Strange conversation with water Authority!!

[Discus master]

Ok so Tuesday, I was doing my normal water change rutine and noticed I had a very very small like less than .25 nitrite spike in my tank. So I naturally did a water change which it was time for any ways I did about an 80% water change and tested for nitrites again this time it read at a .50 and I was floored what the heck???

In dis belife I did another large water change took the reading again and the same .50, now this second water change I had to run with just my tap without aging the water. I know I should have done this first but I never had nitrites out of the tap never!

I tested the tap water and .50 nitrites, what is going on, I use a liquid regent test from API you know the larger bottels and its only a couple of months old. I had just a small amount of Prime left, really only enugh to add to my newly aging water and maybe a half cap full left which I added directly to the tank. Tested again still at .50, so now I am flipping out no stores open it is 1030pm and I go to bed at this time becuase I get up at 530am to come into work and get on SD like I am now, lol!!

But here is were it gets interesting I tested the water in the tank early in the am thinking its going to be high and my fish are going to be suffering big time. well the reading went to 0 no way can my nitrfying bacteria handle this kind of a load no way and not in what 7 hours time. I tested it again and yup still 0 and I waited like 15 minutes looking at the vial nothing not a trace.

Well I already had it made up in my mind to call the water company today to ask some questions, so from work I had a nice 20 minute conversation with a man in the chemistray department at the water treatment facility. I had told him wha happened and he said every now and again he will get a call from someone who own an aqurium and they tell hem basically the same thing, he said you have to chalk it up to a false reading a false positive that there is just absolutely no possible way for nitrites to get into the system no way!! I told him all my numbers rite out of the tap and he said they were all dead on 0 amoniia 4 - 5 gh 3 - 4kh 7.5ph and a 6.8ph after airaiting and aging the water for 24 hours he said those number are perfect and a ph of 6.8 is what they get befre they treat the water and that it should go back down to that number if left to sit over night and so this tells me my test kits are working and I am reading them properly. So we ended it with its a false reading it has to be a chemical they had that sometimes gives a false reading like the chlorimines or something ok I say and hang up.

I go home and test my tank water again just to be sure everything is cool the nitrites again at 0 so I test my water in my againg barrel and boom there .5 and thats after sitting for over 24 hours, and granted I do not have near the amont of airation as my tank does but some, I bought more prime yesterday of ourse and I added two cap fulls to the water barrel used my submersable pump to stir it around under the surface of the water for a couple of hours tested again and still .5 I checked this am early and still .5 the Prime should have done something to lower this number a little bit.

So my questions what is going on with my water
What is the diference betweent he water in my tank versus my storage barrel?
How can you and is it possible to get a false positive reading for nitrites out of the tap?
Like I said theres less airation in my storage barrel but I added the Prime double dose and this is after the origanl dose so 3 times the normal amount and still I get a reading.
What is in my tank that just running it for a few hours droped this huge spike down to nothing the next morning? I never had nitrites from the tap before
Now if I use my stored water with a nitrite reading then I am guessing it would go to zero again in the am like before? if so then how in the world could I have enoguh nitryfing bacteria to handle that? theres no way?

So any thoughts or insight or even guess would be greatly apreciated at this point I am at a loss. I have to use this water can not afford and ro unit never had an issue in 5 months I have been doing this and the levels went back down to 0 just after a few hours help me out here on what to do please.

and in my canister I am using filter floss, ceramic bio rings, and Purign no carbon could the Purgin be doing something to help out thats the only difences between the storage barrel and the tank less airtation no purgin no nitryfing bacteria and of course no fish so maybe it is the Purgin but could the Purgin even handle a nitrite load like this filter it out of a 55 gallon aquarium in less than 8 hours??? I am so lost trying to think of everything all the details and I ust can npot see whats happening or why I need a chemist to explain this and I know we have one on the forum some where

[Discus master]

I really wish I could have made this shorter but there would have been no way for me to provide all the details and events with out it sorry if it is a long story but hopefully once you can get thru it you will have a better understanding as to what is happening, thanks for taking the time out to read and comment.

[nc0gnet0]

Ok I can answer most of these questions:

1) prime does not remove nitrites, it detoxifies them. So, your test will still show positive for nitrites regardless of how much you add, difference is, they will not be harmfull to your fish.

2) In all likelyhood your filter is processing the nitrites in the tank, thus the readings of 0 after being in your tank several hours. The nitrite to nitrate conversion is fairly quick in a healthy system.

