# Damn Nitrites Wont Drop!



## VJventrella (Feb 16, 2007)

Hey everyone. So its been almost 7 weeks that my elong has been in my 75 and the nitrites still wont drop! Everything else is fine, but the nitrites. They are still at 3-5ppm and it just wont drop. I have only done a few water changes and they don't seem to help. A friend of mine has a very established tank and he was going to bring over 2-3 pails of water and i was going to dump that in. Do you think that would help? He also suggested giving me some of his established media. Im not sure what to do at this point. Thanks again.


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## Guest (Apr 15, 2011)

No taking the water won't do anything other then add more ammonia and nitrite as most of the beneficial bacteria is stored in the filter media.

Taking some of his media and seeding could help a long with just letting the tank go through the cycle. Stick to a small water change 10% every other day to let the beneficial bacteria take care of the problem.

Also search the tank and filter for any uneaten food.


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## SandNukka15 (Nov 16, 2010)

what are the nitrates at now?


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## VJventrella (Feb 16, 2007)

around 10-15


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## SandNukka15 (Nov 16, 2010)

Keep the tank clean

Don't overfeed the fish

Water changes

Keep live plants

Use nitrogen removing filter media - Instead of an expensive denitrator or special filter, use special media in the filter you have. Although they will not lower nitrates dramatically, if used together with other methods the net result will be beneficial.


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

What do you have for filtration....??

Water wont help, more turnover and media will.


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## VJventrella (Feb 16, 2007)

im using a rena xp3


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## the_w8 (Jul 28, 2003)

I'd put as much bio-media you can load in that XP3 as you can. You definitely don't have enough media in then if your nitrites are that high. Adding established media will help. What are you using for Bio-media?

Make sure ur elong's gills aren't turning a brownish color if it's been in those conditions for as long as u say.


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