High Nitrites, slight ammona

thanks what % water change should i do if need be 10% or more and thanks for your help MY fish and coral thank you

 

Just an update my ammonia is basically 0 and nitrites are almost zero now nitrates are around 20 . so hopefully everything will be okay now

 

Good deal. I am glad it went down.

 

agreed, prob just went a bit too fast, added with disturbing the sand bed... Do your best not to disturb that when you do your changes. I'm about 99% sure that's what caused my ammonia spike when i moved last, unfortunately mine was fast and big and it killed everything within about 6 hours. I'd let your tank rest now for a good 3-4 weeks before adding anything else, keep an eye on the ammonia and such and you should be good. Just out of curiosity, what type of filter media do you have that you cleaned?

 

As long as your ammonia and nitrites are 0, you are in the safe zone. In a fish only system, nitrates 40 and below are "acceptable." In reef tanks, less than 20 are "safe." Obviously we would like to have it at 0 24/7, but realistically, it doesn't happen. Puffers are a waste factory, so GREAT filtration is needed when you keep them. I purchased my Bubble King skimmer because of my predator tank, in fact. If you don't have one in place, I would highly recommend putting in place a refugium to absorb those nutrients naturally.

 

Oh, I forgot to add, striped puffers do get fairly large. He will need about 100G to himself once he matures. I had one too. I purchased my 150G tank because of the puffers I had. Keep an eye on him. Puffers are very curious and like to nibble at thing they see moving around in the tank.