3) Aeration is not particulary effective in removing nitrite

4) I have never heard of a chemical giving a false positive for nitrite, thats not to say it doesn't happen, but I would have to guess that the reading is real, and there are actually nitrites in your tap. Sounds like your area is due to flush there pipes. I would be curious to see if you get a nitrate rise that is significant. Try testing for nitrates just after you add the tap water to your tank and again when the nitrite reading drops to zero.

5) Purigen does not remove nitrite, it does however remove dissolved organics which degrade into ammonia>nitrite>nitrate. So it is not the purigen that is responsable for the nitrite drop, its your bio-filter.

6) My only guess is to what is happening at your water treatment plant is they are treating with chloramine which is a chlorine+ammonia mix, and the chloramine is unstable and breaking down to its core componenets (chlorine and ammonia). Then, somewhere between the treatment facility and your house, the pipes have built up there own bio filter and the ammonia is being broken down into nitrite. But, this is just a guess, and maybe not a good one at that.

[Discus master]

Ok I can answer most of these questions:

1) prime does not remove nitrites, it detoxifies them. So, your test will still show positive for nitrites regardless of how much you add, difference is, they will not be harmfull to your fish.

2) In all likelyhood your filter is processing the nitrites in the tank, thus the readings of 0 after being in your tank several hours. The nitrite to nitrate conversion is fairly quick in a healthy system.

3) Aeration is not particulary effective in removing nitrite

4) I have never heard of a chemical giving a false positive for nitrite, thats not to say it doesn't happen, but I would have to guess that the reading is real, and there are actually nitrites in your tap. Sounds like your area is due to flush there pipes. I would be curious to see if you get a nitrate rise that is significant. Try testing for nitrates just after you add the tap water to your tank and again when the nitrite reading drops to zero.

5) Purigen does not remove nitrite, it does however remove dissolved organics which degrade into ammonia>nitrite>nitrate. So it is not the purigen that is responsable for the nitrite drop, its your bio-filter.

6) My only guess is to what is happening at your water treatment plant is they are treating with chloramine which is a chlorine+ammonia mix, and the chloramine is unstable and breaking down to its core componenets (chlorine and ammonia). Then, somewhere between the treatment facility and your house, the pipes have built up there own bio filter and the ammonia is being broken down into nitrite. But, this is just a guess, and maybe not a good one at that.

No no I apreciate your response sounds like it is a good one, but I would think I would have seen a gradual rise not an all of the sudden boom of .5 nitrite spkie like this. and do you really think my nitryfying bacteria would have a suficent amount and time to knock out those kind of nitrites in a seven hour period? considering it was basically two 80% water changes back to back? Like I said I never had this problem in the last 5 moths and if my ph is a 6.8 fter aging the amonia it would prodcue would be the less harmful amonium correct so that should not be a concern there and yes they do treat with chlorimines but like I said you would think I would have seen a gadual rise in the nitrites not all of the sudden like this. I do not normally check for nitrates becuase of the amount and fenquncy of water changes I do keep on helping me out here could be getting closer to an answer thank you

[tcyiu]

..and the chloramine is unstable and breaking down to its core componenets (chlorine and ammonia).

I agree with most of what nc0gnet0 posted. But I have always read that chloramine is used because it is stable. i.e. what gets injected into the system at the source is mostly delivered to the tap.

What else could contribute to the nitrites (assuming no false readings)?

Tim

[Discus master]

I agree with most of what nc0gnet0 posted. But I have always read that chloramine is used because it is stable. i.e. what gets injected into the system at the source is mostly delivered to the tap.

What else could contribute to the nitrites (assuming no false readings)?

Tim

I have no clue becuase the man told me that there is absolutely no possible way for there to be any nitrites I do not know about that bio filter idea becuase the water is treated there would be nothing for the bio filter to feed on at that point it be like running your filter with just tank water and nothing else ther be no way for your bio filter to devolpe with out a source of nitrogeon and if there is chlormines in the tap that would kill any bio filter thus nio bio filter could possible live in the pipes becuase its treated water only when we treat it and add it to our tanks with an amonia source can it grow with the chlorine in the water this would kill any bio action going on in the pipes so I am not buying the bio filter idea so if not for a false reading were else could the nitrites be comming from?? It has to be a false reading theres no way my tank could handle that much nitrites if it could I could have 100 discus in my 55 gallon tank theres just no way my bactria will only grow to the point of the food source that it is getting from my bio load does this make sense??

