Total noob!!!

[ryan.ahern]

Hi all. I am new to this hobby and am a little bit stuck. I have been following eco23's guide to the fishless cycle. Bit of background 180l tank, medium planting, medium lighting, liquid co2, 2 x airstones, 2 x pumps/filters, filter medium obtained from a friends tank. Everything is moving pretty quick. Started cycle last saturday. I have been dosing ammonia to 4ppm and this gets down to 1ppm by the next day. Nitrites are above what my jbl test kit shows (above 1ppm) but nitrates have been sat at about 200ppm for 2 days, this isn't above what the test kit shows but pretty close. Are the plants causing the nitrates to stay at this level as they are using some of them up. Am I safe to do the first 50% water change yet or wait until nitrates are off the chart? Any help would be most appreciated

 

[Laser]

Some would recommend that you do the a 50% water change to get your nitrites down to a readable level. It is possible that your bacteria colonies are processing nitrIte at an acceptable rate but you have built up so much of it that the levels are staying high as the ammonia is being processed.