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Home: KOI Talk: Pond Water Quality:
High nitrite level

 





 


choo
Koi Lover

Nov 3, 2000, 3:03 PM

Post #1 of 25 (5772 views)
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Hi,

How can I bring down the high nitrite level in my pond ? Will adding a trickle system do the job ? Or adding more bacteria and if so, which product is recommended. Or through regular water change ? Or control feeding ?

I have tested my water and the ph=7.1, ammonia=0.2 and nitrite=1.0.

I have a biofilter using the green mesh in chamber 1 (with fine filter media to further trap any waste) and 2 and 3 and corals in chamber 4 (to bufffer the pH) where a pump is used to send the water back to the pond. It is a water going in from under-over-under-over then pump out system.

Thanks for your help in advance.

cheers
chuan wu


Mark
Koi Kichi

Nov 3, 2000, 11:22 PM

Post #2 of 25 (5768 views)
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With the current readings I will change 50% water and add salt to a salinity level of btw 0.1 to 0.3%.

Please provide the following details:
1. pond and filter - size and vol.?
2. no. of fish?
3. how long you have been in the hobby?
4. any other details?

I am suspecting some fish are scraping itself against the wall or the bottom of your pond/tank now.

Pls post back asap and thanks.


Mark
Koi Kichi

Nov 3, 2000, 11:25 PM

Post #3 of 25 (5768 views)
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Just one more thing. Look out for your pH. It may crash anytime. Best to also dump in baking soda and have some standby as well.

If you have clean your filter system lately please also tell us about it.

Thanks.


choo
Koi Lover

Nov 3, 2000, 11:48 PM

Post #4 of 25 (5768 views)
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>Please provide the following details:
>1. pond and filter - size and vol.?

My pond is 8 ft by 2.5 by 2 ft and the filter is 1.5 fit. That's thay say, the area for the kois is 6.5 ft. About 820 litre of water in there.

The readings I have are taken before I started to clean the filter. I only drained out the waste from the chambers. I have also changed about 20% of the water and the new nitrite reading is between 0.5 and 1 as the test kit only shows specific range.

> 2. no. of fish?

I have 11 kois on average of 25cm.

> 3. how long you have been in the hobby?

I have only been in the keeping koi for the past 6 months. This new 8 ft tank I have is only about 2 month old.

> 4. any other details?

2 weeks ago, 1 of my 30cm kohaku died. There was no sign of ulcer or wounds except that the fins below the gills have strains of red veins. I suspect it could have died of stress or nitrite poisoning. I have also checked the older kois but found not such symptoms.

> I am suspecting some fish are scraping
> itself against the wall or the bottom of
> your pond/tank now.

I spent several hours observing the pond everyday after work but did not see any koi scraping its body.

Any other advise ?

Thanks for your help in advance.

Cheers
chuan wu


Mark
Koi Kichi

Nov 4, 2000, 6:40 AM

Post #5 of 25 (5768 views)
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My calculation of your pond :
(L=6.5)x(W=2.5)x(H=2)x 6.25 = Imperial gallon.

Area of pond = 16.25 sq ft
Volume of H20 = 203 gallon (914 litres)

Area of filter = 3.75 sq ft (23% of pond)
Effective bio area = 17% of pond (considering 1,2 & 3 chambers are of equal area).

Recommended filter size should be 30% (or higher) of pond area.

Looking at these figures, your filter is undersized.

(1)....new nitrite reading is between 0.5 and 1 ....

This reading is pretty high and is bad for your fish. Problem could be the result of undersized filter system and/or the filter system is in trouble. Added any chemical(s) lately????

92)...2 weeks ago,...30cm kohaku died. There was no sign of ulcer or wounds except that the fins below the gills have strains of red veins. I suspect it could have died of stress or nitrites poisoning. ...

Yes you are absolutely correct. Red streak veins are sign of nitrites poisoning. Although the rest are not experiencing the problem, its good to raise salt level to 0.3% to sustain the koi while we look for solution.

(3).....I spent several hours observing the pond everyday after work but did not see any koi scraping its body.....

No flashing and that's good news. So what can we do now....... Cut down heavily on feed till the nitrites come down. Any chance of expanding your current undersized filter system? Stop feed for 3 days to see improvement.

By the way, how's the ammonia level now?

(This post was edited by Mark Richman on Mar 11, 2000, 3:00 PM)


choo
Koi Lover

Nov 4, 2000, 2:06 PM

Post #6 of 25 (5768 views)
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>No flashing and that's good news. So what >can we do now....... Cut down heavily on >feed till the nitrites come down. Any
>chance of expanding your current undersized >filter system? Stop feed for 3 days to see >improvement.
>By the way, how's the ammonia level now?

