Nitrates 100mg/l!!

[MarkW19]

One thing that's concerning me - I've been cycling my tank for 3 weeks, and Nitrites have peaked at 10 (a week ago), and are yet to reduce.

Ammonia is at 0, which is great. Nitrites are up at 10ppm, but NitrAtes are at 100mg/l???

Surely the Nitrites would have to be converted to Nitrates before I'd get Nitrates that high, if at all?? But with the Nitrites being up at 10ppm and not going down at all, isn't this impossilble?

 

[reefrunner69]

Hmmm, what have you been adding to the aquarium? Check everything's directions and see if it can cause a false positive nitrite reading.

 

[MarkW19]

I've been using Biomature as an ammonia/bacteria source, but you stop adding that when Nitrites get to 10, which I have done. Not put any in since.

Even if the nitrites test is wrong, there's no way I should have 100mg/l nitrates is there?!?

FYI: 38gallon, with Eheim 2327/84 thermo filter, and approx 1.5" live aragonite sand. No LR.

 

[MarkW19]

One thing to mention - the instructions on the Biomature are VERY misleading, and on the first two days of adding it (I added a few drops every day until Nitrites got to 10ppm, which you're meant to do) I put a lot more drops in than I was meant to. But I was told this wouldn't cause any problems as long as I stopped adding when Nitrites got to 10.

Because of my high Nitrites AND high Nitrates, should I do a big waterchange (50%), or will this stop the cycling?

 

[sumphead]

Unless I am mistaken in this sleep deprivation induced coma I am in, or misreading, nitrATES are the first byproduct of bacterial ammonia processing. Then income the nitrITES. If you are showing 100+ nitrates and 10ppm nitrites then it would seem to me you have overdosed. I am so tired I am blurry, but at any rate if you have any life in the tank at all you want to save then do a series of large waterchanges after confirming your tests. This will indeed slow the cycling process but save life. If there is no life in the tank the best and easiest way to cycle is by using the raw shrimp method, not mention a whole lot cheaper than buying products to so the same thing.

R-

 

[Brad]

Nitrites first...

Go back into your coma, sump...you've got it backwards.

Ammonia converts to Nitrite (both pretty nasty)...
Nitrite converts to Nitrate (less nasty)

So you get Ammonia spike, then Nitrite spike, then Nitrate spike...and the Nitrate is difficult to get rid of. Often, routine water changes are done primarily to keep nitrate in check.

 

[MarkW19]

So, how can I have very high nitrites and also extremely high nitrates?

There's no life in the tank, as I'm currently cycling.

Would you recommend doing a 50% waterchange to get the nitrites and nitrates down? How much will this slow the cycling down by, approximately?

 

[MarkW19]

So should I do a waterchange guys?

 

[MarkW19]

No-one know then?

 

[XXFirefighter]

If it's they high I would !

 

[MarkW19]

OK...even though I'm cycling? Will it not harm the cycling?

 

[quarryshark]

I wouldn't water change if your cycling and there is no life in the tank. That would interrupt the cycle. Now if you have animals in their, thats a different story.

 

[MarkW19]

OK...

So even though Nitrites are way up and, more worringly, Nitrates are at 100mg/l (!!), it'll still sort itself out?

I read somewhere that when Nitrates get to such high levels (I read it on the back of a Tetra Nitrate test kit actually!) they can easily turn into Nitrite?

Will my Nitrite levels still go down to 0 as they normally would in cycling, even with my Nitrates being so high? I thought Nitrites had to go down before Nitrates could even be there??

If so, I'll wait until my Nitrites are down and then do the waterchange, and wait until my Nitrates are down to a suitable level (preferably 0!) before I add any fish, through waterchanges.

 

[BillyZ]

what sticks out to me was your comment "i put in many more drops than I was supposed to"... by "many more" exactly what do you mean? were you supposed to put in 10 and you put in 20 or were you supposed to put in 5 and you put in 50? If you only over did it slightly then I wouldn't be worried, but if you really over did it on the ammonia booster then that chemical (whatever it is) may still be throwing things out of balance and I would do a partial water change, like 20% even though it goes against the "norm" because you're trying to correct something that's already out of balance.

 

[MarkW19]

Well, the instructions on the Biomature say "add 5 drops of Biomature per day per 1 gallon of aquarium water, until Nitrites have reached 10ppm". That's the exact wording, so therefore I added 150 drops (30 gallon tank) in the first two days, before realising I was going to use up half the bottle in just 2 days. I re-read the instructions over and over, but concluded I was doing it right, then just let common sense (what I have of it!) take over. The instructions were terrible.

I then began the correct dosage (phoned a guy I knew used the stuff successfully with a similarly sized tank) from day 3.

OK, so I should do a 20% waterchange to try and get things back on track? Will this bring my 'trites down as well as my 'trates?

Will things cycle ok from when I've done the waterchange, albeit slower than they should?

 

[MadManMac]

My suggestion, Stop buying chemicals to shorten the process and get some LR. I used 45 lbs in my tank, that was cured, and the cycle lasted 6 days. For the last 3 months my nitrite and amonia have been 0 and my nitrates less than 4. LR is the answer to cycling, even though it costs money.

 

[MarkW19]

Well, I've already done it now, and won't be adding any more chemicals - there's already more than enough in there

 

[MarkW19]

So is it decided that I should do a 20% waterchange then, then leave things alone from there?

 

[MarkW19]

I've got enough pre-mixed saltwater (aged for a few days) to do almost a 30% waterchange. Is this too much, will it stop the cycling? Or should I do the full 30%?

What amount of water would you guys recommend to change?

 

[MarkW19]

OK, just done a 25 - 30% waterchange, and nitrites have reduced quite a bit. Down to about 5ppm from 10ppm.

Nitrates don't appear to have budged much at all though, perhaps down to 90mg/l from 100.

What should I do now?