[nc0gnet0]

I have no clue becuase the man told me that there is absolutely no possible way for there to be any nitrites I do not know about that bio filter idea becuase the water is treated there would be nothing for the bio filter to feed on at that point it be like running your filter with just tank water and nothing else ther be no way for your bio filter to devolpe with out a source of nitrogeon and if there is chlormines in the tap that would kill any bio filter thus nio bio filter could possible live in the pipes becuase its treated water only when we treat it and add it to our tanks with an amonia source can it grow with the chlorine in the water this would kill any bio action going on in the pipes so I am not buying the bio filter idea so if not for a false reading were else could the nitrites be comming from??

Now that's a run-on sentence if I ever seen one...makes my head hurt! ;)

Like I said, your treating with Prime, which is great, but prime DOES NOT remove nitrites...read the bottle....it detoxifies them. Old pipes have areas of reduced flow, partial clogs all the time, this is how bio material could possibly exist in the pipes themselves. The trouble is, if it is a false reading, then why is it reduced to zero after it is in your tank for several hours? This tells me it is indeed nitrite and your tank bio filter is removing it (not the prime).


It has to be a false reading theres no way my tank could handle that much nitrites if it could I could have 100 discus in my 55 gallon tank theres just no way my bactria will only grow to the point of the food source that it is getting from my bio load does this make sense??

If you had 100 discus in a 50 gallon tank your nitrites and ammonia would be much higher than .5 ppm, trust me. I do not know your exact filtration setup, but a reduction of .5 ppm over 7 hours is very feasable IMHO.


I agree with most of what nc0gnet0 posted. But I have always read that chloramine is used because it is stable. i.e. what gets injected into the system at the source is mostly delivered to the tap.

What else could contribute to the nitrites (assuming no false readings)?

Just to clarify, I am not saying chloramine is unstable, just perhaps this particular water companies chloramine might be, or, there is another source of ammonia that is being converted to nitrite. it would be interesting to test the water as it left the water filtration plant and before it entered the pipes. But, this last part of my post was just a WAG. I am curious has the OP tested the tap water for ammonia?

[Discus master]

tested for amonia in the tank and it reads 0 using api test strips,

i guess i will just do what i have been doing age water and do water change. been doing this why, well except the aging part for several months now no issues. Other wise what would you do in this situation?

[acroken]

i would not trust anything your water company tells you;) it is all about cya with them. I would do smaller water changes more frequently when you notice anything strange with your tap water.

Kenny

[nc0gnet0]

Doesn't seem to be a whole lot you can do, I might be inclined to do more frequesnt small changes then large changes.

Me being the over-curious person I am, I would want to get to the root cause of the issue. I would first start by testing for ammonia in your tap water. And I do not hold much confidence in test "strips".

[Discus master]

Doesn't seem to be a whole lot you can do, I might be inclined to do more frequesnt small changes then large changes.

Me being the over-curious person I am, I would want to get to the root cause of the issue. I would first start by testing for ammonia in your tap water. And I do not hold much confidence in test "strips".

Well thats why I called the water company and posted my concern here and been doing multiple tests as I am not only courious but concernd as well. I am a technican so I am very technically inclined and trouble shoting is what I do hence the questions the details and the tests I have done thus far. I feel as if though I have done a ton of research on water chemistry and am diggin deep into this one. I will test the tap and the tank and the storgae barrel all over again when I get home and today is water chnge day. I alwyas do very large water changes so this will be dificult for me to do smaller more often changes but I would be comfortable with daily 50% changes untill this situation gets resolved. thanks for all the advice and help thus far I will keep on digging at it.

[bstreep]

I'm a longtime (35+year) reefer - and a molecular biologist by education.

I'm also very active in our local reef club. If I had a nickel for the number of times I've seen people chase a chemistry problem WITHOUT testing their test kit (or calibrating their probes), I'd be rich. Believe it or not, these kits, especially, the cheap ones, are often wrong. False positives (especially with API's nitrate and ammonia kits), false negatives (phosphate kits), bad reagents (admitted by the manufacturer), etc. Here are my rules for testing:

1) Don't add anything to your tank that you don't test for.

2) Buy the best test kits: I ONLY purchase Salifert. You get what you pay for. You can lose a ton ($$$) of livestock or spend a bunch of money chasing the results from a bad kit.

3) ALWAYS suspect your test kit! And when you do, take a sample of your tank (sealed ziplock with no air), along with YOUR kit to your LFS. BOTH of you, using different kits, test the water.

