strange nitrite issue

[Michael Bailey]

Hey everyone. Basically about a month and a half ago I bought a biocube 14. I am aware of the cycling process, where ammonia is converted to nitrites and that is converted to nitrates, but I have a strange issue. I am in the second stage of the cycle I guess, because my ammonia is at zero, my nitrates are at 10, and my nitrites are at .25. Initially my nitrites went up all the way to 1 so I did about a 50% wc with brought it down to. 25. But for the past week, I have been doing 3-4 gallon water changes every day and they won't budge from .25. How is this possible?

 

[dingusplease]

Hey everyone. Basically about a month and a half ago I bought a biocube 14. I am aware of the cycling process, where ammonia is converted to nitrites and that is converted to nitrates, but I have a strange issue. I am in the second stage of the cycle I guess, because my ammonia is at zero, my nitrates are at 10, and my nitrites are at .25. Initially my nitrites went up all the way to 1 so I did about a 50% wc with brought it down to. 25. But for the past week, I have been doing 3-4 gallon water changes every day and they won't budge from .25. How is this possible?

First of all, you are not supposed to any kind of water changes during the cycle. The whole idea is to let the bb build up, and removing their food source doesn't really help them colonize your tank.

The nitrite has to go way past 1ppm to have built up enough bb for your tank. I recommend adding your ammonia source again to maintain your cycle, and build up the ammonia/nitrite that was left.