# no2 spike help



## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

hello guys
my tank is been running for 1 month now, it is a 10 gallon tank. i have 10 crs 2 ottos and 2 amanos. i put them in 10 days ago

tank parameters:
ph<6 dont have a ph pen 
gh 5
kh 0

using api test kit
nh3/4: 4.0
no2: 5.0 max number on the chart
no3: 10

all my faunas survived from the high level of ammonium in the past week. but now im kinda scared of nitrite spike, is there anything i can do to lower that?
currently im doing 15% water change everyday with dripping method


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

heres a picture of my shrimp, hope she's gonna be ok
my substrate is Lanbo from AI, anyone know how long does it take for the substrate to leach out all of the ammonia?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

I would say you should be prepared to expect casualties. 

The only thing protecting your fauna from ammonia poisoning is the low pH, but now with nitrites on the rise, their toxicity will likely start killing off your shrimp (to be honest I am surprised they are still alive).

Larger water changes will help lower the ammonia/nitrite levels.

Did you cycle your aquarium before putting in your livestock?


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

Darkblade48 said:


> I would say you should be prepared to expect casualties.
> 
> The only thing protecting your fauna from ammonia poisoning is the low pH, but now with nitrites on the rise, their toxicity will likely start killing off your shrimp (to be honest I am surprised they are still alive).
> 
> ...


i thought 3 weeks are enough, till i got the test kit recently.. and i realize the tank is not cycled at all x.x yeah
lets see how tough these shrimps are


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

btw is there anything that can remove nitrite?


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Well ... (should I, should'nt I ...) ok, there is a method to drop all the parameters down. Add an activated carbon or if you already have one, replace it. But, you risk stalling your cycling process and that can end up draging your cycle in to months. The carbon basically absorb all the chemicals, hence, prevents the bacteria from multiplying.
If I was in your situation, I would mostly likely do water changes every 2 days and ride it out. Make notes and hopefully, you won't repeat this same mistakes again. If possible, look into fishless cycling. This isn't the stone age, you don't sacrifies a life to satan to make a fish tank livable.

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## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

i don't know if i am right or wrong but if i remember correctly purigen works like carbon too in can remove ammonia and nitrite. and is rechargeable.


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

Oh, meh, I am kind of spaced out some times ..
There is one better solution for your current situation. Get some one to you to share some of their used media with you. That will most likely cut your cycling period down by 1/2 and possible by 3/4 if you get enough of it.

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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

Good news is a nitrite spike means you're close to completing the cycle process, bad news is nitrite is very toxic to shrimps. All above suggestions are good, you can only pray they survive. If you don't have another tank to move the shrimps over for a week or two then you can only hope for the best while trying all those suggestions. Patience is the hardest part of the hobby.

Lambo leaches for quite some time, IIRC it took me about 2 months when I set up a tank with it last year. 

BTW, beautiful tank ;-)


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

thx guys ill try keep up the wc, 3 times daily and bring some old filter media in my 65g from home


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

omg i know why my shrimp didnt die from high level of no2 now.. i have ammonia remover media inside of my HOB, i didnt know it removes toxic nitrite too

The Fluval C2 Ammonia Remover Media, 2-pack, is ideal for new or heavily populated freshwater aquariums. It removes and controls harmful ammonia and nitrite, which helps reduce stress on fish. Use this product to provide a healthy environment when setting up a new aquarium or maintaining one that contains a high fish stock.


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## randy (Jan 29, 2012)

lovevc said:


> omg i know why my shrimp didnt die from high level of no2 now.. i have ammonia remover media inside of my HOB, i didnt know it removes toxic nitrite too
> 
> The Fluval C2 Ammonia Remover Media, 2-pack, is ideal for new or heavily populated freshwater aquariums. It removes and controls harmful ammonia and nitrite, which helps reduce stress on fish. Use this product to provide a healthy environment when setting up a new aquarium or maintaining one that contains a high fish stock.


It could be, as ammonia and nitrite can both be transformed to less toxic form, but still register in API test kit. Better pray they don't use up in the next few weeks. I know the less toxic form of ammonia helps cycling too but not sure about nitrite. Didn't do enough research on that. I say keep testing your nitrite, if it never goes down then you might have a problem there.


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

randy said:


> It could be, as ammonia and nitrite can both be transformed to less toxic form, but still register in API test kit. Better pray they don't use up in the next few weeks. I know the less toxic form of ammonia helps cycling too but not sure about nitrite. Didn't do enough research on that. I say keep testing your nitrite, if it never goes down then you might have a problem there.


yeah i hope the nitrification bacteria can consume the less toxic form of nitrite too
it seems like my lambo will never finish leaching ammonia..


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

no death yet. 40% wc yesterday. 
now no2 is ridiculously high, reading went off chart in 20 sec
nh3/4 2.0ppm
no3 20ppm


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

lovevc said:


> no death yet. 40% wc yesterday.
> now no2 is ridiculously high, reading went off chart in 20 sec
> nh3/4 2.0ppm
> no3 20ppm


 Keep on doing those water changes.


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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

yay everything survived!!tank is close to finish n-cycle
nh3/4 0.25
no2 0.25
no3 40

just bought a cheap ph pen from ebay 
ph in tank is 5.8


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## Zebrapl3co (Mar 29, 2006)

lovevc said:


> yay everything survived!!tank is close to finish n-cycle
> nh3/4 0.25
> no2 0.25
> no3 40
> ...


Woah, that really explains why the ammonia isn't having it's bad effect.

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## lovevc (Nov 24, 2010)

finally my tank is cycled, no casualty 
no3 0
no2 0
no3 20
gonna get more crs this weekend, they always hiding under the driftwood, i cant see them


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