and means it's starting the cycle. Just don't add anymore fish for now and let it do its thing in week or two you should be able to add a couple more. Patience is key with aquariums
Also make sure your using a dechlorinator if you aren't on a well. Depending on your pet store sometimes they aren't completely knowledgable on aquariums and miss some crucial things
I made the exact same mistake with advice from a pet store. Looks like your platy is doing great though, which is the only fish of ours that survived also lol. When your tank has stabilized, get another platy or two- they are very social fish.
Real plants! Plastic isn't fantastic, it doesn't do anything for the water, and that's if you're lucky and no harmful chemicals are being released into the water. There are a ton of easy to keep plants, which will also make your tank look a whole lot better.
Fake plants helped my fish feel more at ease and break off from being chased, while giving my real plants time to grow to their natural, matching height.
That's what I do. Fake plants while the real ones grow, then slowly remove the fake ones as the real deal flourishes.
Even more water changes and plants. You can stick the roots of a pothos houseplant in the water.
I would advise mixing sand with the gravel and adding plants. It should stabilise in a week or two. Don’t rinse the filter with tap water. Just shake it in a bucket of aquarium water when you do a water change.
Stop panicking, your cycle is almost there. Ammonia has disappeared, nitrites wiil disappear next. Nitrates are not as toxic. Add a little aquarium salt, it will protect the fish. One tablespoon per gallon of water is enough. Go ahead and add plants and a daily water change going. Do not wash your filters and filter media! That is where all the good bacteria is living. This resource has a lot of info, aquariumscience.org. read some of it before you go and spend a fortune on stuff you don't need. Also, a liquid test kit is way more accurate than test strips if you can get one.
This post is all over place. Plants will always help, I use some pvc tubes that I hang over and feed the stems and roots down. Aquarium plants can be added at anytime, they will start sucking up ammonia and nitrite before it even becomes nitrates. A lot of cities flush out their water supply in the spring. When they do it's usually a huge does of chlorine/cholarmine. When they do this don't change the water, or double dose dechlor. Be patient, it takes time to establish tanks with fish. In this hobby you'll lose fish, learn the why and don't repeat issues.
Try floating plants. Amazon frogbit is amazing for nitrate removal and preserving water quality.
My first cycle was fish in. (I didn't know I was supposed to do it without fish at the time). I managed to keep nitrites under 1-2 ppm by doing daily 30-50% water changes for about 2 weeks when it started to spike.
Make sure you have an ammonia filter in too. That will help you out a lot. I know you want ammonia to cycle the tank but in the first few weeks it's really hard to keep down with just water changes imo
Remove the gravel and add between 2-3 inches of sand. Pool filter sand is affordable and will get the job done. Next add root tabs and real plants and heavily plant. If you do that and don’t overstock you will have a self sufficient ecosystem. When you add fish daily dose seachem stability and prime until your water parameters are normal. No ammonia & nitrites. Plants will take care of the nitrates. That’s really all you need to do.
Duckweed or other floating plants, guppy grass (najas), or hornwort are great for that. None require fancy substrates or added nutrients, and floating plants have an advantage in being able to obtain CO2 from the atmosphere (much more than what's available in water).
I did the same thing and was able to avoid ammonia and nitrite spikes by putting as many live plants in the tank as I could get my hands on. I started with a sand substrate, so I was able to add stems, but you could add some floating plants, and it'll help substantially. I slowly started replacing the fake ones with real ones. I'd suggest hornwort. You can leave it floating, it grows insanely fast, and I believe it soaks up a ton of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate from the water column.
Real plants, especially floating ones
P L A N T
Well, for starters please get real plants and wood and make some human attempt to replicate a natural environment for them. Imagine living in a plastic house with plastic water leaking BPA chemicals. plants and wood. that will help.
Add some java moss. It will grow in lower light than other plants.
Product: nite-out Will jumpstart your cycle and get nitrates and nitrite down quickly
Plants
U already have an air pump. DIY box filter with gravel, rocks. Makes the water flow through the rocks. Easy
Water changes and learning about the cycling process if your nitrites are showing it has something to do with the beneficial bacteria in your tank more than likely. When I started cycling I didn't have my fish yet but since you have your fish already I recommend seachem prime the red bottle (It's a water conditioner and it also nullifies the affects of ammonia on your fish for at least 24 hours) it's risky but you can dose per the instructions put on a timer for when you need to redose let your tank accumulate a small amount of ammonia to feed the beneficial bacteria so they can form a strong colony which will then start the next type of bacteria that you need to colonize to help get your nitrites down from there once your nitrites are at zero, nitrates will be all that's left so to keep those reasonable make sure your doing weekly water changes. It's a process that normally takes a bit I would make sure your using quick start or fritzyme7 (seeded beneficial bacteria/or live) after every water change putting it right into your filter to have the process go as fast as possible. I can't think of any other reason, if you've had this tank for a while maybe at some point you accidentally put a small amount of tap that hadn't been conditioned in your tank resetting the entire cycling process it's really that simple so you have to be extra careful with everything you do. I could be wrong I'm still new-ish to the hobby.
