The Puffer Forum

I changed my low end brackish water last night (50%), tested it again this morning, the ammonia is 0 but the nitrite is .25, the same as it was before changing the water. This has never happened before my levels have always been great, what could be causing this? I'm using the API liquid testers, not the strips. should i change the water again or is there something i can put in to help? I have prime, used it, i also have stress zyme if that'll help. I have 2 GSP in there and 2 mollies, thats all.

how big is the tank. how long has it been up and running. stress zyme is bunk if youre trying to use it to establish bacteria in your tank. there are only one or two products out there that work for that, and stress zyme isnt one of them.

it sounds like your tank is doing a mini-cycle if nothing else. what is the SG and how long have you kept it at that level? have you recently increased the salt content?

Did you check the SG before and after the water change? Big changes in SG will kill the filter bacteria. Be aware that when you open a new pack of SW mix, it can give a different SG with the same amount of salt than what you would get from the old one.

well my tank is 40 gal, my sg is low, all the hydrometers i have gotten so far arnt accurate, but i kept the sg the same by adding the same amount of salt i always do, so thats not the problem, plus my ammonia levels are 0... its just the nitrite. its been up and running for about a year now, maybe a bit longer. i was using stress zyme for the nitrite levels, not bacteria, but i am also using prime, nothings working, the test says for salt water AND freshwater, so could the test read darker because of the salt in there? (like the ammonia one does but it comes with 2 color codes.) thats the only thing i can think of, because a water change didnt help, it stayed the same.