Nitrite off the charts

[PashNY]

Hi, I'm new to the forums and the fish world. I've been reading a lot of articles but I am stuck. I'm doing a fishless cycle with straight ammonia and my nitrite levels have been off the charts for 2 weeks. I feed the tank to 1ppm ammonia everyday and by the next day it's down to 0ppm but the nitrite levels have been at 5.0 ppm for the past 2 weeks. I have a 20 gallon tank it's heated to 87 degrees. the PH is 8.2. Is there something I'm missing or is this normal? All other forum posts haven't had any nitrite levels this high. Thanks

 

[PashNY]

using API liquid test kits for the readings

 

[tamtam]

Have you done any water changes thus far? IT's not uncommon for nitrites to get high. The final conversion from nitrite to nitrate takes a lot longer than ammo to nitrite.

I would suggest you go a water change to get your nitrite down to a readable level and to restore some buffers into your tank, dose ammo back up to 1 or 2 and continue how you have been and see how it goes.

 

[PashNY]

I did a 50% water change this morning and the readings are still over 5.0ppm

 

[rylake]

I did a 50% water change this morning and the readings are still over 5.0ppm

That's fine. The Nitrite to Nitrate conversion takes a while (3-6 weeks). Keep dosing and doing tests. One day you will see them drop right off. Also, pick up a Seachem Ammonia Alert. It saves you from testing for ammonia all the time and it is pretty accurate in my experience.

 

[PashNY]

Ok thanks for advice

 

[tamtam]

I did a 50% water change this morning and the readings are still over 5.0ppm

I would do another on top of that. I've heard stories of peoples levels going so high it stalls the cycle. I'd do 1 more change and hopefully it will bring them down in a readable level. The water change won't hurt anything, it's just a bit of extra work.

 

[Rivercats]

You really don't need your tank water that hot. Most fish can't tolerate that much heat. A temp of 77-78 is generally fine for most fish (unless they are specifically cold water or warm water fish-discus).

 

[tamtam]

You really don't need your tank water that hot. Most fish can't tolerate that much heat. A temp of 77-78 is generally fine for most fish (unless they are specifically cold water or warm water fish-discus).

I'm guessing he has just raised it for the cycle. A temp up around 86 encourages bacterial growth. Usually people will turn it up for the cycle and than about 24 hours before adding fish will adjust it properly for the fish.

 

[Rivercats]

Well Tamtam that is a new one for me, even after 30 years I'm still learning stuff!

 

[PashNY]

I just raised the temp for the cycle.

 

[tamtam]

Well Tamtam that is a new one for me, even after 30 years I'm still learning stuff!

I actually learned it from an article on here. Not just the higher temp but added surface agitation too so people will often toss in a bubbler or lower the water level in the tank a bit. I believe it's the added oxygen in the tank?

 

[jlk]

Bacteria actually multiply at a faster rate with the higher temps. Mid-eighties is the ideal temperature range for bacterial growth. The increased aeration/surface agitation goes hand in hand with the higher temps- warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen and your bb need oxygen to survive.

Same reasoning behind reducing temps for a columnaris infection (slows bacterial growth) or adding extra aeration when turning up heat to treat ich (fish & bacteria need the oxygen). Fishless cycling takes patience so any extra help to speed things along is a plus.

 

[nitaradu]

You can use Sera Toxivec.This will take your Nitrite level to zero in less then 30 min. Tested on my fish-in cycling aquarium about a week ago.