Hopefully everything will go back to normal when I start ramping up the water changes. I just didn't know if my cycle crashed completely because my nitrates never changed
Can't get cycle back in order
- Thread starter Nikkosan
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After 50% water change ammonia is still at about 1-2ppm and nitrite is at .5ppm
So a 50% water change has halved the ammonia and nitrite as expected.
I've never done 2 in a row before but ammonia is at 1.0ppm and nitrite is still at .5ppm hopefully it doesn't spike again in the morning
Morning after the water change and ammonia is at about .50ppm-1.0ppm but now nitrite has jumped to about 2.0ppm what is going on ��
Ammonia is cycling to nitrite.
You have enough ammonia to nitrite microbes to cycle out some ammonia, but not all of it. You dont have enough nitrite to nitrate microbes to cycle out the nitrite.
This is what you would expect to see part way through cycling the tank and you may see similar results for weeks before your tank fully cycles.
More water changes needed.
You have enough ammonia to nitrite microbes to cycle out some ammonia, but not all of it. You dont have enough nitrite to nitrate microbes to cycle out the nitrite.
This is what you would expect to see part way through cycling the tank and you may see similar results for weeks before your tank fully cycles.
More water changes needed.
Just did another water change and got ammonia to .25ppm and nitrite is at 1.0ppm should I keep doing multiple a day until everything is in order?
Also should I be adding any bacteria start up products like fritz zyme or micro bacter in between changes?
Take your ammonia and nitrite test results and add them together. If the combined total is above 0.5ppm change water until its below that combined 0.5ppm total.
Adding the fritz zyme or micro bacter might help speed up the cycling. Of the 2 i would opt for the fritz product. If it doesnt help, i wouldnt keep spending money on them.
Adding the fritz zyme or micro bacter might help speed up the cycling. Of the 2 i would opt for the fritz product. If it doesnt help, i wouldnt keep spending money on them.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
I've been following along and Aiken has been giving you some great advise so I just want to add this:
What you need to remember is that the "cycle" (a.k.a establishing a biological filter bed) is a process. It doesn't happen over night. Next is that the biological filter bed is a living " breathing" thing that grows and shrinks all based on the amount of ammonia present in the water. If there is low ammonia, there will be a small biological filter bed. If the ammonia is high, the bed will be a larger bed. The problem with doing high ammonia in the presence of fish is that the ammonia damages the fish and if they do not die during the cycling process, the chances are that the fish will be permanently damaged and could die at any time "mysteriously". Sadly, people often think that just because the fish makes it through the cycling process that the fish are home free. That's just not always the case. Back in the day when " fish in cycles" were the only way we did tanks, it was always low fish counts of only strong fish and routine water changes at least once but usually twice a week for at least a month. When the time came to add more fish, it was always 1 or 2 to not stress the filter bed. ( Thankfully the microbes in the biological filter bed reproduce quickly so rarely would there be the spikes because not a lot of ammonia producers were being added. ) Everything had to be done gradually.
Now I told you all that so that I could tell you this
: Even if you used a whole bottle of Fritzyme or Micro Bacter or others, only enough of the microbes to consume the amount of ammonia present at that time will survive. The rest will die off from starvation. So just because you added a whole bottle does not mean you will have a large biological bed. With that being said, the only " bacteria in a bottle" product I've had success with has been the Fritzyme line. I started using it when it first hit the market with great success. But here's the catch, you have to have the right water parameters ( Ph, Temperature, Hardness) for any of these products to really be effective. This is the guide for Fritzyme #7. https://fritzaquatics.com/resources/articles/fritzzyme-user-guide-fw If you have these water and temperature parameters, I'd give the fritz#7 or Turbo700 a shot. If you do not have these parameters, I wouldn't waste your money. The microbes that are forming naturally are ones that have/ are adapted/ adapting to your water parameters. They may be doing it more slowly than you'd like but if you are producing nitrates, they ARE working. It all just takes time and water changes. Hope this helps.
