Nitrite/Nitrate confusion

[LittleNami]

Ok, its late at night and although I have done some net browsing, I can't seem to figure out something between nitrite and nitrate. Some help here would be greatly appreciated ^^

Now, I know nitrite is the bad amount of the two, NO3 correct? But is this supposed to form in an older tank more so than a younger tank?

Nitrate is supposed to be the one that is good for plants and such, NO2, right? Somewhere around the road I heard that Nitrite converts to Nitrate in time. Is this true? I guess I am just confused with the two altogether and a little help would be soooo welcome right about now, seeing as how I am dealing with live plants in my setup right now ^^

 

[tropicfishman]

if you click on articles, at the top of the page and scrol ldown to the nitrogen cycle for freshwater, there is an awesome article on the whole process

 

[Lonewolfblue]

NO2 is Nitrite and NO3 is Nitrate. Plants will use both. Will also use ammonia as well. Ammonia and Nitrite are very bad for fish, and Nitrate is bad in a larger quantity. That's the reasoning for PWC's, is to keep the nitrate down. As for new tanks, a new tank needs to cycle, which means to build up the proper bacteria to remove ammonia, then nitrite. Nitrate is the end product, which you should only see in a mature tank, not ammonia or nitrite.

The process is this:
ammonia->nitrite->nitrate

 

[LittleNami]

Oooooh, ok, that makes more sense after reading the article and lwb's nice simple visual aid ^^ Thank you for the clear up!

Edit: That also explains that little biofilter thing at the end of my regular filter and why it hasn't developed any color, my tank is only a bit over 2 months old

 

[Lonewolfblue]

You mean the biowheel? If it's a biowheel, it will be a few months before it really starts looking dirty. But don't clean it. It's a good dirty thing.