Another Cycle Question-- No NitrItes but NitrAtes?

[jetajockey]

biofilm?

 

[PaulG5372]

About 24 hours after adding the active filter, the ammonia has been reduced to 0 ppm and nitrites are now at .25 ppm. Will see what happens in the next 24 hours. Just happy to finally see some purple!!

Anyone have any input on how long to leave the sponge filter in the tank. A few weeks? A month? Its pretty big and ugly in my opinion!

 

[eco23]

About 24 hours after adding the active filter, the ammonia has been reduced to 0 ppm and nitrites are now at .25 ppm. Will see what happens in the next 24 hours. Just happy to finally see some purple!!

Anyone have any input on how long to leave the sponge filter in the tank. A few weeks? A month? Its pretty big and ugly in my opinion!

Once it's cycled, can you jam it down into your actual filter? Even if you have to take scissors to it? I'd try to keep it in there if it's an option since it's what seems to be doing the trick...at least as long as you can to get the other filters seeded.

 

[PaulG5372]

I should be able to cut at least some of it off to do that. I'll leave it in there as long as I can. If the bio-wheel works as it is supposed to I should be able to see a nice bacterial community building up on that eventually.

 

[jetajockey]

I'd just run it in there in an inconspicuous place and then you will have a working seeded sponge filter on hand any time you need to cycle a new tank.

 

[PaulG5372]

Good plan, I'll do that with at least a piece of it somewhere in the tank.

Also tested nitrates, they're at 40 ppm. Nitrite is getting converted, just not as fast as ammonia yet. The three cooler days in the mail probably slowed the bacteria down some and killed some too.

 

[PaulG5372]

Ammonia has once again dropped to 0. Nitrites are at 1 ppm and Nitrates at nearly 80 ppm.

 

[pantherspawn]

Ammonia has once again dropped to 0. Nitrites are at 1 ppm and Nitrates at nearly 80 ppm.

Should be done within the next week!

 

[PaulG5372]

I sure hope so! That active sponge sure did help though!

 

[schocker]

I have almost exactly the same issue. I have been cycling for about 2 weeks. Dosing with ammonia to 4 ppm. I have some plants, same filter as you, and used some bacteria in a bottle product before I knew better. Ammonia was dropping, (likely from the plants but who knows) no nitrites but had nitrates almost immediately. I just got some used filter media today, out it in a media bag and jammed it into the filter. I am hoping this does the trick. I will be happy to see some purple on my nitrite test. Weird. .........

 

[PaulG5372]

Nitrites are now sky high; can't read them on the chart. The vial is now a fucisa color. Will do a pwc today to get them to readable levels.

 

[bcurlacher54]

yeah paul, my air pump makes the same big cluster of bubbles, i turned it down a bit and now it doesnt fill the top of the tank as much as before.

 

[bcurlacher54]

as more the fuscia color nitrites, mine did that also with the api kit. they just dropped to readable levels out of the blue one day. THE NITRATE TEST INSTRUCTIONS SAY TO SHAKE #2 FOR 30SECS. that is incorrect according to info i was given a few days ago. shake #2 for 2mins and you will get the proper reading. it will more likely be waaayyyy higher than you are getting currently.

 

[jetajockey]

Definitely do some WC, I don't know if any studies have been done on the effects of nitrite toxicity to bacteria, but if it works like ammonia does (probably does), then it needs to stay low. That's one problem with dosing so much ammonia in the fishless cycle, the huge nitrite spike which seems to hold some people up, I honestly think it has the ability to set a cycle back if left unchecked, but that's just conjecture.

 

[eco23]

Definitely do some WC, I don't know if any studies have been done on the effects of nitrite toxicity to bacteria, but if it works like ammonia does (probably does), then it needs to stay low. That's one problem with dosing so much ammonia in the fishless cycle, the huge nitrite spike which seems to hold some people up, I honestly think it has the ability to set a cycle back if left unchecked, but that's just conjecture.

Interesting theory regarding toxicity. I'm not sure if the actual nitrIte level stalls some cycles, or if the bacteria using up nutrients and buffers to create the high levels is at fault. A pwc is always the remedy, so I think you're right it'd be hard to know for sure without a laboratory setting.

What scares me more about the high no2 levels is when the nitrIte suddenly drops at the end of a cycle...it can cause the pH to dramatically fall either causing damage or hibernation of the bacteria (I'm not sure which, I've seen articles stating both ).

 

[PaulG5372]

Did a pwc and got the nitrite to about .5 ppm.

I don't think a low pH at the end of the cycle will be an issue for me as the pH is still at 8.0.

 

[PaulG5372]

Todays levels:

Ammonia is back to 0, nitrite is for sure lower than yesterday even though there was still a good amount of ammonia in the tank when it was last recorded and nitrates are climbing.

Looks like it's moving in the right direction.

 

[PaulG5372]

Ammonia levels are still dropping to 0 in 24 hours. Nitrite levels are not increasing though and staying near.5 ppm. I'm assuming the bacteria just can't handle the load quite yet. Hopefully it will be done soon!

 

[PaulG5372]

Nitrites are higher than 5.0 ppm tonight. Would out be best to still redose ammonia, give it a night off, or do a pwc and then redose?

 

[eco23]

Nitrites are higher than 5.0 ppm tonight. Would out be best to still redose ammonia, give it a night off, or do a pwc and then redose?

Is the 5.0 a typo, or did they go from .5 to 5 overnight? If it is actually 5, I'd just add 1ppm every day for a while. You've already established one heck of an ammo to no2 colony, now you've just got to keep it fed.