Recent content by Rosebud

Thanks.

What if i can't get the nitrate down to 40? Been checking pH every other day or so. It's steady at about 8.1. Have not checked the gh or kh.

Ok, I guess I misunderstood. I am dosing ammonia daily. I did a 90% water change on Sunday. The ammonia and nitrites are still zeroing out daily. The nitrates staying around 100. I have developed a lot of diatoms on the rocks and the one broad leaf plant. I don't mean to be dense but what do I...

So I've done a 50% water change and an 80% water change and the nitrates have maybe dropped to 120. This is a 10 gallon. How many water changes am I going to have to do to get down to an acceptable level for fish? I am dosing daily with ammonia.

I did a 50% water change today and tested water after 45 minutes. The nitrates are still at 160+. Guess I'll do a 75% water change tomorrow. Yes?

Librarygirl, I reread your first response and it is very clear. Don't know why I was confused. Guess I was just excited I get to add fish!!!! COZ, meant to add that my tank is 10 gallons. Thanks to all, Roxi

COZ, I started Jan. 22 and added some plants on Jan. 25. The nitrate spike was on Feb. 21, so exactly 31 days.

Keep dosing before doing a water change or should I go ahead and do the water change too?

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'll do the water change now and add ammonia. I don't think I can get my fish until next week. Do I add ammonia to bring it to 4ppm every day until I get fish? Roxi

Testing today is: Ammonia 0 Nitrites 0 Nitrates 180 (red) Do I do a 50% water change and add ammonia back up to 4ppm? Is the tank ready for fish when the nitrates drop? I've read the fishless cycle steps but my nitrites/nitrates did not seem to follow the steps. My nitrites were...

So the nitrate test turns red but what does the nitrite test do?

Can someone please tell me what color the test tube water is when the trites and trates "go off the chart." I am at day 25 fishless cycle 10 gallon. Every 24 hours the ammonia goes from 4 ppm to about 0.1 and the nitrites are always at 5. Thanks.

Thanks for the replies. I found a thread of someone else's cycle and it seems the Nitrite spike happened at around 21 days. That will be next Tuesday for me. I'll keep doing what I've been doing until then and see what it looks like then. Roxi

When do the nitrites spike in a fishless cycle? I have a 10 gallon that I set up on Jan. 22. The last 5 days my ammonia has dropped from 4 ppm to around 0.25 every day, but the nitrites are staying around 5. When can I expect a change in the nitrite levels? Roxi

Where am I? In the last 24 hours ammonia went from 4ppm to 0.25ppm. Nitrites still look to be 5.0. Roxi