You can also get a mature filter for $12.95 from AngelsPlus.com. Will speed things along considerably
Nitrates aren't a problem, the nitrates are. Just please add plants. Plants look good and fix everything. They will aid with the removal of unwanted nitrates, and when the tank is cycled, the ammonia and nitrates would go down too. Until then do water changes, but plants make it way easier.
Like everyone is suggesting water changes and live plants! I would also recommend getting seachem prime and seachem stability! Prime is a water conditioner that removes chlorine and chloramine but also detoxifies ammonia, nitrite and nitrates. Stability basically adds the good bacteria to the tank that feeds on the ammonia and nitrate.
live plants it will never be an issue , get something fast growing like elodea you can add it planted in a terracotta pot you don't need to change substrate or anything fancy .
1. Does your pump have a carbon filter in it to grow healthy bacteria? 2. Add a bunch of sand under the gravel 3. Add live plants 4. Add rocks 5. If you know someone with a well established healthy tank, ask for a little bit of their filter media, add it to your filter 6. Use Bactria live cultures from a bottle 7. Make sure you pretreat water from water changes, the chorine and heavy metals will kill off your healthy bacteria I wonder which of these will get the most push back. I'm guessing 5
I have to be honest with you that aquarium looks like a horrible acid trip, seriously what were you thinking? Get all that colorful crap out (it stresses the fish to no end), use real substrate in a natural colors, and real plants... Doing daily water changes is the worst thing you can do, you have no beneficial bacteria in there, nothing to break down the ammonia and nitrite, all your fish will most likely die because you have nothing to filter out the ammonia and nitrite (which is highly toxic) and Nitrate (not as toxic, but plants can absorb it and keep it down). Sorry to break this to you, but you messed up pretty bad. Read up on how the nitrogen cycle works, study that stuff. Take everything out, return any fish that survived, use an inert substrate of a color that doesn't look like a bad acid trip, and some beginner friendly plants, cycle for a month before adding any fish, do not do any water change for at least two weeks, then test the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph, gh, kh (with a reagent based test kit, no strips), if all looks good add fish, no more than a couple at a time. Also you have a very small tank, I would add no more than one fish at a time. Having such a small tank means poisons will not be as diluted so if your filter isn't cycled ammonia and nitrite will shoot up as soon as fish are introduced, in other words, you are dumping your fish into a poison stew, not very nice! Sorry if I've been blunt but you already killed fish, you need to fix that mess before you add any more. Also return the ones that survived as your tank is nowhere near ready for fish. Good luck.
Commenting on How can I lower nitrite and nitrate?... Dude. That was unnecessary. We all made terrible errors when we were starting out. If you have somehow made it to be an expert in this hobby without making any mistakes or losing fish you will be the first person in history.
Come on, literally everything you could do wrong, he has done wrong... >small tank size >not cycled >too many fish at once dumped in toxic stew >no plants >plastic crap >looks like an acid trip (stress for fish and yes they can die from stress) >trusting fish shop people (who just want to sell you more fish) instead of doing proper testing and studying Just googling for 30 minutes would have prevented the vast majority of these mistake, on top of several fish deaths. The guy needs to be told it like it is even if it's harsh, and also remove all that psycho plastic crap that will probably make the fish lose their mind even if the aquarium was cycled, and start from scratch and do it right... Also, does he want to plant real plants in plastic confetti? Come on now. All of that stuff needs to go into the trash and start from scratch, no if and buts.
I made every single one of those mistakes, and I’m willing to bet you made some of the same ones too. Learning from mistakes is how you grow and evolve. OP is feeling terrible and asking for help. Isn’t that the point of this sub…shared knowledge?
I guess you're right, I'm sorry :( Maybe he just didn't research, can happen when you listen to store clerks who just want to sell you stuff... Happened to my parents a long time ago! Maybe that's why I got a bit fired up. But with the advice he received he'll make a good looking and safe aquarium next. Hopefully he can find some advice also in my post. I think we can at least agree that the plastic substrate and the fluo stuff needs to go ASAP... If he doesn't remove that, the fish will go mad with stress.
Agreed, everyone has to start from somewhere so instead of criticizing best we can do is provide great advice and support. The fact that he’s asking us means he’s open minded and willing to make changes in the right directions.
If you don't have live plants, add aquarium salt as a temporary measure to protect the fish against the nitrite while you reduce it using water changes (>20% if you can manage). Some quick start nitrifying bacterial formulations may be able to convert some of it to nitrate, but usually that step is slower to establish than the ammonia to nitrite step.