Nitrite Question

[caz_m]

Well we are nearly there. Ammonia has been 0 for a week now, nitrite is now at 0.25. How long will it take for it to get to 0?

We have been doing daily water changes and gravel vaccing.

Thanks

 

[scorphonic]

Depends really, I used the fishless cycle method and it took only one day for nitrites to go from 4ppm to zero...which is considered lightning fast!!

I would expect it to go down to zero in a week for you...just keep an eye and you will see that it will happen very soon!

 

[rdd1952]

How long has the nitrite been at .25? It should fall from that point to zero in a day or less.

 

[caz_m]

The last two days!!

 

[rdd1952]

I'm almost inclined to think you have a bad test kit. The nitrite should definitely fall from that point to zero in less than 24 hours. Have you tested your tap water to see if you can get a 0 reading?

 

[caz_m]

We use the API Master Kit, with the test tubes.

So I should test for nitrite in the tap water?

 

[rdd1952]

Yes, just to see if you get a 0 reading. If it comes back at .25, you still won't know if the test is accurate as your tap water could have nitrite in it.

 

[djceri_g]

Well we are nearly there. Ammonia has been 0 for a week now, nitrite is now at 0.25. How long will it take for it to get to 0?

We have been doing daily water changes and gravel vaccing.

Thanks

I think when cycling your tank you should not do any water changes or vacum the gravel. Bacteria lives in the filter, tank walls and gravel. By vacuming you kill them. Bacteria doesnt live in water but if you do water changes it could be a case of chlorine starving your bacteria to death.

About your testing kits, I have then and think they are one of the best available

 

[rdd1952]

Water changes and gravel vacs during a fish-in cycle are a must. Otherwise the ammonia and nitrite would go through the roof and all the fish would be dead. As far as the gravel vacs are concerned, there is only a very minimal amount of bacteria in the substrate. The amount of waste being removed by gravel vacs far outweighs any minute amount of bacteria that may be lost. I definitely don't know the percentage of bacteria in different places in the tank but my guess would be that at least 99% of the bacteria are in the filter unless you are using a UGF in which case the gravel would indeed contain bacteria.

 

[caz_m]

Yup, we didnt have a vac at first, and wondered why the ammonia was so bloomin high. Bought one straight away, and it went from 8 (eep) to 1 in a matter of an hour.