My tank is finally cycling, yay!

[suprdave]

So, I ended up getting Seachem Stability to help move things along, and used a whole bottle over the course of 2 weeks. After doing so I *finally* have nitrites and nitrates registering. They are now showing:

Tested with strips:
Nitrate: 40 mg/L
Nitrites: >10.0 mg/L (way over, possibly 20).


Tested with liquid test kit:
Ammonia: Was very high, about 4.0 last night. Is now showing almost 0.



It has been very difficult to get this tank started, so I'm quite excited. I do know however that the Nitrite reading is way too high. I am concerned about doing a partial water change however because I do not want to screw the cycle up. Will the nitrites naturally die down quick enough that I don't need to worry about my fish dying, or is this something that needs to be taken care of now by a PWC?

 

[James_in_MN]

Test strips aren't trustworthy; liquid tests are the best way to accurately test your aquarium.

It would be wise to buy the AP Freshwater Master Test Kit, which has liquid tests for everything in the nitrogen cycle (ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte) as well as pH.

Another kit I'll recommend is the Tetratest Laborett Kit, which has some of the same tests (pH, ammonia, nitrIte) but also includes water hardness tests (GH, KH). I also like the syringe and the testing vials that comes with this kit.

 

[itsgracia]

+1 on the liquid tests.

I would do a PWC to lower down your water levels (from my understanding you have fish in there) to 0.25 (for nitrite and ammonia). Any ammonia and/or nitrite reading above this will really harm your fishes. Nitrate should also be below 20 ppm.