How Long Does It Take For Nitrites To Drop

[poohbear1]

I started cycling my tank a couple of weeks ago the ammonia drops to 0 within 24 hours so I add ammonia to the tank but after a week of testing the nitrites which were off the scale are now showing at 0.5ppm and have for a few days now.
Do I wait till they have dropped to 0 or is it ok to add fish now.

 

[SJ2K]

0 .5, although a good sign, is still high, sounds like you'll be ready for fish by the weekend.

 

[dthoffsett]

Generally it takes twice as long for the nitrite to drop than it did the ammonia.

Once your ammonia and nitrIte readings are zero for at least 5 days you can add fish, sometimes inexplicably your ammonia and nitrite will spike a day or two after you first get zero readings. The levels drop back down to zero very quickly (maybe a day or two) so I always recommend waiting a few days after your first zero readings just to be safe.

Hopefully that made sense, I'm not quite awake yet.

 

[poohbear1]

thanks yep that does make sence.
hopefully in a week or so Ill be ready.

 

[tetraqueen]

Seems a long time the it will just happen overnight. One morning it will be fine.

 

[Ishyfishy]

Hi

My Nitrites have recently spiked and my ammonia levels are nearly zero - it took 8 weeks for this to happen so do I have to wait 16 weeks until my nitrites go to zero At the moment i'm doing lots of water changes - more than usual to keep the nitrite levels down.

Regards

Ishyfishy

P.s - for those who dont know, i'm doing a fish-in-cycle.

 

[SJ2K]

I wouldnt bother doing the maths to figure out how long youve got left, everyones will be different, just keeping water changing untill its stable simple as, wether it takes a week or a year.

 

[srem]

I'm in a similar position Ishy, although I don't have a test kit. I'm just doing 33% changes every other day and will continue to do so for a few weeks; will prob stop when my filter is nice and 'dirty'.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Hi

My Nitrites have recently spiked and my ammonia levels are nearly zero - it took 8 weeks for this to happen so do I have to wait 16 weeks until my nitrites go to zero At the moment i'm doing lots of water changes - more than usual to keep the nitrite levels down.

Regards

Ishyfishy

P.s - for those who dont know, i'm doing a fish-in-cycle.

aye it'll be different for a fish in cycle instead of fishless

fishless cycling replicates the tank being fully stocked, usually fish in cycling is not fully stocked, so the length of time can vary drastically.

just gotta keep up daily water changes until both levels are at 0

 

[Ishyfishy]

Hi

Thanks for all your sound advise - will carry on with the water changes and hopefully one day there will be light at the end of the tunnel!