Cycling tank - nitrites not going down

[waxlady]

Hi everyone! I'm new here, but have gotten some great information from this site. I'm currently cycling a 10 gallon tank. I have Caribsea Naturals substrate, some aragonite stones, some river rock, a few pieces of cholla wood, marimo moss balls and assorted plants, running a sponge filter with a whisper 20 gallon air pump, hydor 50w heater, and finnex planted plus 24/7 light. I'm treating water with seachem prime before adding to aquarium, as well as occasional dosing with seachem flourish, and kicked off the cycle with some tetra safe start. The water is approx 80 degrees. The cycle has been going for about 3 weeks. I dose ammonia up to 4ppm every night, and it's always down to zero in 24 hours. My nitrates are up to 40-80ppm (hard to tell!) My nitrites were off the chart until I did a large (probably 60-75%) pwc, and now they have been hovering around 1-2ppm with no change for a week. It seems like all the critical elements are there, but I'm baffled by the nitrites not dropping! I'm trying to be patient, but I have a betta coming in the mail tomorrow! Am I doing something wrong? Any help is appreciated!

Also FYI, ph is between 7.4-7.6, gh and kh are in the normal range for "most tropical fish and live plants."

HALP!

 

[plantnoob]

Think you are on track. This is normal time for a cycle. Since you have new fish coming, if not dose anymore ammonia and wait for the nitrItes to go down to zero. The bacteria are already there, as evident from the large nitrAte concentration. If your nitrAtes are still very high, do another pic to get it down. Once nitrIte goes down to zero, you're good to add fish. Until then I'd have the betta in fresh, clean water and move him to the tank after fully cycled.

When I was young and naive and poor, I had a betta in a bowl for over 2 years. Daily water changes was the key to keeping him alive. Thinking back, it was cruel, but he seemed happy and lived a good life in that time.

He should do ok in a bowl until your tank is cycled.


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[plantnoob]

Could take up to a week. I used media from another established tank and took me 4 days.


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[plantnoob]

Sorry wrong post!


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[waxlady]

Hi plantnoob, thanks for your reply! I want to make sure I'm understanding correctly: no more ammonia, wait for nitrItes to drop to zero, do pwc to get nitrAtes down to safe level and then I can add fish. Right? I was thinking along those lines too - I learned something from all that reading I did! Haha. Sounds great and I'll make sure Mr betta has fresh clean water every day until I can move him to the tank, which hopefully won't be long. Thanks so much for putting my mind at ease!

 

[plantnoob]

Yup that's right. All indications are you have both nitrosomonas and nitrobacter. The fact that you had a nitrIte spike means you have the bacteria that reduces ammonia and likewise with the presence of Nitrates. My guess is your bacterial colony for NitrIte conversion was not able to keep up with the constant influx of ammonia. Sometimes that can stall the cycle. One betta fish will take some time to generate the same level of ammonia as you added in your fishless cycle. When you add in your fish, make sure you feed sparingly and monitor levels at least for the first few weeks. The Seachem ammonia indicator that you can stick inside the tank lets you continuously monitor ammonia without having to measure it everyday.

Good luck with your tank! It looks beautiful!


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