Forget this! I'm done

[tarpon]

Yeah are you changing out your media inside the filter?

 

[Bettafanatic]

I've never changed the filter media. Let me test again today to see where I stand. I agree, the nitrate test is hard to master.

 

[boadams87]

I've never changed the filter media. Let me test again today to see where I stand. I agree, the nitrate test is hard to master.

Beat the crap out of bottle number 2 b4 testing. It settles bad. Ur right by never changing that media.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Yeah, I shake it but probably not enough. I'm going home from school in twenty minutes (I managed to sneak a peak at my email on during study hall), so I'll test again and update you guys. I sure hope tank 1 is finished and tank 2 is well on its way, according to yesterday's results. There are so many nitrites, the test tube turned purple before I even shook it! XD

 

[boadams87]

Yeah, I shake it but probably not enough. I'm going home from school in twenty minutes (I managed to sneak a peak at my email on during study hall), so I'll test again and update you guys. I sure hope tank 1 is finished and tank 2 is well on its way, according to yesterday's results. There are so many nitrites, the test tube turned purple before I even shook it! XD

Just hit it hard on the counter a long time then shake it longer.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Well, I guess my cycle's being weird again because nitrites are back up there again. AUGH! How long does this take, anyways? Isn't it supposed to take four weeks? Well I've been at it for three months with the same routine: nitrite disappears, nitrite reappears. Honestly, I don't even know why I even tried again!

 

[librarygirl]

Well, I guess my cycle's being weird again because nitrites are back up there again. AUGH! How long does this take, anyways? Isn't it supposed to take four weeks? Well I've been at it for three months with the same routine: nitrite disappears, nitrite reappears. Honestly, I don't even know why I even tried again!

What's your PH? A PH crash could have done it. HOnestly though if this tank is just going to house a betta or something (what fish exactly)? then I think it's safe to add them now. Your ammonia is going to 0 after 24 hours and nitrites rise and fell. Likely a PH crash that caused nitrite to come back but test and we'll see. Your fish will never produce 4 ppms of ammonia unless you're planning to massively overstock it so once the ammonia levels lessen it'll cause less conversion and the tank should be more stable.

 

[Bettafanatic]

Ok let me test pH now. I want to give it a few more days because the nitrites are really, REALLY high. Its so high the bottle turns purple before I get a chance to cap it. I'll test pH right now and see.

 

[Bettafanatic]

I just tested now, and the pH is 7.6. I guess the drop is no big deal since the Trites are back now, so I'll just keep going.

 

[HeatherW]

If your nitrites are that high you need to do some pwcs to get them back to the readable point

 

[Bettafanatic]

Ok i was thinking about that. Should I do 50%?

 

[librarygirl]

Is this tank 1? Odd that nitrites keep falling and rising again. Your PH is stable. If you're going to do a pwc anyway might as well do a 100% pwc to get nitrites as low as possible. THen dose ammonia to 2 instead of 4 and check again in 24 hours and let us know how things look. What size tank is this again? And what fish are going in there? You might not need to keep dosing to 4 depending on what fish you're planning, dosing to 2 would probably be more than sufficient anyway and might keep nitrites from showing up again.

 

[Bettafanatic]

I am only dosing to two. Anyways, here are my updates:

Tank 1: 0 ammo, 0 nitrites, 80 nitrates
Tank 2: 0 ammo, 5+ nitrites

I think the cycle is done in tank one. I'm gonna test again tomorrow!

 

[ocminpin]

I am only dosing to two. Anyways, here are my updates:

Tank 1: 0 ammo, 0 nitrites, 80 nitrates
Tank 2: 0 ammo, 5+ nitrites

I think the cycle is done in tank one. I'm gonna test again tomorrow!

Whoo HOO!! So glad you're finally getting results!