nitrite readings after jump starting new bass tank

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wheatgerm

wheatgerm

Plecostomus
MFK Member
May 22, 2010
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utah
i didnt really know where to post this but i was hoping some of my cichla friends could help me out on this one.
i recently built a new 360gal and replaced my 400gal (better footprint)
i just shocked or "jumpstarted" the bio in the new tank from the old tank. basicall just took all the k1 from the 400 and 80% of the water and pumped it into the 360 also added all the bass the same day. ive done this in the past and never had issues.
well its been up and running a week and i decided to test my water params what my tests show is ammonia slim to none, nitrites about 1.0 (nitrites levels always read 0 in all my tanks) nitrates about 20-40ppm.
the ammonia and nitrates are about average but the nitrites are concerning me. bass all seem happy as can be but i dont like these levels being this high.... i did add unestablished sand to the 360 and thats my only guess why the levels would be higher?

any ideas? or is this normal with jumpstarting a new tank? do i need to be worried or should these levels go back to zero after a week or two?
 
Tank is going through a mini-cycle. Do daily 25% percent water changes and continue testing the water each day before the water change until you see the numbers come back to where they should be. Any sign of ammonia and or nitrites would indacate an uncycled aquarium.
 
Shouldnt be an issue if you just keep with water changes as suggested by Tom until it fixes itself.
 
Cool thanks guys. Ive got the rank set up on a drip system and have had it turned up a little higher ever since I noticed the nitrites were high this has cut them in half of what they were but they are still higher than what I like my tanks to be at.

Can someone explain to my why my media is keeping the ammonia at 0 but can't hold the nitrites at 0? I'm far from an expert but I would think they should go hand in hand with readings
 
Two different benefical bacteria, one basically consumes ammonia and produces nitrites. This bb looks to have re established. The other consumes nitrites and produces nitrates, this bb is still not fully established.
 
Bacteria called Nitrosomonas convert the ammonia to nitrite. Nitrite is toxic to fish, but less than ammonia. Nitrobacter, bacteria converts nitrite to nitrate. Nitrate the last step in the process is the least toxic but should be kept as low as possibile
Once the initial "cycling" process is complete, the beneficial bacteria have reached a population large enough to efficiently process existing levels of nitrogenious waste.
Until there is enough Nitrosomonas to process all the ammonia and subsaquently enough Nitrobacter sp. to process all the nitrite you will see high ammonia that will drop and then high nitrite that will start to drop, then as the bacteria becomes established in a fully cycled aquarium you will see 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and the final byproduct nitrates will be removed by water changes.

Edit: Or basicly what Brian said, I guess he posted while I was typing my longer version.
 
:)Water change water change , more like Drip drip. Should be good in a few days.
 
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