Nitrites Way Too High?

[JRCody]

Nitrites register off the chart in a 2yr old tank! Any tips besides an immediate water change? LFS said tank contained minimal ammonia and nitrates, but LOTS of nitrites. Could my skimmer not be working/setup properly?

Thanks In Advance:confused:

[tyoberg]

The Fluval is probably doing it's job--collecting food and detrious. This is somewhat bad in a reef tank though--this stuff decays and you end up with nitrates. Mechanical filtration is not preferred on a reef tank, but you can still do it.

If you don't want elevated NO3 levels, you'll have to clean the filter media very regularly. Perhaps you may consider getting rid of all the filter media entirely and letting the live rock do it's job.

Many people with similar problems have gotten rid of their old school mechanical/biological filtration systems and have switched to letting a deep sand bed and live rock do the biological filtration. The difference is that a sand bed or live rock is able to further break NO3 down into N2 gas bubbles.

Planting macro algae should also help reduce nitrates.

Ty

[endymion]

It sounds like you are going though another cycle. Something significant could have died and the bacteria are trying to keep up but have not reached the levels needed and/or a lot of your bacteria died off.

Canister filters etc do a great job of getting to the end of the cycle including past the nitrite stage. They do tend to elevate Nitrates.

Yes your skimmer could not be working but is it the main reason? I cant tell you since every tank, skimmer, bio load is different.

Get the nitrites down to a moderate level (somewhere on the chart half way or more :) ) by doing some water changes. This should limit damage to your livestock. Stop feeding for a bit until things start getting back inline. Then start ramping up feedings, etc upt o your normal level.

And tune that skimmer damn it :D