OMG. When does this nitrite gonna go down?

[tstenback]

can you get a nitrite test that goes above 1 ppm. Also, you say Zero nitrates, how does your kit measure these ie. scale. I think that it is odd that you have no nitrates at all at this point. some of the nitrite should have been change by now i would think, even just a small amount like .2 or something like that.

 

[myfrint]

Oh... my nitrite test can take only up to 1ppm.

My mistake. Actually, i just have tiny bit of nitrate which is like 5 mg/l or ppm. I thought it wasn't that significant, so i wrote it as zero.

I'm still adding the half-dose, which is 1 ml, everyday.

I just wanna add some damn fish but this nitrite is not going down!

Any way to speed this thing up? or just being more patient?

 

[tstenback]

If you can get some filter material from an established tank and put it in your filter it will speed things up significantly. If that is not an option then try to get some gravel from an established tank and hang it in a stocking in your tank. You could add some plants. All these things will help speed things along. Good Luck

Edit: if your tap water has no nitrates then something is happening as you have a positive nitrate reading. Be patient and you will be rewarded.

 

[myfrint]

I'm getting confused.

According to this http/www.aquamaniacs.net/cyclingsafelyfishless.html site, it says "if nitrite is too high, i should change some water to bring it down?"

So should i do that or leave it?

 

[tstenback]

Yes do the water changes. The only ways to briing down nitrite are to do water changes, which you must do religiously, or to get the bacteria built up enough to handle it. The second one is what the suggestions i gave in the last post will help accomplish.
So for now, still do the water changes, but if you can do any of the other things i mentioned then the process will speed up and you wont have to do the water changes for as long a period of time. The water changes keep the nitrite level at a level where you fish can survive until the bacteria build up to the point where they consume all of the nitrites. HTH

 

[myfrint]

Yeah... i was confused because somebody was telling me that i shouldn't do any waterchange during fishless cycle, but that article makes sense that i should do some to bring down the nitrite.

I actually have some plants in my tank right now. I mean real plants. (Java Fern, Hygrophilia, and Anubias Nana)

I also squeezed the sponge from established goldfish tank to speed up the cycle.

Hm... anyway, thx a lot tstenback.

 

[myfrint]

# Update #
I did 2 water changes yesterday and brought down the level of nitrite.

Today, i checked nitrate and it suddenly spiked up to like 100!

My nitrite is still same as yesterday.

Hm.. is this a sign that it will go down soon? i hope so..

 

[Tropicana Man]

# Update #
I did 2 water changes yesterday and brought down the level of nitrite.

Today, i checked nitrate and it suddenly spiked up to like 100!

My nitrite is still same as yesterday.

Hm.. is this a sign that it will go down soon? i hope so..

OK listen matey,
IMO<<<<< what i would do is to do a 50% water change say on a sunday evening then 25% on a tuesday evening and then a 25% change on the thursday evening then i would place some polyfilter in the filter at the end of the first week of this routine and don't replace it until the nitrite has gone.

Polyfilter is made by underworld visit www.underworldproducts.co.uk.

If you have carbon in your filter that should of been removed straight away as this will just keep cycling your nitrite around and around the tank, like i say replace it with polyfilter.

Don't check your nitrite levels daily but weekly, once nitrite is in your tank it does rise and fall all the time.

I was doing this for four long weeks but it did the trick!

Good Luck

Hope this as helped!

 

[Jae1525]

I'm doing a cycle on my tank at the mo! Into the second week and the nitrite is sky high (as it should be). I'm doing a 20-30% water change ev other day! my amonia is at 0%, my nitrate reads 30 units which is fine and my PH is dead 7. However on the second day when its time to change my water my nitrite reads aprox 1.4!! DANGER!!

I'm doing an intesive cycle with 5 amano shrimp, 1 mountain shrimp, 4 black widow tetra, 3 corys and 2 dwarf fire gourami I have slowly introduced. Not always a wise Idea but if you can control it and use hardy fish, lots of substrait cleaners and plenty of real plants it always seems to do well for me! You gotta make sure you note down your water test results before and after the water changes so you dont fluctuate your water 2 much!

I you look at a cycle chart amonia peeks in 7 days then nitrite peaks at 30 days and then drops right down.
If ppl say they managed to cycle their tank in a week they are either just short of genius or its just the calm before the nitrite storm and they just dont realise this.

A UV filter is helpfull (but expensive) as well because it kills disease before it can attack your fish in this delicate stage!
Remeber this is just my personal account and although it seems to work for me no two tanks are the same!!

 

[myfrint]

Good news. Finally this nitrite went down.

wow.. it's like .5 ppm right now.

I think i'll be FINALLY able to put some fish by next week.

Thank god.