Low ammonia, normal nitrates, very high nitrites????

[Michelleyyy919]

Hey everyone! So I'm a fairly new aquarium owner and my tank is about a month old now. I've been through craziness with extremely high ammonia levels and nitrates. Finally, I've gotten my ammonia level down to zero, my nitrates are at a good level. But then I tested my nitrates. And they are extremely high. What is a cure for this? How can I lower my levels? Are daily water changes nessacary?


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[Michelleyyy919]

I have a 10 gallon aquarium by the way with an african dwarf frog. 2 guppies and a catfish.


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[dalto]

Yes, this is fairly normal for where you are in the cycle. What is happening is that your ability to convert nitrites->nitrates have not caught up to you ability to ammonia->nitrites. They will catch up with time as the BB colonies grow.

Water changes are the solution in the short-term. As for how much, it depends on what your specific readings for nitrite are.

[irdajoh]

Daily chsnges will help a ton with lowering the nitrites to a readable and safer level. If your ammoina is 0 and high nitrites that's a good sign, but your ammoina eating bacteria need food, add some flakes or if your doing fishless cycle dose to 1 ppm and a flake or two to help buffer.

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