Help- Quarantine Problem

[Alpental]

I just bought a clown fish and a royal gramma. I set up my ten gallon quarantine tank 2 days ago. I added 6 gallons of water from my established 55 gallon that I siphoned out that day and 4 gallons which I siphoned out about 2 months ago and placed in a sealed bucket for that 2 months before I used it. Also, I realize this may have been stupid, but the quarantine tank had been sitting in the garage for about a year so I cleaned it out with 4 gallons of water and a splash of bleach. Then I rinsed it out for some time to try and make sure that any bleach residue was gone. I placed some foam filter pads that had been in my established tank as well to get the biological filter going. As I’m writing this I’m drip acclimating the fish for the quarantine and I tested the tank water PH = 8.0, Ammonia = 0 Nitrite 0.25 PPM. Then I freaked out. Did I screw something up? Using old water? Cleaning with bleach? Yes, I realize the bleach thing might have been stupid but I rinsed and rinsed until I figured there was no possible way any bleach was left. Is 0.25 nitrite going to kill the fish?

Help, I don’t know what to do!

 

[matts125]

I would say that .25 nitrite shouldnt hurt your fish, and using bleach to clean shouldnt hurt anything as long as you rinsed the tank out really good.. I dont know about the stale water that was in the bucket for 2 months though, unless I read that wrong.. I would say you should be ok. however only time will tell. you might want to have some more mixed water ready to do a water change in the qt...

Matt

 

[alison]

I'd say the stale water did it.

 

[Slickdonkey]

I don't think it's a problem. Do a large water change and keep an eye on the chemistry at least once daily and everything will be fine!

How long were the foam filter pads in the established tank and were they actually used in a filter or just "sitting" there, i.e. in a sump?

 

[Alpental]

I'm going to let the fish settle in and tomorrow I'm going to do a big water change. The filter pads were actually in a Fluval 304 for about 4 months. I squeezed the junk out of them every couple weeks.

 

[Meche]

I think Nitrites are relatively harmless to saltwater fish. I was reading an article Boomer recommended to me the other day and somewhere in it the guy said nitrites up to 100ppm may be OK. I didn't believe it when I read it and I'm having trouble believing it now. I'm going to check now.

I could be on crack

 

[Slickdonkey]

I think Nitrites are relatively harmless to saltwater fish. I was reading an article Boomer recommended to me the other day and somewhere in it the guy said nitrites up to 100ppm may be OK. I didn't believe it when I read it and I'm having trouble believing it now. I'm going to check now.

I could be on crack

Yes, you are on crack. Nitrates maybe, but not nitrites.

 

[oldsaint]

guy said nitrites up to 100ppm may be OK.

I'm pretty sure that was referring to trates(NO3) not trites(NO2).

Sorry Slickdonkey, I type too slow

 

[Meche]

nope here it is!

Aquarists' concerns about nitrite are usually imported from the freshwater hobby. Nitrite is far less toxic in seawater than in freshwater. Fish are typically able to survive in seawater with more than 100 ppm nitrite!

Here is the article: cool Article

 

[Slickdonkey]

Wow, I've never heard that before. All the same I think I'll keep mine at zero

 

[Meche]

:lol: yeah me too! :lol: but interesting none the less

 

[Meche]

Here is the original source:

17. Seawater strontium and Sr/Ca variability in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. de Villiers, S. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. Earth and Planetary Science Letters (1999), 171(4), 623-634.

You crazy seattlites!

 

[NaH2O]

Yep, he's right. Nitrite isn't as much of a concern, as thought for fish: Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium

Let us know how things look after your water change.

 

[Alpental]

Thanks for the great info guys! I love RF!!! I feel a little bit more at ease. I did a little 10% water change this morning with another coming this evening. The clown is doing great, like nothing happened at all, and the royal gramma is just starting to move around and explore his new home. I'll keep you all posted.

Thanks again

 

[oldsaint]

nope here it is!



Here is the article: cool Article

WOW!! Learn something new everyday. Thanks for the link. That will definitely be added to my favorites


Alpental glad to hear your clown is doing well.

 

[burning2nd]

if your looking at .25 no2 and not no3 you have a problem.


i think that will turn it to a cycle


i plan on just filling my qt tank with change out water from my main

 

[oldsaint]

i plan on just filling my qt tank with change out water from my main

That's a good idea but I hope you're still planning on establishing a bio-filtration first.

Here's a good link that helped me.
http://www.petsforum.com/personal/trevor-jones/quarantinetanks.html

Transferring water from the display tank does not shorten the process to any great extent because the required bacteria are not generally in the water column.

 

[Meche]

Burning2nd read this link.

QT link

 

[Slickdonkey]

i plan on just filling my qt tank with change out water from my main

No problem with that, but you'd better put some filter media in there too or you'll get a nitrogen cycle when you add livestock.