Nitrite dropped from 166 ppm to 59 ppm

[musel101]

Nitrite dropped from 166ppm to 59ppm in 5 days after adding a ton of ceramic media. That should be good I’m guessing? And I don’t do water changes as part of my experiment.

 

[Garf]

Nitrite dropped from 166ppm to 59ppm in 5 days after adding a ton of ceramic media. That should be good I’m guessing? And I don’t do water changes as part of my experiment.

PPM? Are you sure that's not PPB?

 

[musel101]

Sorry yes PPB

 

[Garf]

Sorry yes PPB

The actual nitrite itself isn't really harmful but looking on the bright side, it will mean that any interference with your nitrates test is lower, giving a more accurate nitrate result, if you are into keeping nitrate low, that is.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

DId you add the media just for that purpose?

I'm not sure it is a desirable thing to do.

 

[musel101]

DId you add the media just for that purpose?

I'm not sure it is a desirable thing to do.

Yes, I did add the media just For this purpose. I like to feed very heavily. And I’m not doing any water changes. For the past couple of days I’ve been feeding very lightly after I saw those numbers. 166 PPB. Now that I know that the media will help, I can go back to heavenly feeding. And giving a reef roids etc..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes, I did add the media just For this purpose. I like to feed very heavily. And I’m not doing any water changes. For the past couple of days I’ve been feeding very lightly after I saw those numbers. 166 PPB. Now that I know that the media will help, I can go back to heavenly feeding. And giving a reef roids etc..

I'm not sure it is "helping". That was my point. Driving nitrite and ammonia to the lowest possible levels based on random web sites saying it should be zero is not necessarily desirable.

 

[musel101]

I'm not sure it is "helping". That was my point. Driving nitrite and ammonia to the lowest possible levels based on random web sites saying it should be zero is not necessarily desirable.

I don’t wanna drop it to the lowest possible level I want to drop it enough so I can control algae and not do any water changes. I understand that there has to be detectable levels of nitrate, phosphate, etc.. as corals need them to survive and thrive. I’m just trying to do lease amount of human intervention as possible for God sakes, I wear veterinarian gloves every time I put my hands in the tank. In a way I’m trying to do a self-sustaining reef tank, and the only intervention I need is to feed. The fish top off evaporated water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t wanna drop it to the lowest possible level I want to drop it enough so I can control algae and not do any water changes. I understand that there has to be detectable levels of nitrate, phosphate, etc.. as corals need them to survive and thrive. I’m just trying to do lease amount of human intervention as possible for God sakes, I wear veterinarian gloves every time I put my hands in the tank. In a way I’m trying to do a self-sustaining reef tank, and the only intervention I need is to feed. The fish top off evaporated water.

OK, I understand the goal, even if I'm not sure it's a problem. You may find you end up having to dose nitrate or ammonia.