What's up with my nitrites

[Cheesecake1015]

Hello so I will try to make this short.

I had a 40g tank set up had a orange blotched peacock cichlid, and a bristlenose pleco. Then the gf saw a small tiger oscar at the store thought was a good idea bring him home. I knew how big oscars get so I let him grow some in the 40 he is about 7,8 inches now

So now to my issue. I bought a 75g tank a fluval fx6 canister filter set up new tank used some of the substrate from old tank used filter media from old tank (tidal 110 filter) also all the old non cleaned decorations I am impatient and so I didn't let it sit for however long to cycle

Anyway. To the levels.

Ph is 7.8ish sorry hard to match the colors exactly

Ammonia shows a like slight tinge of Green but not as green as .25ppm shows and yellow is 0.

Nitrite is a dark purple so sky high so 5.0ppm or higher and hasn't changed in days. Thought a water change might help I removed about 30% water replaced with tap treated with prime. Next 2 days nitrites still dark purple.

Nitrates on the other hand are low around 10-20ppm

So question is. Is it just part of the cycling process and filter does not yet have the bacteria to break nitrites down to nitrates yet?


Fish seem fine oscar sulked a little at the change of scenery. Think he is mad at me everytime I go near tank now he swims back to his cave then I walk away and he comes out to eat the food I gave him ha

Right now in the 75 I have the bristle nose, ob peacock, tiger oscar, and a what I found out to be a green terror (was sold to me from lfs as a jack dempsey) will fish be ok in high nitrites as I don't currently have another tank I can transfer them too until I can figure out water levels

 

[Aiken Drum]

High nitrites wont be good for your fish. 5ppm is too high. You probably need to up the water change schedule, maybe 30% daily until nitrite is under control.

My opinion is that, as you say, the nitrite to nitrate bacteria isnt well established yet. It doesnt take much ammonia to produce a lot of nitrite (1ppm to 2.7ppm) and when it isnt processing to nitrate (2.7ppm to 3.6ppm) the nitrite can build up quite quickly.

Im presuming you don't have much in the way of live plants.

I wouldnt consider your nitrate to be low.

 

[Cheesecake1015]

I do have 4 or 5 java ferns planted in there. But oscar doesn't like them and I find myself reseating plants everyday. Finally have all plants bunched up one side around a decoration and he has left them alone.




So qater changes doesn't slow down cycling process

Sorry trying to get information on this cycling stuff I find 10 different answers from 10 diff sources. Lfs says don't water change during cycle. But then again he also sold me a green terror and said it was a jack dempsey.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I dont think a handful of java ferns will affect the nitrate too much.

Ask 10 people how best to cycle a tank you will get 10 different answers. All i can give is my recommendation to add to everything else you have been told.

Yes, water changes will slow down the cycle process. But, i would say its better to keep relatively safe water parameters and have your cycle take a little longer.

Ammonia can be relatively safe at quite high levels until you get into high pH levels. The same cant be said for nitrite though. I think this is where the "dont do water changes" comes from as you are normally talking about ammonia levels not nitrite. Typically you want to keep ammonia + nitrite combined below 0.5ppm. This will keep your water relatively safe while retaining enough waste to progress the cycle. Ive seen people recommend keeping levels as high as 2ppm of each. Whatever though, i think 5ppm is too high. Not immediately life threatening, but definitely causing stress and possibly longer term health issues.

Could you transfer a little filter media from your established tank filter into your new tank filter? Or squeeze out an old filter sponge into your new tank water? That will seed it with beneficial bacteria and speed up your cycle process.

Edit: sorry just spotted you already did that.

 

[Cheesecake1015]

I dont think a handful of java ferns will affect the nitrate too much.

Ask 10 people how best to cycle a tank you will get 10 different answers. All i can give is my recommendation to add to everything else you have been told.

Yes, water changes will slow down the cycle process. But, i would say its better to keep relatively safe water parameters and have your cycle take a little longer.

Ammonia can be relatively safe at quite high levels until you get into high pH levels. The same cant be said for nitrite though. I think this is where the "dont do water changes" comes from as you are normally talking about ammonia levels not nitrite. Typically you want to keep ammonia + nitrite combined below 0.5ppm. This will keep your water relatively safe while retaining enough waste to progress the cycle. Ive seen people recommend keeping levels as high as 2ppm of each. Whatever though, i think 5ppm is too high. Not immediately life threatening, but definitely causing stress and possibly longer term health issues.

Could you transfer a little filter media from your established tank filter into your new tank filter? Or squeeze out an old filter sponge into your new tank water? That will seed it with beneficial bacteria and speed up your cycle process.

Edit: sorry just spotted you already did that.

Hey yea I did use old bio media.

I appreciate your help. It just threw me off otherday I did water change expecting nitrites to go down. But instead was the same dark purple color.

Anyway taking your advice for daily water changes I probably just changed about 40% now nitrite readings have lowered down to around .25. It's It's start. Appreciate fast response. Really wasn't trying to kill my oscar. I think I attached a picture with left is after water change right is before

 

[Aiken Drum]

Never thought for a second you wanted to put your fish in danger.

Its very difficult to tell those nitrite readings apart between say 0.5ppm and 5ppm. Lighting, background etc can make a big difference on how you interpret the result. Those tests clearly show a drop after your water change though.

I made a post about testing the other day.

Dont take the test results as being gospel. Its a home test kit, not lab testing, and not that accurate. All sorts of things can throw it off. Some of the tests dont even test for what it says it does on the bottle. Use it as a guide to whether you have issues or as a tool to make decisions.

 

[Magaratz]

I think the Oscar will eventually find the plants. I guess at that point you’ll have to decide if it’s going to be the Oscar or live plants. I tend to lean toward live plants because I just prefer a planted tank. My plants also tend to balance out a lot of the chemical swings going on and steady the tank.

 

[Cheesecake1015]

Yea I mean he doesn't eat them just knocks them around. I read java ferns are hardy and can manage with the occasional uprooting lol. But hey that's Google

I just need to give tank and filter time to do its thing and monitor levels till its good.