Pulling or my hair Nitrate and nitrite

[Tankr75]

hello. A quick back story

I started up my 75g tank about 1 1/2 years ago and do to my own stupidity I didn't qt some new frags I got and well long story short I got a bad case of ich. So I drained my tank pulled the rock out and let it sit outside for quite some time. I removed my fish that lived and qt them and treated them and moved my corals and cuc to another tank to sit Fallow for well now it's been 100+ days. I've now got my 75 gallon tank filled I did this the first week of may and thought I would let it cycle naturally (I was very impatient the first go around) I had an ammonia spike about a month and a half ago and it has gone down to 0ppm and the nitrite is off the charts 5+ and nitrate 180+ ppm I've done several water changes and it hasn't gone down any and I'm using Red Seas nopox hopping that would help some and it hasn't. I've tested all the other tanks and they all read 5-10 ppm so I know my test kit works. I'm at a loss and need help please.

 

[Butitor]

just keep dosing nopox works well for me. good luck!

 

[teller]

You can also consider macro algae in sump like chaeto. Should work fine.

 

[chris k.]

I did the same thing. Redid my tank scape and my nitrates wrre off the charts. I did a wc but drained water to the sand. And then refilled while keeping the rock in the tank wet. After wc my nitrates were down to 10. No problems since.

 

[Tankr75]

just keep dosing nopox works well for me. good luck!

Can I increase the dosage I'm currently using 9ml once a day.

You can also consider macro algae in sump like chaeto. Should work fine.

I don't have a sump yet I just bought a 20g long from petco so I can build one.

I did the same thing. Redid my tank scape and my nitrates wrre off the charts. I did a wc but drained water to the sand. And then refilled while keeping the rock in the tank wet. After wc my nitrates were down to 10. No problems since.

Yea I've done more than 50% in the last 5days lol. I don't have enough water to drain it all the way lol.

 

[jeff williams]

My guess is when you let the rock dry out it had organic matter growing on it when you went back together the dead organics caused the ammonia spike then the nitrite and know the nitrate

 

[Tankr75]

My guess is when you let the rock dry out it had organic matter growing on it when you went back together the dead organics caused the ammonia spike then the nitrite and know the nitrate

Yes I did have a bunch of pineapple sponges growing on it. But after it dried out I soaked it in a plastic bin with rodi water and a heater for almost three weeks changing the water every three days trying to let all the nitrate and phosphate leach out. Did I make it worse by doing this?

 

[jeff williams]

Yes I did have a bunch of pineapple sponges growing on it. But after it dried out I soaked it in a plastic bin with rodi water and a heater for almost three weeks changing the water every three days trying to let all the nitrate and phosphate leach out. Did I make it worse by doing this?

No I don't think so any time you cure rock it's a good thing. You might not have cures it long enough and there was still sponge

 

[Tankr75]

No I don't think so any time you cure rock it's a good thing. You might not have cures it long enough and there was still sponge

Ok thank you. I have a few silly questions but should I add ammonia to it at all it's been at 0ppm for like two-weeks at least just to give the ammonia eating bacteria something to feed on. Is it a bad idea to add my cuc and my fish back.

 

[Tankr75]

Also it's a bare bottom tank I don't know if tht makes any difference.

 

[jeff williams]

Imo I would get the tank water parameters under control before adding the fish back 5ppm nitrite can stall a cycle I would continue wc's to bring it down. My guess is bacteria is still breaking down ammonia but the nitrite Bacteria isn't working as well because it's so hi. Try doing a large WC and adding some bottled bacteria and measure the nitrite and nitrate again make note what it drops to then remeasure 24-48 hrs later and compare if it's the same your tank probably has stopped producing ammonia and that's a good thing if the nitrite rises then ammonia is still present. The bacteria should help but you will still need to continue wc's to bring the nitrate down. Hope this makes sense

 

[jeff williams]

Also it's a bare bottom tank I don't know if tht makes any difference.

As long as you have a place for the Bacteria to populate such as your rock or some kind of biological media then bare bottom isn't a problem

 

[Tankr75]

Imo I would get the tank water parameters under control before adding the fish back 5ppm nitrite can stall a cycle I would continue wc's to bring it down. My guess is bacteria is still breaking down ammonia but the nitrite Bacteria isn't working as well because it's so hi. Try doing a large WC and adding some bottled bacteria and measure the nitrite and nitrate again make note what it drops to then remeasure 24-48 hrs later and compare if it's the same your tank probably has stopped producing ammonia and that's a good thing if the nitrite rises then ammonia is still present. The bacteria should help but you will still need to continue wc's to bring the nitrate down. Hope this makes sense

MakEs sense lol. I will pick up some bottled bacteria and try that. And continue water changes. And yea I have some rock (not all the rest are in qt tanks lol. Probably another 8-10 lbs or so wet. ) and some ceramic rings I just added some bio balls like two days ago that I had laying around I hate to use them but if it gets me more surface area for now I will use them. Lol.