I have tested the water again and today the pH=7.0, Amonia=0.1, Nitrite is slightly better than yesterday but I think it is probably 0.7 (scale of .5 and 1 only).

I have not added any new chemicals into the pond lately except for the usual minerals which comes in water powder form. I was given as sample - it claims to introduce the minerals needed in the water for the koi to up keep its skin lustre and condition the water.

I have also put in a bag of biohome to further increase the bacteria growth lately. Since the calculation shows that my filter size is small, could I add in more biohome to boast the filter strength ?

By the way, the green filter mat I used is stacked veritically with an alternate gap between them. Is this ok ?

I have a micro bubble tube placed in the pond for oxygen and 2 medium size air stone in the filter chambers. Should I convert the water output to a venturi system ?

Many thanks in advance.

cheers
chuan wu


choo
Koi Lover

Nov 4, 2000, 2:13 PM

Post #7 of 25 (5768 views)
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The filter is custom made to be part of the pond. Therefore, I was thinking of getting a trickle system placed on top of the current filter chambers. Would this help to increase the filteration size ? Again, I would like to know if the Trickle System help to reduce Nitrate or Nitrite level ?

Thanks.


hai61
Koi Lover

Nov 4, 2000, 3:20 PM

Post #8 of 25 (5768 views)
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hi all
I just got my trickle system and lava rocks installed in my filter yesterday and I already seeing the results.The fish eyes are not so swallow as before because of high nitrate and they are more active than before .I guest the name of the game is more air in the filter and pond the healther the fish.I would like to say thank you to many peoples in this forum spending times doing researchs ,experiments and posting the results on the web.


Mark
Koi Kichi

Nov 5, 2000, 2:12 AM

Post #9 of 25 (5768 views)
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Hi Choo
Its an absolute YES to introduce trickle system asap. You will see result.

Hi Hai61
Thanks so much for your encouraging remarks. That should keep lots of us going.



choo
Koi Lover

Nov 5, 2000, 1:53 PM

Post #10 of 25 (5768 views)
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Ok. I will try to fix up a trickle system tomorrow. So, will the trickle system bring down the nitrite or nitrate ? I am still a little confused. If the trickle system is going to bring down the nitrate level then how about the nitrite ?

The waste process:
( ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate )

Thanks.


Bancherd
Koi Lover

Nov 5, 2000, 9:52 PM

Post #11 of 25 (5768 views)
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Quote
Originally posted by choo:
Ok. I will try to fix up a trickle system tomorrow. So, will the trickle system bring down the nitrite or nitrate ? I am still a little confused. If the trickle system is going to bring down the nitrate level then how about the nitrite ?

The waste process:
( ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate )

Thanks.
Both nitrite and nitrate levels will be lowered. That's what happened in my pond.

Bancherd


choo
Koi Lover

Nov 7, 2000, 12:53 PM

Post #12 of 25 (5768 views)
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I have my trickle system running for 24 hrs and the nitrite level has drop from 0.4 to 0.3 (approx to due available scale). The trickle system has 300 Bio Balls filling up 70% of my new filter box (a paper bin).

I have also started feeding sparingly after 4 days of "no food" period.... poor kois. I will continue to track the nitrite level and keep you posted.

Thanks.


Mark
Koi Kichi

Nov 8, 2000, 11:38 AM

Post #13 of 25 (5768 views)
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That's great. Do check your ammonia level as well.


Mark
Koi Kichi

Nov 12, 2000, 1:41 AM

Post #14 of 25 (5768 views)
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So how's your pond doing now? Anymore encouraging result to tell us? Thanks.


choo
Koi Lover

Nov 13, 2000, 2:01 PM

Post #15 of 25 (5768 views)
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The ammonia level is near 0. However, as I start to feed a little more each day, the nitrite level has began to reach 0.7 again.


Mark
Koi Kichi

Nov 14, 2000, 12:50 AM

Post #16 of 25 (5768 views)
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Honestly something is definitely not right about your filter system. Tell us more about your trickle system.


choo
Koi Lover

Nov 14, 2000, 1:02 AM

Post #17 of 25 (5768 views)
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The trickle system has 300 bioballs and is placed in a bin which is 35x30x45cm. The height of the bioballs in the bin is about 1 feet and the water is injected into 2 1 litre coke plastic bottles which generate lots of air bubbles before it is released down through the trickle system via 0.4cm (diameter) holes.


hai61
Koi Lover

Nov 14, 2000, 12:57 PM

Post #18 of 25 (5768 views)
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hi choo
The bacteria(nitrobacter)which converts nitrite to nitrate will takes a bit longer to form with a new filter.If your fishes started flashing or stay still ,then add 3% of salts to the pond.Do very little feeding my friend.


hai61
Koi Lover

Nov 14, 2000, 1:29 PM

Post #19 of 25 (5768 views)
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I got a small pond with very heavy fish load and having nitrite problem constantly,so I putted in a bigger biofilter but that still did not solve my nitrite problem .I finally bought a bigger pump doing about 5 turn per/hr ,that solved my nitrite problem but then I got nitrate and green water problems,so I putted in two trickle systems to solve my nitrate problem but the green water still there .I am still looking for an alternate solutions beside adding a uv light or plants.


