Another cycling question

[Marinemammalover]

Ok I know this is like the third thread I've started about fish-in cycling but here it goes. Ok so I have been having a nitrite spike of around two since 9/10. I know that I have 0.5 ppm of nitrite in my tap water. I have been using amquel plus to take care of that( I know it only gets rid of it for twenty four hours) I have been doing fifty percent water changes daily since 9/6 ( it was initially for the ammonia spike I was having than for the nitrite spike). I have been doing 25% water changes to make sure that I'm not adding too much nitrite to my tank. My current levels are.....

79 degrees
Ph: 7.2 ( used crushed coral in my filter to make sure it stays at this level... It was in the sixes before)
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 2-5 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm

I am using the API liquid test kit and am cycling this twenty gallon tank with 6 zebra danios. So my question is: is it normal to have such a long nitrite spike the levels started the spike at 0.25 and are still rising ( see above)? And if this isn't normal than what should I do???? Please help....

 

[Marinemammalover]

Anyone????????

 

[xwesx1978]

Nitrites take a lot longer to come down then ammonia does

 

[Marinemammalover]

It takes this long though? Maybe I'm getting a little impatient but it just seems like it's taking more time than it should... It's been more than a month and I read that it's usually cycled in 4-6 weeks....

 

[librarygirl]

The nitrite phase takes about 3 weeks on average in itself. With nitrite that high and with fish, do large changes ASAP. Start with 50%, wait an hour or so then test. Then do another. Try to get it down as low as you can, you should be able to get it much lower even with some nitrite in your tap. Also products like amquel don't remove nitrites, they just detoxify them temporarily but only to a certain point. If you can get some Prime it'll last longer.

 

[Marinemammalover]

Ok will do... thanks for the advice!