No Nitrites whilist cycling

[Matt_]

Hello all, I have been cycling my new 20gal freshwater aquarium for 1 month, I am nearing the point where I can change 3ppm of ammonia to Nitrate but there is no sign of Nitrite in the process.. I test daily to keep track of the cycle.

I am using a new test kit which is the API Master testkit. This is also a fishless cycle

I did have to remove a good 80% of the water because I needed to move the tank to paint a background on, would this of affected the cycle?

Any help would be great thanks.

 

[PNWaquarist]

I did have to remove a good 80% of the water because I needed to move the tank to paint a background on, would this of affected the cycle?

If your filter media dried out while moving/painting the tank, that may have killed off some of your BB. But it sounds like your tank is cycled at this point, so that probably wasn't an issue.

Did you get a "spike" of high nitrites for several days towards the end of your cycle?

You could try adding 3 ppm ammonia to you tank and running a nitrite test 3-4 hours later. Just to prove to yourself that it's there temporarily. It sounds to me like you're pretty much cycled at this point.

 

[FishieMomma]

I agree, you're probably cycled. Sounds like your 2nd round BBs developed between your water chemistry checks. Very cool!

 

[Matt_]

If your filter media dried out while moving/painting the tank, that may have killed off some of your BB. But it sounds like your tank is cycled at this point, so that probably wasn't an issue.

Did you get a "spike" of high nitrites for several days towards the end of your cycle?

You could try adding 3 ppm ammonia to you tank and running a nitrite test 3-4 hours later. Just to prove to yourself that it's there temporarily. It sounds to me like you're pretty much cycled at this point.

Thanks for the reply, my filter media did not dry out during the time when I was painting the tank I made sure that it was still wet, it is a canister filter so I just kept the water in there.

And no I haven't seen no nitrates with my new API kit but it could have happened when I was testing with my old kit (was out of date) so the reading could have been innacurate.

I will add the 3ppm of ammonia today and test like you suggested 3-4 hours later, I'll probably test both times because I don't want to miss it if it is there

 

[Mebbid]

If youre processing ammonia and not seeing any nitrite or nitrate check your method on the nitrate test. It has to be done exactly the way the directions say or you will get a reading of 0. This includes timing the shaking of the vial and bottle.

 

[Matt_]

If youre processing ammonia and not seeing any nitrite or nitrate check your method on the nitrate test. It has to be done exactly the way the directions say or you will get a reading of 0. This includes timing the shaking of the vial and bottle.

I am going to be doing this test later today so I will post back the results, The results when usually testing are as follows:

Ammonia; 0.25 - 0
Nitrite; 0
NitrAte; 10 (ish) its hard to distinguish between 10 and 20 with the API test kit.

And for the test I follow the instructions precisely, I actually shake the NitrAte bottle #2 alittle more as apparently this is known to give false readings if it is not shaken vigorously.

 

[PNWaquarist]

I can't guarantee that you'll see nitrite in the tank after 3-4 hours of dosing. But if your tank is cycled, you will certainly not see it after 24 hours.

 

[Matt_]

I can't guarantee that you'll see nitrite in the tank after 3-4 hours of dosing. But if your tank is cycled, you will certainly not see it after 24 hours.

Ok well I'm going to try my best to catch the Nitrite spike, I wont belive i have finished until I see it

 

[Matt_]

An update to the nitrite reading, I have tested 3 hours later and there is no reading, this is expected right now as the ammonia hasn't gone down yet. Hoping for the ammonia drop so I can hopefully see the nitrite reading.

 

[Matt_]

I have tested my aquarium this morning and the ammonia has dropped to 2ppm but I didn't see any nitrite again, the nitrate is around 10-20 ppm also. I'm not sure what happening, surely I should be able to see some nitrite reading if the ammonia has dropped?

 

[PNWaquarist]

You may just have a very robust colony of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. This is unusual, but not unheard of. I believe that somebody posted here last month with the same issue.

I wouldn't sweat this too much. If your ammonia is being completely converted into nitrate in 24 hours, you're cycled.

 

[Mebbid]

You may just have a very robust colony of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. This is unusual, but not unheard of. I believe that somebody posted here last month with the same issue.

I wouldn't sweat this too much. If your ammonia is being completely converted into nitrate in 24 hours, you're cycled.

Im going to agree with pwn on this one.

 

[Matt_]

Im going to agree with pwn on this one.

You may just have a very robust colony of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. This is unusual, but not unheard of. I believe that somebody posted here last month with the same issue.

I wouldn't sweat this too much. If your ammonia is being completely converted into nitrate in 24 hours, you're cycled.

OK thank you for your help ill do dose the ammonia up to 3ppm to see if it drops to 0ppm within 24 hours