How to Remove Nitrite

Nitrite NO2 Ion

After having cleaned out my entire 10gal aquarium (as you may have seen from my previous posts) and replacing all the gravel substrate I didn't check my water quality since I had ran out of test strips and had added my male guppies to the tank within 24hrs I believe (obviously the tank needed to cycle). Well, that resulted in losing one of my male guppies after a few days (the reason why my guppies weren't being active in the first place) and luckily I was able to move my 2 remaining male guppies back into there old aquarium with the females and they made a speedy full recovery in 1-3days.

So now that I have test strips I realized, yes, I did have a nitrite issue (no ammonia though in case you were wondering). The only time I ever have a nitrite issue is when I replace the substrate. Generally I'd clean the entire tank out again (rinsing all the decor and such as well) and it would rid me of my nitrite issue (which sounds weird but it has worked for me in the past). So I decided I didn't want to go through the headache of cleaning my tank out again and wanted to find a product that could rid my tank of nitrite (as my nitrite level ranged from 0.5 - 3.0).

I was extremely skeptical I'd even find a product that could actually eliminate nitrite, especially having really hard well-water, which is generally pretty stubborn to alter. So, I went into PetSmart having no luck finding what I had initially been looking for and then I finally found ONE product in the whole store that day (which happened to be a bit pricey as well), it being my only option without having to go on a major product hunt I purchased a small bottle of... Tetra SafeStart.

I got home, followed the directions... removed the carbon filter, shook the bottle of Tetra SafeStart and poured in 1/3 of the bottle into my 10gal tank. Less then 10hrs later I tested the water and...NO nitrite whatsoever! It's seriously a miracle product which I can now recommend to you if you're battling nitrite. This product also claims to remove ammonia although, I had no ammonia so I'm not sure if it will combat that or not.

*Update* It has been months now since using Tetra SafeStart and I have not had a nitrite issue since I first began using this product. I know how some products can seem to work for a very short time (if at all) but that was not an issue when I used this. Or it is possible this product worked long enough for my tank to catch up in the cycling process before this product could have possibly ever worn off. So, I still really recommend trying this if you're having similar issues as I did because it worked perfectly for me.