4) Remember that reagents have short shelf lives - 12 months at the max. Replace them often.

[nc0gnet0]

bstreep

The fact that he is testing positive for nitrites at the tap and after a while in the tank the level drops to zero is a pretty good indicator something is amiss with his water, not his test kit. Now, if the nitrites continued to test positive after being in the tank several hours, which they don't, then the first thing I would check is the test kit itself.

[Tito]

Everything points to biological bacteria shortly before your faucet. Could be a particular pipe of some sort.

I wouldn't sweat it. You filter will handle it.

[Discus master]

I'm a longtime (35+year) reefer - and a molecular biologist by education.

I'm also very active in our local reef club. If I had a nickel for the number of times I've seen people chase a chemistry problem WITHOUT testing their test kit (or calibrating their probes), I'd be rich. Believe it or not, these kits, especially, the cheap ones, are often wrong. False positives (especially with API's nitrate and ammonia kits), false negatives (phosphate kits), bad reagents (admitted by the manufacturer), etc. Here are my rules for testing:

1) Don't add anything to your tank that you don't test for.

2) Buy the best test kits: I ONLY purchase Salifert. You get what you pay for. You can lose a ton ($$$) of livestock or spend a bunch of money chasing the results from a bad kit.

3) ALWAYS suspect your test kit! And when you do, take a sample of your tank (sealed ziplock with no air), along with YOUR kit to your LFS. BOTH of you, using different kits, test the water.

4) Remember that reagents have short shelf lives - 12 months at the max. Replace them often.

Well I certainly respect your thoughts and advice and no no no doubt you have a ton of experince and I am not doubting for one minute your ideas. But let me tell you this I was begining to think that my test kit might be bad, but here is the thing I am only 5 months into the hobby and the first test kit I bought was a Tetra test kit and only in the last say 3 months I bought the api liquid regent kit so I know I have not exceded its shelf life, unless it was already close to its experation on the shelf at that fish place where I purchased it only a few months ago. Saying that I used and tested with both kits I had a little of the Tetra tes kit left and both came out to be the same results. Now here is a quick up date I still had a .5 nitrite reading in my water barrel and this is afdter oh about 48 hours worth of again and some airation as well the ph stabalized the first night and in several hours at the 6.8 the water company agreed with this number as well. I did the water change about 50% instead of the typical 80% and I re tested for nitrites after only 2 hours and guess what they were down to 0!! only after mabye two hours! and they were at just about .5 rite after the water change. So is my nitrifying bacteria working that fast? is it possible? and if my kit was bad or I was getting a false reading why did it go down now twice after being in the tank X amoiunt of time but no change in the water barrel? This leads me to believe there are nitrites in my tap water where for the past 5 months there were none for some reason ow there are? and this is after a 20 or so minute conversation witht he water authority and him sayintg over and over again there is no possible way for there to be nitrites in the water out of the tap just no way. I will take your advice and go to the fish place tomorrow after work as I have to get some more supplies I may buy a new test kit and I will take a sample of tap water and water in my storage barrel as well as my tank water and see what they come up with/ I have not thought of letting the lfs test it I use to all the time before I bought my API kit and I thought API test kits were one of the best? am I mistaken I hear a lot of experinced discus keepers here on SD say they use the API test master kit/ I did not buy the entire kit just a few of the main test but please thank you for your ideas and please keep them comming I reallyt need to figure this out and I do not know what to do. I did watch my fish very closely after the water change tonight and the ate out of my hand like normal and acted as if htough nothing was worng. If there are nitrites maybe the bacteria is taking care if it so fast the fish do not even notice??? is this possible??? oh and as always thank you ver very much it is all very apreciated.

[Discus master]

Everything points to biological bacteria shortly before your faucet. Could be a particular pipe of some sort.

I wouldn't sweat it. You filter will handle it.

So you are saying no worries as my BIO filter is taking care of it did you just read my last post I tested my storage barrel after work still after 48 hours a .5 did the water change any way I had no choice it was time tested the water and it was close to a .5 I tested it again not even 2 hours latter and down to a 0 already it may even be going down faster than that for all I know and the fish do not seem to be botherd like the bio filter is taking care of it before the fish even notice??

My question is would I not have seen a gradual increase over the last couple of weeks in regards to the nitrites out of the facut or at least prior to a water change and not a .5 staright away? I know I never really tested for nitrits out of the faucet but a couple of times but when I had spikes in the tank and did a watyer change and tested imeadiately afterward to make sure they came down they always did. If nitries were building up would I not have seen a gradual increase over some time???

