Nitrites not dropping? (fishless cycling)

[Keedee]

This is my first time cycling a tank.

I started cycling on the 11th of April. My ammonia dropped quickly and was going to zero in 24 hours by the 24th. But my Nitrites and NitrAtes were off the charts. I did a water change to bring them down and continued to dose my aquarium with 2-4 ppm of ammonia and occasionally some fish food. The results have been the same since the 24th. Ammonia is almost always 0 when I test in the morning and Nitrites are off the charts. I did a water change on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of May to bring the Nitrites to a readable level then add some ammonia to keep it going but every time I check it again the Nitrites are crazy high and there is no ammonia.

Should I keep doing water changes? Should I just leave it? Should it have dropped by now or am I just too impatient? I'm not quite sure what to do at this point.

Thanks!

 

[lighty]

Stop doing the water changes and just dose max 2ppm ammonia. Nitrites can take WEEKS to drop. patience is what it takes at this point of the cycle unfortunately. It sounds like it's only been 10 days since ammonia went down so Id expect another 2-3weeks before you see any nitrite movement. Mine to 6 weeks to drop.

 

[Alchera7]

Agree, with Lighty.

It took 1 month for my nitrite spike to finally drop. Have patience and you'll get there soon enough, you're almost there!

 

[AtHomeWithTwins]

Yep.... Nitrites take a while to drop. My 55 gal took 6 weeks start to finish. I used pwc and dosed to 2 ppm ammonia every 48 hours to keep nitrites at a reasonable readable level. It will happen, keep on waiting.

 

[Keedee]

Okay thank you so much for your replies!
I will be patient and wait it out, I'm just so exited to finally get some fish haha but I want them to be healthy so I'll wait for the nitrites to drop. Thanks!