Question about nitrites

[brian7]

In an emergency effort to reduce my nitrites (still cycling), I dosed the water with Prime. Now when I test my water do i get a true reading for nitrites? I know seachem says it may mess with ammonia test, but they don't really say much about nitrites. The reason i ask is because my nitrites have been testing at .25, when they were at about 5, which is great, i am on the tail end of my cycle. Just wanted to make sure this was an accurate reading.

Note: i haven't added any prime for over 48 hours, seachem says the binding effect lasts about 48 hours.

thanks

[HUKIT]

No Prime will not effect the nitrite or nitrate readings.

[BBradbury]

Good morning brian...

Are you fishless cycling this tank? Guess this cycling procedure you're using is out of my league. Just curious mostly.

When I cycle a tank, I just set every up and plant it and run it for a month. I don't worry about testing until the end of the month. If you have a larger tank, say 55 Gs or more, then I don't think you'll need to test it if you run it for a month. Just put in a few small fish after a month and you're done.

Would be interested in the particulars of what you're doing.

B

[brian7]

It's kind of a long story... to make it short. I originally started fishless, but soon after realized I was using ammonia with surfactants. After I drained all the water out and started over I just decided to cycle with fish. I Know I shouldn't of, hence the trouble with chemicals.

[5x5]

That's exactly what happened to me. I had such a hard time finding pure ammonia near me that I used a couple of zebra danios. I hope you cleaned your tank out real good. I spent about 3 hours filling/draining the tank to make sure the chemicals were gone.

[Ray_Dockrey]

I also did the same thing. Used ammonia with surfactant. After doing some searching I found several people who had done the same thing but still had success. So I finished out the cycle and did a huge water change. I have had fish in it for over a week with no losses.

[BBradbury]

Good morning Ray...

I've cycled several large tanks and never used any chemicals or fish in the process. Apparently, this ammonia process speeds cycling. Don't understand it, but if one is anxious to get a tank up and running with fish and all in a short time, then it must work.

My process is simple, one I picked up several years ago from a friend who'd been into tanks for a long time. But, it will take a minimum of 30 days to complete.

Can't imagine the use of chemicals would be good for even the hardiest fish, but there are many people out there more knowledgable than I am.

Will be interested to see how this process works for you guys and the fish.

B

[jetajockey]

I prefer doing fish-in cycles personally, but that's just me. It can be done safely and effectively if you take precautions and do frequent testing/water changes as needed. Call it impatient, but it definitely works if you stay on top of water quality.


Fish create ammonia. It's their major waste product. Fishless cycling substitutes commercially available non-additive ammonia for the ammonia excreted by fish. This is an effort to avoid having the fish suffer through ammonia/nitrite poisoning while the tank's nitrifying bacteria colony (biofilter) is building.

If you are fish-in cycling, you can avoid the fish poisoning by doing frequent testing/water changes as needed to keep the levels in a safe range.

Once the biofilter is established, it readily consumes the ammonia/nitrite in the tank.

[Ray_Dockrey]

I have done it both ways. Neither way is faster than the other. What is different is the amount of work involved. With an in fish cycle it is testing every day and doing pwc's all the time. Sometimes multiple times a day. It is a lot of work if you want to keep your fish healthy and alive through it.

A fish less cycle you add ammonia. No harsh chemicals just ammonia. Same thing that the fish give off. You dose it and wait. No water changes and test occasionally to see where the bio filter is at. Very little work but requires a tremendous amount of patience watching an empty tank and trying to explain to family and friends who come over why it is empty of fish. Then they look at you like your crazy.

Filling with water and waiting a month does nothing. It ages the water but that is it and not necessary. As soon as you add your fish they produce ammonia and you start your cycle. Hope this explains things a little better. There is a thread on here that explains the fishless cycle and how to do it that is well worth reading.

[BBradbury]

Hello again...

You guys obviously have a system to this process of cycling a tank quickly. I always over planted the tank and that seemed to do the same thing as the ammonia. Granted, the plant method always took a least a month to do the job.

Another puzzle for me is the water testing. Never got the hang of it. I guess I figured periodic large water changes of 50 percent plus would keep the water conditions right for the fish.

Probably a good thing I never kept small tanks. Obviously, the large ones were very forgiving of my early mistakes.

Good talking with you.

B

[librarygirl]

Originally Posted by brian7

In an emergency effort to reduce my nitrites (still cycling), I dosed the water with Prime. Now when I test my water do i get a true reading for nitrites? I know seachem says it may mess with ammonia test, but they don't really say much about nitrites. The reason i ask is because my nitrites have been testing at .25, when they were at about 5, which is great, i am on the tail end of my cycle. Just wanted to make sure this was an accurate reading.

Note: i haven't added any prime for over 48 hours, seachem says the binding effect lasts about 48 hours.

thanks

You don't want to replace Prime with water changes though. If your nitrites are reading 0.25, it's best to do a water change to get them down with fish in the tank. You're almost at the end of the cycle, don't give up now!