[nc0gnet0]

So you are saying no worries as my BIO filter is taking care of it did you just read my last post I tested my storage barrel after work still after 48 hours a .5 did the water change any way I had no choice it was time tested the water and it was close to a .5 I tested it again not even 2 hours latter and down to a 0 already it may even be going down faster than that for all I know and the fish do not seem to be botherd like the bio filter is taking care of it before the fish even notice??

Once again, you can aerate your water for three weeks and it won't remove the nitrites. You can add prime and it will still test positive for nitrites. After treating with prime however, it will no longer be toxic to your fish.

Continue to monitor the situation, continue to treat with prime, and call you water company and tell them they are full of .........

[Discus master]

Once again, you can aerate your water for three weeks and it won't remove the nitrites. You can add prime and it will still test positive for nitrites. After treating with prime however, it will no longer be toxic to your fish.

Continue to monitor the situation, continue to treat with prime, and call you water company and tell them they are full of .........

Yeah I will I know my tests are good but like I said and you said I am just going to treat with prime let it age for a day then do my water changes as usuall did you read where I wrote that within two hours the nitires were reading zero already? Heck it may be happening faster for all I knwo I ll test after just one hour next time, the fish do not seem to mind or care at all about it.

[Jennie]

What about putting a cycled sponge in the barrel and keeping it fed?

[Discus master]

What about putting a cycled sponge in the barrel and keeping it fed?

Well that was actually sugested by another member during a pm but the issues I have with this is I would have to take it out before I filled it up each time becuase of the chlorine that would be in the water before I treated it plus like you said I would have to keep it feed. I already had to go out and buy two heatrs a submersible pump for doing the water change which I also use for airatio and all it just be another added step in the whole proces I am trying to keep to a minimual. But if it only takes an hour or two I was thinking of puting my hydro V sponge from my main tank in there just for a couple of hours test the water once it read 0 again then putting it back into the main tank I do not think this would be to much of a pain to do it be quick and I would not have to worry about feeding it plus the water would be treated already so thats an option. But then on he other hand I am not sure how neded it is sense the nitries returnted to 0 after only a couple of hours and it may be faster I need to check sooner to try and figure out just how long it does take. But like I said the fish o not seem to be botherd by it at all I think my becteria are taking care of it so fast my fish do not even notice it in the water for the brife amouint of time that it is.

[Jennie]

you can buy a sponge at any LFS for few bucks and hook it up to your air line. Keeping it fed is simply adding ammo to water. Was just a thought.
Well that was actually sugested by another member during a pm but the issues I have with this is I would have to take it out before I filled it up each time becuase of the chlorine that would be in the water before I treated it plus like you said I would have to keep it feed. I already had to go out and buy two heatrs a submersible pump for doing the water change which I also use for airatio and all it just be another added step in the whole proces I am trying to keep to a minimual. But if it only takes an hour or two I was thinking of puting my hydro V sponge from my main tank in there just for a couple of hours test the water once it read 0 again then putting it back into the main tank I do not think this would be to much of a pain to do it be quick and I would not have to worry about feeding it plus the water would be treated already so thats an option. But then on he other hand I am not sure how neded it is sense the nitries returnted to 0 after only a couple of hours and it may be faster I need to check sooner to try and figure out just how long it does take. But like I said the fish o not seem to be botherd by it at all I think my becteria are taking care of it so fast my fish do not even notice it in the water for the brife amouint of time that it is.

[flyman767]

Discusmaster,

IMO..this is nothing to worry about. I believe it happens more than you realize. I don't think too many of fish keepers check for nitrites in the tap water every time a w/c is performed. Having said all that..long as you use a quality dechlorinator, as previously said, the nitrite is detoxed and removed by the filter. The fish are never in danger.

I certainly would not remove my cycled sponge or any sponge back and forth in a storage container and back into a established tank. This does expose yourself to possible contamination issues and is totally unnecessary IMO...Ray

[Jennie]

I wouldn't move my sponge either. Why I suggest dmaster just buy one.


DL65,

IMO..this is nothing to worry about. I believe it happens more than you realize. I don't think too many of fish keepers check for nitrates in the tap water every time a w/c is performed. Having said all that..long as you use a quality dechlorinator, as previously said, the nitrite is detoxed and removed by the filter. The fish are never in danger.

