pressurized co2 causing NITRITE?

[AdAndrews]

I did a test on my tank earlier today before the co2 came on and it was fine, 0 nitrite, but now when the pressurised co2 is on- 0.25 nitrite

please advise

 

[Dave Spencer]

Re: pressurized co2 causing NITRITE

Do you think that is possible? Do your fish show signs of nitrite in the water?

If the answer to these questions is no, chuck the kit in the bin. If your fish are stressed, then you will need to look for another source for the nitrite reading.

Dave.

 

[AdAndrews]

Re: pressurized co2 causing NITRITE

there are no fish in there as i havnt wanted to introduce any during the times when i have tested the water and it is bad.. one other thought is the co2 line, it was second hand when i got it, and smelling bad, but i used it becuase i had it
:?

 

[Superman]

I think you're putting 2 and 2 together to get 5.
Co2 does not cause nitrite (to my knowledge), the only cause of nitrite I know of is from the bacertia converting ammonia into it.

 

[AdAndrews]

what do you advise? shall i just sit tight and one day it will be 0 nitrite?

 

[Dan Crawford]

Let your filter deal with it mate, sit tight.

 

[AdAndrews]

okey dokey

 

[Superman]

what do you advise? shall i just sit tight and one day it will be 0 nitrite?

If your cycling your tank then (as Dan the man states) just wait for the filter to process the nitrite to nitrate.

 

[AdAndrews]

The filter was running for nearly 6 weeks in a stocked tank before i moved it over when i planted and filled.. and then its been 3 weeks yesterday, but with nothing in it to "cycle" it, do i need to put some fish in to provide some ammonia, or buy a bottle and put a little in, or just wait?

 

[Dan Crawford]

How long was the filter off for when you rescaped? If it's over a few hours then most of your bacteria would have died of and you need to repopulate it.
Adding some ammonia in a brand new tank would speed things up a bit but they will almost always cycle since there is always some ammonia in tap water, there is bacteria on the gravel and decor, new or old and dying plants will excrete ammonia too.

 

[AdAndrews]

the filter was off for all of 30mins if that, as i left it running while planting, as it was running in a seperate tank

 

[AdAndrews]

sit tight? or get some ammonia in a bottle?

 

[CeeJay]

Hi AdAndrews

the filter was off for all of 30mins if that,

My filter is off for longer than that when I clean it so your filter should be fine. After all, the filter has now been running a total of 9 weeks (6 weeks in a populated tank and 3 weeks in an empty tank). You would probably have been better off with a small fish load at the start to keep the filter ticking over. You're probably doing the filter more harm than good by not having any fish in there.
Nitrites after 9 weeks is unusual, unless there's something else wrong, so I would doubt the integrity of your test kit so I have to agree with Dave

chuck the kit in the bin.

It appears that you didn't want to stress your fish with your new setup, which is highly commendable, but when I have moved a mature filter on to a new tank, I have put fish in straight away. I've done this twice before (there are now 3 tanks in my house............don't ask ) and I've never seen any ill effects on the fish.

Chris.

 

[AdAndrews]

ok, thanks dude, i have tested the water on two different liquid test kits so fail to see that they are the problem, i think another week and i will put some hardy fish in

thanks

 

[Jack middleton]

How long was the filter off for when you rescaped? If it's over a few hours then most of your bacteria would have died of and you need to repopulate it.
Adding some ammonia in a brand new tank would speed things up a bit but they will almost always cycle since there is always some ammonia in tap water, there is bacteria on the gravel and decor, new or old and dying plants will excrete ammonia too.

bacteria die off at a rate of approximately 9-10% per day, and the population would be back up to size within a few days