Cycling - Nitrates at ~40ppm on day 3? & Water conditioner

[GivenToFly]

I'm in the process of getting my tank running. I tried adding a bottle of bacteria supplement, then dumped in some Ace Ammonia, before knowing you could add too much.

When I received my test kit the next day, levels were sky high and a 50% change didn't help. I did a ~100% change and was low, then slowly got to 4 ppm. Next day ammonia dropped, dosed back to 4ppm. Today ammonia was at 0.25 ppm, nitrites at 5+ ppm, and nitrates at 40ppm. I didn't think I should see nitrates yet. Did I do something wrong?

Also, when performing a pwc, I have the sink hook up, but that would mean adding chlorine before getting the conditioner in there. Can the bacteria and fish handle the 25% tap water for a few minutes before adding conditioner?

Thanks!

 

[Skunky]

Hi, Given, I can't speak to the water conditioner, but I'm fishless cycling my tank now and my nitrates were at 40 on day 4 and my nitrites were at 5.0. Someone suggested I test my tap water. Nitrates were at 40 ppm for the tap water.

 

[boadams87]

I'm in the process of getting my tank running. I tried adding a bottle of bacteria supplement, then dumped in some Ace Ammonia, before knowing you could add too much.

When I received my test kit the next day, levels were sky high and a 50% change didn't help. I did a ~100% change and was low, then slowly got to 4 ppm. Next day ammonia dropped, dosed back to 4ppm. Today ammonia was at 0.25 ppm, nitrites at 5+ ppm, and nitrates at 40ppm. I didn't think I should see nitrates yet. Did I do something wrong?

Also, when performing a pwc, I have the sink hook up, but that would mean adding chlorine before getting the conditioner in there. Can the bacteria and fish handle the 25% tap water for a few minutes before adding conditioner?

Thanks!

Sounds like the bacteria supplement helped some. Its ok to add the conditioner first then the water.

 

[GivenToFly]

I tested my tap and its at about 5ppm nitrate.

I'm dosing ammonia back up to 4ppm, then I'll see what I get tomorrow. If nitrites are still sky high I'll pwc to get those down and continue until I get 0-0 after 24 hours.

 

[Skunky]

I tested my tap and its at about 5ppm nitrate.

I'm dosing ammonia back up to 4ppm, then I'll see what I get tomorrow. If nitrites are still sky high I'll pwc to get those down and continue until I get 0-0 after 24 hours.

Ha! That is my exact plan for tomorrow, too!

 

[GivenToFly]

Ha! That is my exact plan for tomorrow, too!

Lets enjoy our fish-less weekends

 

[shellieca]

I'm in the process of getting my tank running. I tried adding a bottle of bacteria supplement, then dumped in some Ace Ammonia, before knowing you could add too much.

When I received my test kit the next day, levels were sky high and a 50% change didn't help. I did a ~100% change and was low, then slowly got to 4 ppm. Next day ammonia dropped, dosed back to 4ppm. Today ammonia was at 0.25 ppm, nitrites at 5+ ppm, and nitrates at 40ppm. I didn't think I should see nitrates yet. Did I do something wrong?

Also, when performing a pwc, I have the sink hook up, but that would mean adding chlorine before getting the conditioner in there. Can the bacteria and fish handle the 25% tap water for a few minutes before adding conditioner?

Thanks!

I also have a sink hook up, I syphon out the water, then I add the water conditioner & then refill, keeping the filter off for a few minutes after its refilled. This is how most do it when using the sink hook up.

 

[GivenToFly]

Just did a 3:1 tap delusion and am still over 5 ppm nitrite. Tested tap and its reading 0.25 ppm. Time for a big water change. Looks like I have the ammonia consuming bacteria as it was all consumed over night.

 

[librarygirl]

Wow, it's going fast for you, that's great. No need to do water changes every time nitrite gets high; it's normal and it'll happen. If they stay high for more than a week or so, or/and if PH starts dropping significantly or/and you see ammonia conversion slowing or/and nitrites are so off-chart the test can't read them (e.g. if the test tube turns some weird grey color that isn't on the chart) then you can do some water changes to get nitrites down. The nitrite phase is the longest, typically taking a few weeks (although yours seems to be going freakishly fast so maybe yours will be quicker lol) and youll drive yourself nuts doing water changes every time nitrites get high if you don't need to.

As for water changes, when you use a faucet hookup, just drain the water and then before you refill add dechlorinator straight to the tank but add enough for the whole tank volume, not just the water you're refilling (the bottle should say how much to add per x amount of gallons), then refill.

 

[GivenToFly]

Ok, well I did a ~95% water change before seeing this, and nitrite still looks at or past the deepest purple.

I'll just keep letting the ammonia be consumed though and let it run as long as nitrite doesn't go grayish.

Thanks for the help everyone!