What's causing my high nitrate levels?

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punman said:
Do you have a friend/acquaintance fish keeper in the neighbourhood who could lend you some established media (a sponge for example)?

I have been back into tropical fish for the last 15 years and have only cycled a tank once. When I want to set up a new tank or have torn down an old one for a while, I fill the new tank with 80%-85% fresh water, treat for chlorine, add heater and empty filter and run a few hours to make sure temperature is where it needs to be.

Then I add a sponge from my established tank (or two if it is a bigger tank) and Bio-Max from my established tank and immediately add the new fish and top off with some old tank water. I have done this with sensitive Tanganyika fish, even wild caughts and never lost a fish. I am careful not to feed too much the first week nor add too many fish that week.

I have set up tanks at work a 15 min. drive away using the same method; bringing media from home, keeping media submerged in tank water in a bucket, and doing the transfer as soon as I arrive at work. I am not sure how long media can retain beneficial bacteria without circulation and how much temperature change the media can handle, so I try to be quick with this scenario and not press my luck.

I have heard some people say to add mostly established tank water and established gravel but I have not found that to make a difference myself. The established media is the key.
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Beneficial bacteria lives on all surfaces inside the aquarium gravel included decorations live plants your name all of those things will help kickstart the cycle in a tank. Sometimes it’s not possible for someone to get any cycled media but you can buy a live plants from a pet store that will have beneficial bacteria on it. Heck you could put the cycled gravel in inside your filter for that matter.
 
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Although bottled bacteria can hasten the cycle, bottled bacteria are in a dormant state, and need time to become non-dormant and start to divide into a large enough, and robust enough population to handle the fish load. They may handle a few small fish, but if you jump right in with a large group of fish, you are probably pushing the envelope.
I believe (as a former microbiologist) many of the claims made of instant cycling are over optimistic.
In all my sumps, I keep extra containers filled with media (old filters, floating bio-wheels, rocks, junk, anything else that bacteria will grow on to start a cycle in new set ups).
You can often get seasoned media from members of a local aquarium club or society that are much more effective than dormant bacteria that's been sitting a long time in bottles.


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Thank you everyone so much for your feedback. I have an update. I checked my water quality today and my tank now appears to be cycled. Or at least almost cycled. Thanks to the fish iv sacrificed over the past month. I just need your opinions on my water quality now. I posted a picture. I think my nitrite is between 0ppm and 0.25ppm. Ammonia and nitrate is in the picture too. Is it safe to add fish? Ph is about 8.2.

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Your nitrite has not cleared out yet

Nitrate looks great at 40ppm on a fully cycled tank.

If it was my tank, I would add 1/4" cup of ammonia per 100 gallons, until ammonia is in the 2-5 ppm green, and wait until its back into the yellow. At 0ppm.
 
markstrimaran said:
Your nitrite has not cleared out yet

Nitrate looks great at 40ppm on a fully cycled tank.

If it was my tank, I would add 1/4" cup of ammonia per 100 gallons, until ammonia is in the 2-5 ppm green, and wait until its back into the yellow. At 0ppm.
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Okay should I head out to my local fish store to see if they have ammonia or somewhere else. Do I have a short window to add ammonia before my bacteria die?
 
You must have done a water change. That nitrite doesn't just go away. It turns into nitrate by nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. So this doesn't tell us anything.

You also need to shake nitrate solution #2 like crazy for at least 2 minutes when testing. Not doing so can give a false negative.
 
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tarheel96 said:
You must have done a water change. That nitrite doesn't just go away. It turns into nitrate by nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. So this doesn't tell us anything.

You also need to shake nitrate solution #2 like crazy for at least 2 minutes when testing. Not doing so can give a false negative.
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I actually haven't done any water changes since my nitrite levels were through the roof. Soooooo there must be some explanation as to why the nitrite went away
 
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