I certainly would not remove my cycled sponge or any sponge back and forth in a storage container and back into a established tank. This does expose yourself to possible contamination issues and is totally unnecessary IMO...Ray

[Tito]

Here's a MOUNTAIN and here's a hill.

You have a hill.

LOL You're making yourself crazy.

Please take this as the funny that it is. Really - I think you're reading to deep into it. I bet your fish are fine.

[flyman767]

I wouldn't move my sponge either. Why I suggest dmaster just buy one.

Sorry DL65..meant to address to discusmaster..edit made

[Discus master]

you can buy a sponge at any LFS for few bucks and hook it up to your air line. Keeping it fed is simply adding ammo to water. Was just a thought.

Yeah I know but I hate to do that when it be like kind of sort of defeating the point of a water change, I see what you are trying to do and I agree to a point but as long as the prime is making it non toxic and the fish are not showing any signs of stress the nitriets go to 0 very fast after entering the tank I think I am probably in the clear but I think I will buy a test kit for nitrates I never did becuase of all the large frequent water changes I do but yeah good sugestion.

[Discus master]

Here's a MOUNTAIN and here's a hill.

You have a hill.

LOL You're making yourself crazy.

Please take this as the funny that it is. Really - I think you're reading to deep into it. I bet your fish are fine.

I keep on saying that I am just going to do what I have been just treat age heat and change like I have been fish are fine not showing any signs of stress they are good to go but it was certainly a coriuos thing but yeah I made my mind up on what to do nothing just going to keep on keepin on lol as long as my fish are happy no signs of stress and everyhting is rite in the world then I think it is fine thanks for everyones in put though for reall alwyas aways and I do mean always apreciated you know that from me to be true thanks a bunch you all!!!!!

[DerekFF]

Now here is a quick up date I still had a .5 nitrite reading in my water barrel and this is afdter oh about 48 hours worth of again and some airation as well the ph stabalized the first night and in several hours at the 6.8 the water company agreed with this number as well. I did the water change about 50% instead of the typical 80% and I re tested for nitrites after only 2 hours and guess what they were down to 0!! only after mabye two hours! and they were at just about .5 rite after the water change. So is my nitrifying bacteria working that fast? .

I dunno how big your tank is, but for example lets say you have a 100g tank with 0 nitrites. You do a 50% WC with water that has .5 nitrites. You now have 100g of water with .25nitrites. Add in your bio filter (depending on how much you have) and your GPM on the pump and itll clear out those nitrites pretty quick and immediatly your nitrite reading should be lower than .5

[Discus master]

I dunno how big your tank is, but for example lets say you have a 100g tank with 0 nitrites. You do a 50% WC with water that has .5 nitrites. You now have 100g of water with .25nitrites. Add in your bio filter (depending on how much you have) and your GPM on the pump and itll clear out those nitrites pretty quick and immediatly your nitrite reading should be lower than .5

Yeah I know I alreday did the math in my head as well, but the problem is I was doing more like 80% water changes which would put me closer to that .5 reading say maybe a .4 or something like that. I have a 55 gallon tank and a canister filter that puts out roughly 296 gph at optimum perfo9rmance so say with dirty lines running for about 5 months now and with filter media in the canister flow is probably more like 255 gph I am guessing still pretty good for a 55 gallon and still works the 55 gallons thru within an hour a few times in an hour so it probably takes less than an hour to get thru my system and bring the rate down to 0 I checked after an hour and 3/4 and it was gone it probably be faster!

[Jhhnn]

I always add prime to my aging barrels before filling. It's just my routine, my way of making sure it's been done. no prime, no water. As a consequence, the barrels have an internal slime coating that my microscope tells me is actually bacteria, the same as in my biofilter.

If you wring out an established sponge filter, put it in your barrel, add prime before filling, the bacterial colony will maintain itself at whatever level conditions allow. The actual # of bacteria will likely fall from when it was transferred, no big deal because they'll consume the remains of their dead comrades just the same as any other organic material. Every time you add tapwater, you'll add food, because even very pure tapwater has some organic content. You won't have to do anything else to maintain biofiltration in your aging barrel, because the whole thing is basically self balancing with regular water changes.

Adding tempered water, not ice cold, will help the bacteria do their job...

Capische?

[nc0gnet0]

Depending on the amount of chlorine/chloromine in the water this maybe true.

[Ed13]

Discus master, yes, 7hrs is plenty of time for a healthy and abundant popullation of bacteria to consume .5 of nitrite.