Ammonia lowering, Nitrites still 0 in a fish in cycle?

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eduguy

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Aug 14, 2012
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I started my fish in cycle last Saturday and began dosing Seachem stability. I tested the water on Tuesday after a water change on Monday and ammonia was around 1.0-2.0PPM. Today I tested the water after a water change yesterday and ammonia is around 0.5-1PPM. However, my nitrites are still 0. Where is the ammonia going if my Nitrites are still 0?
 
Any plants or algae in tank?

None. It's now day 14 and I still have 0 Nitrites and Nitrates. I shook the bottles really hard and for a long time to make sure the reagents were well mixed.
 
You said you used Stability, maybe from that.

It doesn't seem possible to me that the Stability kills bacteria, and I've been dosing it daily for the past two weeks so it can't be because the bacteria from the bottle died.
 
I started my fish in cycle last Saturday and began dosing Seachem stability. I tested the water on Tuesday after a water change on Monday and ammonia was around 1.0-2.0PPM. Today I tested the water after a water change yesterday and ammonia is around 0.5-1PPM. However, my nitrites are still 0. Where is the ammonia going if my Nitrites are still 0?

Hello edu...

You don't need to put anything into the tank water other than the standard water treatment to remove chlorine and chloramines. You can add some floating plants like Hornwort to help steady the water chemistry between water changes.

You only need to feed the fish a little every day or two to maintain a steady source of ammonia. Test the water daily for ammonia and nitrite. Remove and replace 25 percent of the water if you have a positive test. Test daily and change the water when needed. When you have several daily tests with no trace of ammonia or nitrite the tank is cycled. The cycle takes about 30 days.

When the tank is cycled, change out most of the tank water every week to maintain good water conditions.

Pretty easy.

B
 
Hello edu...

You don't need to put anything into the tank water other than the standard water treatment to remove chlorine and chloramines. You can add some floating plants like Hornwort to help steady the water chemistry between water changes.

You only need to feed the fish a little every day or two to maintain a steady source of ammonia. Test the water daily for ammonia and nitrite. Remove and replace 25 percent of the water if you have a positive test. Test daily and change the water when needed. When you have several daily tests with no trace of ammonia or nitrite the tank is cycled. The cycle takes about 30 days.

When the tank is cycled, change out most of the tank water every week to maintain good water conditions.

Pretty easy.

B

I'm currently 14 days in and I still haven't seen any Nitrite? Is there something I'm doing wrong? I need to do 40% water changes every other day to keep ammonia below 1.0PPM
 
Hello again edu...

By removing more ammonia, the food source of the growing bacteria colony, you essentially starve the bacteria and delay the cycle. This is the reason you use a hardy fish species that will tolerate less than ideal water conditions until the tank cycles.

Get some individual stems of a floating plant and drop those into the tank to help steady the water chemistry between water changes. Test the water every day and remove and replace one-quarter if you have a positive test for either ammonia or nitrite. Be patient. This process won't happen overnight.

B
 
I'm currently 14 days in and I still haven't seen any Nitrite? Is there something I'm doing wrong? I need to do 40% water changes every other day to keep ammonia below 1.0PPM

A typical cycle takes 4-6 weeks so not seeing nitrites after 2 is nothing to worry about. Also, with a fish-in cycle, you may never see a nitrite spike.

Have your nitrates started going up?

Lastly, 1ppm is a lot. I would try to keep ammonia lower than that.
 
A typical cycle takes 4-6 weeks so not seeing nitrites after 2 is nothing to worry about. Also, with a fish-in cycle, you may never see a nitrite spike.

Have your nitrates started going up?

Lastly, 1ppm is a lot. I would try to keep ammonia lower than that.

Nitrates are 0 still.
 
In my SW tank it took forever longer than I thought and about 2x longer than everyone thought, but then it was quite apparent there were nitrItes off the chart then over time it was done, patience.
 
It doesn't seem possible to me that the Stability kills bacteria, and I've been dosing it daily for the past two weeks so it can't be because the bacteria from the bottle died.

I didn't mean the Stability was killing the bacteria but that what bacteria the Stability had was processing the ammonia through the the cycle in small amounts. I haven't ever used it or had a scientific viewpoint from a member/user to give me the rundown on exactly how it processes or works.
 
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