high NITRITE now.. wtf

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
you dont remove the nitrites during the cycle, they get converted by nitrifying bacteria into nitrates. nitrates will accumulate in the tank and either be eaten by plants, or removed via a water change. the rest, a miniscule fraction, will evaporate into the atmosphere.

your tank gets ammonia, which kicks off the nitrogen cycle. nitrifying bacteria eat the ammonia and create nitrites, more bacteria then converts the nitrites into nitrates. if you starve the bacteria of the nitrites by removing them (essentially you're not feeding the bacteria), the bacteria will die, since there's no food source. this is why water changes during a fishless cycle are counter productive. when your ammonia zero's out, it's natural to see a spike in nitrites. once the nitrites zero out, you'll have between 20-40ppm of nitrates, any more and you do water changes to adjust.

my advice is this, dont do another water change. keep adding ammonia, but not enough for it to be measurable after a few hours (the established bacteria should be converting it to nitrItes). let the nitrites spike, when they even off to zero, and you've got ammonia and nitrites at zero, then add your fish. in the meantime, i'd set up a hospital tank...5g bucket, whatever you have to do, and not put any fish in the cycling tank. you could change the filter and do 70% water changes for the rest of your life, or you could wait for the tank to cycle and not have to do nearly as much maintinence. let the cycle run it's course.
 
So if you are getting nitrates you clearly have bacteria to convert nitrite.

If you over doesed with ammonia you probably killed off some of the nitrite converting bacteria as they are a bit sensitive to high amounts of ammonia. You probably just need to let the nitrite bacteria back up to level. If you stop adding anything to the tank nitrite will come down.
 
per the bottle says you can add fish upon day 1 but have to continue dosing.
i was following what other members on here have done and were successful with doing to fishless cycle.

dose tank w. ammonia + stability... although to reasoning beyond my control - i overdosed my tank and so the games began.

@lilol - Even with 1ppm of nitrite - i know this is verrry toxic; Will Salt & prime be enough?

I dont even know if a 75-90 PWC will even help? something is going on - and tank HAS to be cycles because presents of 20+ PPM of NITRATE.
 
I would just do waterchanges. you bacteria is on your filter, not your water, so it shouldn't hurt your cycle. it might slow the cycle down, but I'd rather do waterchanges during a cycle then risk nitrite poisoning.
 
thanks for insight guys.

I left tank alone for a week straight when ammonia dropped to Zero reading and my nitrites were off the chart... i still dosed w. Stability tho.

only TWO(2) days ago did I start doing PWC - because of such high NITRITES.. I was also getting a reading of 40PPM of nitrates

This morning nitrates were 20-30ppm (nice orange color) per API master kit.

NOTE: when i test for NITRITE I do following..

Shake NITRITE bottle for ~15 secs, 5 drops.. Cap and shake for 5-10 seconds... let sit for 5 min... It SLOWLY changes from clear blue to a light purple / violet. reading .50-1ppm - im suggesting the later.

NITRATE test:

Shake bottle #1... add 10 drops
Cap - tilt 2-3 times.
Shake bottle #2 riggorously 30+ seconds... 10 drops.
Then i shake as suggested for 1 minute. and let stand for 5 mins.

I tested both NITRITE and NITRATE two(2) times last night and this morning.

I think what is happening is the water i'm adding to the tank has traces of ammonia after being treated w. prime - which is causing BB to convert to NITRITE - hence my entire issue?

I have spare 5G bucket... I will accumulate the cichlids to that and hold for a day???..


I have 10 fish on the way.(juvies)
 
Not sure why you needed to bump this as it got a lot of responses.

Yeah I would hold the new fish in a bucket, treated with prime for chlorine and the ammonia you have. I would retest your water once they are done working on the pipes and flush the water in your pipes when they are done.

It seems you have all the right bacteria in your tank you just need to give them some time to work
 
Nitrate and Nitrite test kits throw out some odd results when ammonia is present. Nitrate kits are also thrown our by nitrite present.

Nitrate may be showing up in the tank as it could be present in the tap water to begin with (pretty sure you showed a tap water reading)

If the tap water is still showing ammonia as a long term thing then get it tested for chloramine too. You may need to invest in an hma filter (see uk devotedly discus) it will solve the issue without the waste of an ro.

Research chloramine as it is not as easily removed as chlorine.

Also...delay the fish or get a friend or local fish shop to look after them, I would not let the fish suffer. Solve the cycling first and then stock it.
 
You can also cycle a new tank by
filling it with water
adding filtration
introducing fish

GL
HTH
 
Fish are here, when i get back home i'll check water params.

and wish flush water in pipes and test source water - maybe they resolved the ammonia issue from my water.

Otherwise, I'll qt / hold them in a 5g bucket as i watch water params throughout the night.
 
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