Nitrite Troubles

[Velvet AciD]

What in the world is my water doing?

I'm cycling a planted 10 gallon tank and my nitrites haven't been going down the way I'd like them to. The plants were the first things to go in. Crystal Val, Duckweed and Amazon Swords. I've added small amounts of bacteria starter to the water with my Betta housed inside, hoping to start a mini cycle. That went on for about a week and a half.

I started adding a Danio every few days til I had 3 total and I also added an Oto to start cleaning off algae from the plants when I moved my Betta from the tank.

The water readings slowly started peaking and I was doing gallon water changes every 3 days. At first, the nitrites went up to 3.5 ppm in the matter of 2 weeks. I did a 30% water change hoping to bring it down. The nitrites dropped to about 2.0, then a week later shot back up to 4.5.

Is this probably the final peak before everything settles down? What would be the suggested action?

I have no idea what my ammonia is. I've taken my water samples to LFS and they all say it's in the appropriate level.

The rest of the readings are as follows:

Nitrate: 30 ppm
Nitrite: 4.5
gH: 300
kH: 300
pH: 8.2

 

[Velvet AciD]

*bump* Any ideas at all anyone?

 

[semper fi]

you added the fish too late or too early. too late if you were going to do the fish cycling. fish are added to raw water to create the ammonia in the tank to start the cycling process. too early cause you did not wait for the tank to be cycled. by adding the fish you have increased the amount of ammonia in the tank and the bacteria is not there in a sufficient amount to remove the nitrites. also you have too many fish for a 10 gallon, imo. smaller tanks are harder to maintain and cycle, imo, than the bigger tanks.

 

[Velvet AciD]

Alright, so I added them too early or too late. So will regular water changes help balance everything out?

I only have 4 inches of fish in there, not even half of a full bio-load. I read earlier tonight that nitrites are the waste product of the good bacteria eating ammonia. Now do I just have to wait for the secondary bacteria to start showing up?

 

[semper fi]

for one you take the adult size of the fish since this will more than likely be their home for good unless you are planning on getting a bigger tank in the next couple of months.

you create ammonia in the tank either by adding fish, which create ammonia, feeding an empty tank or adding pure ammonia til the levels are raised. ammonia rises and is broken down to nitrites. nitrites are broken down to nitrates. the bacteria that lives in the gravel bed and other elements of the tank feed on the nitrites to help remove them. when the amount of ammonia is increased, through the addition of fish, the bacteria will also increase to handle the load of the tank. nitrates are removed from the tank by water changes and plants. plants feed on the nitrates.

basically your bacteria is not enough to handle the amount of nitrites being produced. also not only are the fish producing ammonia but also decaying matter on the plants. right there there is no food for the plants to eat. you may notice that your plants are looking ragged. plants are not usually introduced until the nitrates have spiked. large water changes will only cause the cycling process to slow down.

if you have a tank that is already cycled you could transfer some of the bacteria to this tank. i would get the plants out of there also.

 

[aquamanis]

Hi Velvet, it looks like your tank is nearing the end of the cycle going by your water readings. I wouldn,t remove your plants as they will feed on the nitrates. The nitrites and nitrates are still too high though so keep up the partial WC,s.