High nitrites

[mason105]

I have been fishless cycling my tank for 14 days. My pH is between 6.6-6.8, ammonia is 0.25, nitrite is 5.0, and nitrate is at 10

I was wondering if I needed to do something about the high nitrites because they have been this high for over a week and not much is changing. My ph has also dropped from 7.2 to 6.8-6.6 and I wasn’t sure if that was a problem. I have not been dosing any fish food as my ammonia since I started seeing nitrites.

 

[Rocky998]

I have been fishless cycling my tank for 14 days. My pH is between 6.6-6.8, ammonia is 0.25, nitrite is 5.0, and nitrate is at 10

I was wondering if I needed to do something about the high nitrites because they have been this high for over a week and not much is changing. My ph has also dropped from 7.2 to 6.8-6.6 and I wasn’t sure if that was a problem. I have not been dosing any fish food as my ammonia since I started seeing nitrites.

It's hard to dose ammonia rates when adding food... You may have been adding so much that it caused a large enough nitrite spike to stall your cycle.
I would do a 50% water change and let it set for 24hrs and test again to see if that gets you down to a better level.
Maybe use pure ammonia instead of a rotting substance. It will be more precise.

 

[jaylach]

Personally I would think 14 days way too soon to even think about a tank being cycled.

 

[Essjay]

Nitrite can go as high as 15 ppm and not cause problems with a fishless cycle. But our test kits only measure as high as 5 ppm so your level could be 5, 6, 10 or a lot higher, the tester can't tell you. It won't be very accurate but if you mix some tank water with tap water half and half then test that, if it's now somewhere on the scale the tank level is below 15 ppm.

However, your pH has dropped quite low so a large water change could be the better option rather than sit it out. A water change will reduce nitrite and boost your KH - low KH has allowed the pH to drop.
Since you are using fish food, use the opportunity to clean the bottom of the tank as well, deep into the gravel if that's what you have.


It took 42 days for my fishless cycle; as jaylach said, 14 days is nothing. My ammonia hadn't dropped at 14 days and I still had no nitrite.

 

[ChasingFish]

I have not been dosing any fish food as my ammonia since I started seeing nitrites.

If I am understanding you have NOT been dosing with fish food, since you are seeing nitrites, that would indicate you don't need to. I would keep testing like you are doing, and your ammonia and nitrites should be falling to zero in the next 2-4 weeks. I would consider adding some buffer to the substrate (or bag in filter if you have a cannister) since your pH is falling.