Mark
Koi Kichi

Nov 15, 2000, 7:26 AM

Post #20 of 25 (5768 views)
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Depending on the size(height) of a system, flow rate plays a very important role here. Too fast a flow rate will mean that no or little trickle effect is taking place as most part of the water will be washed down immediately and returned to the pond. A slower flow rate however is preferred. If this cannot be achieved, then the height of the trickle system should be increased or adding another trickle system. As I am not able to figure out how the water from the pond are delivered to the bioballs thro' those bottles, I am therefore not able to conclude where the problem lies. It is however proven that drip plates and/or drilled pvc pipes are effective stuffs used in trickle system and you may want to consider using these.

A picture paints a thousand word and if you can post one that will be helpful. Otherwise a simple drawing will also help.

(This post was edited by Mark Richman on Feb 11, 2001, 3:00 PM)


choo
Koi Lover

Nov 16, 2000, 3:51 AM

Post #21 of 25 (5768 views)
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Hi Mark,

How do I send the pciture to you ? By the way, I am using a 3500 litre/hour pump for the filter (my pond has a volume of about 830litre including the filter). The rate of flow of water in the trickle system looks fine to me as I have seen trickle system that runs much faster then mine to be effective.

Right now, I have change 1 of the chamber with all green mat to include half a chamber with ceramic rings and half green mat and leaving the other chambers to be green mat. Not sure if this would be more effective.

cheers



rahim
Koi Lover

Nov 16, 2000, 1:02 PM

Post #22 of 25 (5768 views)
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Hi Choo and everyone...

Let me share my experience of bringing down the nitrite level. My pond started in the middle of March 2000. 700 US gallon main pond and 250 US gallon poorly design filter. The filter managed to bring down ammonia and nitrite level to 0 within 35 days(no additional enzyme added). That time all my kois (7 of them) were about 6 inches each.

After 4 months of green water (a sign of inadequate filter) I decided to build trickle tower to compensate for poor filter design. The pond is crystal clear after that but the nitrite were never zero (detectable around 0.3ppm).

I was very concern about this and try to figure out what was the problem. After about a month of trying and thinking, I accidentally bringing up the KH to 15 dH. (I always keep the KH at 7~8 dH). Then the nitrite back to zero.

I guess when the kois were small, the KH level was enough to bring down nitrite level but when the kois are more than twice in size the nitrifying bacteria need more KH for chemical conversion of nitrite to nitrate.

Anyway, I'm not sure whether the my theory is correct or not but when I keep my KH level up, the nitrite level is undetectable.

So my advise is to check your KH level and bring it up by adding bicarbonate soda.

Good luck


choo
Koi Lover

Nov 17, 2000, 1:05 AM

Post #23 of 25 (5768 views)
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Ok.

I have changed my filter arrangement again. I guess Mark will be adding the diagram soon here I hope.(I changed 1 chamber of green mat to 50%/50% ceramic rings and green mat) And after 3 days of the new set up, the nitrite test i did yesterday was down to 0.5.

I will try to add in baking soda tonight to bring up the KH (pH is currently 7.1) and observe the outcome.

By the way, my kois are not flashing or staying motionless. In fact, when I do not go near the pond, I observed (from far) that they are swimming around quite happily.

Thanks.

(This post was edited by choo on Apr 11, 2001, 2:00 PM)


Marcus
Koi Lover

Nov 20, 2000, 2:18 PM

Post #24 of 25 (5768 views)
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Hi,

just a little note...as I read thro this thread, I saw an old post by hai61 regarding the addition of salt. I think the salt concentration you are refering to is 0.3%, right? Cos most koi cannot tolerate 3% salt for more than a few minutes. People usually use 3% salt for short salt bath of one or two minutes.

Sorry if I offended anyone... I don't mean to outrightly make any comments...just want to correct this typo-error in case some one really follows the dosage. It can be fatel to the koi. Thanks.

Cheers
Marcus


Mark
Koi Kichi

Nov 21, 2000, 1:26 AM

Post #25 of 25 (5768 views)
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Marcus
Thanks alot for the correction. We are grateful to you for pointing out the error and the added information.

 
 
 



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