Nitrite high. Help!!!

planderos

I have a problem with my tank. It's been up for a while (2-3)months and it was fine until my nitrite just went up. It's only at .25 and I've done water changes weekly. Also, I bought about 30 lbs of live rock bringing the total to about 37 lbs for a 46 gallon tank. I have four fish (diamond gobie, yellow assessor, anthia, and a pwder brown tang). I feed once a day with only enough for them to eat in about a minute and a half. I just bought about 20lbs of live sand hoping that would bring it down. Every other test is fine (ph 8.2, amn @ 0, Nitrate at 10-maybe a bit lower). Is there any product I can buy that will lower the nitrite? I've never had this problem before (I had my tank for two years before I moved and had to start all over). I just can't seem to figure this out. Should I get more live rock? I just have a hang-on filter but maybe put live rock in the filter (little pieces) to help filtration? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

tangy

Probably the live rock caused it? When I went through this problem, I simply made water changes(25%-35%) every other day for 2 weeks or so before my nitrates were gone. U could try that. Also, u might wanna feed your tang a good 2-3 times a week and give him daily pieces of algae to graze off of, they love and need to graze throughout the day.

planderos

thanks for the info but is the water changes only to lower nitrate? What about nitrite?

tangy

Yes it will, tho I believe the filter usually would have removed any nitrites in the tank by now.

vincentwade

If you add live sand to an established tank it's going to recycle again! Did you cure the new rock you added? Or was it cured.. If your nitrates and nitrites are going up the tank is recycling!

planderos

Yeah, the rock is cured. I guess the tank is recycling; however, my tank is getting ick cause of it. thanks you guys. I think I just made things worse

Lemeshianos

ick or ich?
This article is one of the most important ones I've read so far:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-1...ture/index.php

And I quote: "Not using a quarantine tank is like playing Russian roulette. Nobody wins the game, some people just get to play longer than others." - Anthony Calfo

Unless you have life on the rocks that might die from any ich treatment(chemical or hyposalinity) then you can go with treating them in your display tank.
If I were you I would either borrow a tank if I know someone that has a spare one, or just buy one since a QT is a must. Set it up seperate the fish from the Live rock. Treat the fish for ich and keep them separated for 2 weeks, this should be enough to starve off the ich in your display tank!
And don't introduce all the fish together back in the display!