Mystified by water parameters - Specifically Nitrite

[SuperFisch]

Greetings,

I'm looking for some guidance and advice regarding 3 week old planted, fished, cycling 20gal.

MyTank (Uptime:Since 7/8/12):
20g High Planted
Pengiun 150 Biowheel (2 slots)
- 1st slot - Penguin Filter Cart - Carbon replaced with Seachem Purigen
- 2nd slot - Fluval Biomax Bio Rings & little Cuttlebone
100W Heater - Tropical - 78.6 F
Whisper 40 Airpump - Bubble curtain & Airstone
AA Aquarium Green Killing Machine
- Powerhead on 24/7 for circulation & CO2 dispersal
- 3W UV powered (9:30pm - 9:30am)
24" Aqueon T5 Fluorescent 6.7K Lamp - 14W
24" Aqueon T5 Fluorescent Colormax - 14W
- Photocycle (9:30am - 11:30am) & (1:30pm - 9:30pm)
DIY CO2 (7:30am - 9:30pm)
Whisper 10 Airpump - Airstone - Blowoff CO2 (10:00pm-7:30am)
1" Seachem Flourite base substrate
75% Topfin aquarium gravel
25% Caribsea SuperNaturals Tahitian Moon sand

Fauna:
1 - Dragonscale crowntail betta splendens
4 - Pepper corydoras
6 - Neon tetras
1 - Apple snail

The question is thus, why on earth would my nitrite be reading off the chart (teststrips, API Master 6/2017) after 2 consecutive 50% water changes?

pH 6.8
KH 120 ppm
GH 75 ppm
Chlorine 0 ppm
Ammonia (prior either change) .25 ppm
Nitrate 5 ppm
Nitrite - 1 billion ppm

Was:
Using:
API Tap water conditioner
1/2 dose API QuickStart on 50% water changes added to Biomax rings and bio wheel
Doing:
33% Water changes every other day w/ gravel vacuum
50% Water change once per week (this is the third)
Ferting:
4 Seachem Flourish tabs at bottom of Flourite, 2-3 in from top of substrate
API Leaf Zone full dose per week
Seachem Flourish - 2ml every 3rd day

Water params were:
as expected on all days
Ammonia was high
Then this Saturday it wasn't hardly there any more
Tested nitrites, ~3 ppm, 33% wc w\ API tap water treatment
Today (Monday) >5ppm, 50% wc w\API treat, >5ppm, 50% wc w\ Seachem Prime (cause my fishs is now skert!!) , oh and >5ppm.

OMFG RTFM!!

Unacceptable. Your thoughts? (Other than fishless cycle pls., I'll know better next time.. )

TIA

 

[Samzter]

I think it's still cycling , and you added fish too quickly? I'm not very knowledgable when it comes to this sort of stuff.

 

[jlk]

Your in the second phase of cycling. With nitrites this high, you need to step up your water changes. Just make sure you temperature match and properly condition the new water. Heres a link with some more info!

I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

 

[CorallineAlgae]

When doing fish in cycling make sure to feed seriously small amounts of food, just enough for most of your fish to get a couple of bites twice a day. Fully feeding the fish is dangerous until your filter is mature. Believe me, the fish are going to be more stressed by the nitrate than a little hunger, and heavy feeding will only make the toxins higher.

If your tank is heavily planted things will go smoother. Do you have a picture you could post?

 

[SuperFisch]

Thanks for the responses guys. I will be doing daily 50% PWC's until I see my nitrites subside. I am also probably overfeeding. I was initially worried that my cory's were not going to get enough to eat. I take it that they will not let themselves starve to death versus making some attempt to obtain food during feeding time. I had initially been adding an algae wafer or two for the cats and shrimp and removed them after ~1.5 hrs once they started to break up. Would this be having a significant impact on my bioload and should I abstain from using these until cycled?

Not heavily planted (new to this), but a WIP, I did order java moss and hogwart online for early next week. I'll snap a pic when I get back home this evening.

Thanks again for any advice.

 

[Borderlesscott]

As much as I love Purigen and use it in all my tanks it's known to slow cycle speeds - seachem
advise not to use it until the tank is cycled. This might be playing a small part in the Nitrites by restricting the cycle process.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

As much as I love Purigen and use it in all my tanks it's known to slow cycle speeds - seachem
advise not to use it until the tank is cycled. This might be playing a small part in the Nitrites by restricting the cycle process.

Good catch Scott! It may not be bad in this case, only because of the overfeeding. With a fish in cycle and so many fish it may be better to have it in the filter. Normally I'd also leave it out for the first several months. Still, guess it could go either way for this cycle.

OP, as a side note, in my very mature 20 gallon planted tank I find that only a small part of an sinking wafer is really needed to feed the bottom feeders. Besides, you don't have a lot of cats. One quarter of a wafer every other day is the most they will need, at least for the next few weeks. Your water changes should do a lot to help lower the spikes, but feeding super light should help keep the spikes from jumping as high again.