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Used Tap Water to Top Water Two Plants

Two nights ago I used tap water to top water two small plants that didn't have established enough root systems to reach the flood level in my GBs. I used no more than a pint of water and didn't think the chloromines would be enough to affect the system. Last night I tested my water and realized that the nitrites had spiked to between .25ppm and .50ppm. I'm assuming the chloromine has begun killing my bacteria. Any ideas on how to correct the problem fast? Right now I am going down to do the following to the system:

1) 50 percent water change

2) I've stopped feeding the fish

Does anyone know how long I can expect the chloromine to affect my system?

Thanks for any advice anyone can share.

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Permalink Reply by Harold Sukhbir on December 8, 2012 at 11:48am

Hi Roger,

Just stop the feeding. If you haven't did the water change yet...........hold on a bit. If your top up was a small enough(less than 25%)percentage of the total system volume water you should be OK after some time has passed. In one system i held off feeding for about 21 days without any problems for the fish/plants. I basically had to let the system passively recycle on its own because of operator error.

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Permalink Reply by Jon Parr on December 12, 2012 at 7:50am

I agree with Harold. Chlorine damage is pretty rapid (I'm assuming Chloramine is as well), so changing the water does not necessarily remove any chlorine or choramine, but certainly does remove some of the remaining bacterial that are still alive. You might benefit by moving the fish to a safe place asap, but I'd let the bacteria work itself out.