Nitrites...im going INSANE

[nero]

I can see little fishies swimming around in my empty tank... Really I can! They talk to me, and one is called flippy and he likes jigsaw puzzles. Oh DEAR. I am going INSANE! Which masochistic freak came up with this twisted idea of a fishless cycle. A beautiful empty tank...AHHHHHHHHH!!

Ive been going for 20 days now. My ammonia went up to5ppm. I kept it there, and in a week and a half it could process 5ppm overnight. My nitIrites in the meantime went up to 5-10ppm, and ARE STILL THERE! They have been at 5-10 for almost 2 weeks now. What I dont understand is the MASSIVE quantities of nitrAtes being produced. If there are NitrAtes, I assume that means that there is bacteria breaking down the nitrIte... but it never budges off 5-10ppm. Help me please!!! before I climb in the tank to be with my little non-existant fishies and play jigsaw puzzles with them!!!

 

[njnauticalnut]

Oh dear! Is this what I have to look forward to?

My 75 gallon tank has been fishless cycling for 27 days and I just got a nitrite reading today.

I have heard that water changes and plants help bring down the nitrates. I guess the bacteria colony still needs to build to lower your nitrites. There are some folks on here who are connoisseurs in fishless cycling. I am sure they will be offer more advice.

 

[nero]

I agree njnauticalnut, hopefully someone will have some help for us. It seems everyone says the nitrite spike is the longest, but this long makes me think there is somthng wrong, specially when I used lots of filter media and gravel from my old tank...

 

[Wolf]

Actually, I'm having the same problem. been cycling for 5-6 weeks.. nitrates have been 15-25 for 2-3 weeks.. nitrite has been 5+ for about 8 days now. it refuses to go down for some reason.. i can't figure out why. i'm gonna start doing daily water changes.

 

[luxum]

It seems everyone says the nitrite spike is the longest, but this long makes me think there is somthng wrong

There is nothing wrong! It's completely normal! It will drop very soon! People seem to have unrealistic ideas about how long it takes to fishless cycle. Some people can finish in 10 days because they had lots of seed material, and i mean lots. If you don't have that, or you are cycling a large amount of media (it took a lot longer for me to fishless cycle my canister than it took with 2 aquaclear sponges, but i ended up with much larger colonies as a result) you are looking at normal time frames, and normally the cycle take 4-6 weeks. Two weeks with a nitrite spike is not unreasonable, don't panic!

Since you have a huge spike, but nitrates are being formed, this is a good point to try a water change or two. Get the nitrite down to something reasonable (something the test kit can read, like 4ppm or so would work) and then do your half dose. It should help get you to the finish point. Hang in there!

 

[tstenback]

luxum is perfectly correct, and now is also a good time to rush out and get a nitrate test kit if you dont already have one as it will be an important aid in maintaining your tank after the cycle.

 

[Bol]

What I dont understand is the MASSIVE quantities of nitrAtes being produced. If there are NitrAtes, I assume that means that there is bacteria breaking down the nitrIte... but it never budges off 5-10ppm.

Think "input and output" or "faucet and drain". With the breakdown of ammonia, and the production of nitrates, you have "nitrite in" and "nitrite out". Chances are, at this point, you've got just enough of the correct bacteria to convert an amount of nitrite equal (as close as you can measure it) to that which is "incoming", as converted ammonia. Or, put another way, you're "draining" just as many nitrites as are coming in through the "faucet", so the tub is staying full.

 

[nero]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, and thats a great analogy bol! Its just that if there is bacteria breaking down the nitrite, then is it wise to skip a dose of ammonia to help it get on top of things, or will this kill the ammonia bacteria?
I suppose it sounds like I am just being impatient...and i am! Im going mad! Everytime I do that nitrite test I try to use my psychic powers to keep the test clear!
Oh dear
thanks again

 

[luxum]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, and thats a great analogy bol! Its just that if there is bacteria breaking down the nitrite, then is it wise to skip a dose of ammonia to help it get on top of things, or will this kill the ammonia bacteria?

That is a great analogy! Don't skip ammonia dosing, dose at half what you were using initially. If you want to do some water changes at this stage (and you can do multiple large ones if needed, since there are no fish to be stressed by that) then just remember to add the half dose of ammonia to the tank once you have the nitrites into the readable range.

I suppose it sounds like I am just being impatient...and i am! Im going mad! Everytime I do that nitrite test I try to use my psychic powers to keep the test clear

I know ~exactly~ how you feel, having gone through this several times myself. I find that the nitrites finally drop the day after i completely lose my patient cool and stomp around raging at the offending toxic test tube. It's very cathartic.

 

[Wolf]

Hey, just thought I would give you some more hope.. Yesterday my nitrites were 5+, I did 2 water changes and today they're .25.. odd that they dropped so much overnight.. but i shoudl be almost done now ... yay! only took 5-6 weeks. (Tho i didn't do fishless)

 

[nero]

HI everyone, just an update...
Nitrites just dropped like a stone. We did the happy dance around the room, and now are wondering how long we should wait to add fish. They have been 0 for 2 days now.
time for a big water change I guess!
happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[luxum]

Yay! Congratulations!

Test your nitrates if possible, do enough water changes to get them down to something reasonable, i shoot for somewhere between 10 and 20ppm. Then get fishies! If you can't get fishies today, make sure you continue to feed your bacteria the ammonia until you can. When you get fishies keep an eye on the levels the first few days as there may be a mini cycle. This has never happened to me though, i add full loads at once and never see my levels above zero. If you are planning on adding anything truly sensitive like otos, you might want to wait on those until the tank has stabilized a few months.