fishless cycle will the high nitrite ever end?
- Thread starter jhicks
- Start date
Personally, I would do a water change to knock it down a bit. There's no advantage to letting it stay so high, as your tank will never see such a high level when it is operating in a stable condition. Your cycle will still continue to progress even if you lower the nitrite concentration to a couple ppm. The super high nitrites might also be inhibiting the growth of your bacterial colony, but that's just speculation on my part.
Personally, I think waiting for the entire amount of nitrites to dissipate on it's own wastes some time. When I cycle my own tanks, as long as I see a significant amount of nitrate produced, that tells me nitrite is successfully being converted to nitrate. That's when I do a 100% water change and begin stocking, even if there was still a little nitrite remaining. You should, of course, monitor your water parameters closely after stocking with fish when you're establishing a new tank.
Personally, I think waiting for the entire amount of nitrites to dissipate on it's own wastes some time. When I cycle my own tanks, as long as I see a significant amount of nitrate produced, that tells me nitrite is successfully being converted to nitrate. That's when I do a 100% water change and begin stocking, even if there was still a little nitrite remaining. You should, of course, monitor your water parameters closely after stocking with fish when you're establishing a new tank.
You could do a w/c as suggested (it won't hurt anything), however, your nitrites should crash soon on their own. Personally I would leave it be.
My 125G was having the same issue with the high Nitrite reading during fishless cycling. I did a 50% water change, continued daily ammonia dosing to stay around 2ppm, turned the heater up to 84F and they are finally starting to drop. I've been an 0.5 Nitrite for 4 days now. Just be a bit more patient, even though it's difficult.
i did 50% water change it looks like it brought down to 1ppm nitrite or it could be 5ppm they kind of look the same to me. i also add a new filter i thougth it might help marineland 400 it also has ac110. also i am note showing any nitrate readings yet is this normal?
If you did a 50% w/c and got a 1-5 ppm reading afterwards your nitrite wasn't that outrageous to start with. Having said that there is a big difference between one and five ppm. I prefer API test kits as I find them easier to read. My reason for not wanting to do a w/c during the cycle is tha it is harder to predict with any accuracy where in the cycle I am.
From the information you have given you are on day 20 more or less.
If you look at the following chart you are right on track.
For those who don't agree with the time line, keep in mind, the time (in days) can and does contract and expand depending on variables, but the chart seems to be a fairly accurate representation of what one might expect to encounter in the process.
To the OP : Don't mess with the process. Just let it run it's course.
From the information you have given you are on day 20 more or less.
If you look at the following chart you are right on track.
For those who don't agree with the time line, keep in mind, the time (in days) can and does contract and expand depending on variables, but the chart seems to be a fairly accurate representation of what one might expect to encounter in the process.
To the OP : Don't mess with the process. Just let it run it's course.
And this is why I don't do fishless cycling. Throw some Giant danios with Stability and your finished. That's how I do it. Hate it or love it.
Well, according to your tank setup stats you have a 35 hex and a 29 gallon.
With all due respect, do you propose that someone with a monster tank adopt your methodology ? I'm just asking.
What I like best about "fishless Cycling" (other than the fact you aren't asking a living creature to be the recipient of your experiment) is it compels you to think. You wind up having at least a working knowlege of the Nitrfication cycle. Done correctly, it requires that you document your effort. It quickly teaches you how to test your water parameters and record the results. Done correctly you will know for certain that when you do stock your tank you will not be inflicting undue stress on those fish that you choose to be responsible for. At the end of the day this makes for a better fish keeper. That's my opinion, love it or hate it.
With all due respect, do you propose that someone with a monster tank adopt your methodology ? I'm just asking.
What I like best about "fishless Cycling" (other than the fact you aren't asking a living creature to be the recipient of your experiment) is it compels you to think. You wind up having at least a working knowlege of the Nitrfication cycle. Done correctly, it requires that you document your effort. It quickly teaches you how to test your water parameters and record the results. Done correctly you will know for certain that when you do stock your tank you will not be inflicting undue stress on those fish that you choose to be responsible for. At the end of the day this makes for a better fish keeper. That's my opinion, love it or hate it.
dawnmarie;4258032; said:Well, according to your tank setup stats you have a 35 hex and a 29 gallon.
With all due respect, do you propose that someone with a monster tank adopt your methodology ? I'm just asking.
What I like best about "fishless Cycling" (other than the fact you aren't asking a living creature to be the recipient of your experiment) is it compels you to think. You wind up having at least a working knowlege of the Nitrfication cycle. Done correctly, it requires that you document your effort. It quickly teaches you how to test your water parameters and record the results. Done correctly you will know for certain that when you do stock your tank you will not be inflicting undue stress on those fish that you choose to be responsible for. At the end of the day this makes for a better fish keeper. That's my opinion, love it or hate it.
Just because it says I have only them tanks doesn't mean I haven't had a "big" tank or that I still don't own this tank. Using fish to cycle doesn't mean you don't think. You still have to monitor parameters. Any responsible fishkeeper knows this. It's up to the fish keeper if they want to cause stress to the said fish or not. All in all, both ways work. So just up to the fishkeeper really.