End Of Cycle Question

[hdlorider93]

Ok my tank cycled and thought i was ready to go to stock the tank. I did a 90% water change and turned my heater back down. I tested the water this morning just to make sure i was good to go and it appears my nitrites are off the charts, my ammo is 0ppm my ph is 7.8. Anyone have any ideas about this? Thanks

 

[librarygirl]

Hi, so I''m assuming you did a fishless cycle with ammonia? Did you ever get nitrites before and did they go to 0 on their own? If so how long were they at 0 consistently? Once ammonia and nitrite stay at 0 you want to keep dosing and checking for a week or so before adding fish just to be sure nothing spikes. Also did you test your tap water for nitrite? If nitrite is back up I wouldn't add fish yet. If your tap has 0 nitrite and they are now off-chart I would do at least a 50% water change to get them down to a readable level on the chart and then keep dosing ammonia (maybe just to 2 ppm) for a few days and see what happens. Also what test kit are you using?

 

[hdlorider93]

Sorry yes a fishless cycle. I have been turning 4.0 ppm of ammonia in a 24 hour period for almost a week now. I was getting 0 ppm readings for the ammonia and nitrites using the api test kit, and for some odd reason my nitrites spiked up

 

[hdlorider93]

Holy Cow, this problem has been bothering me all day so i came home from work early and did a 50% water change, then i tested the tap water and it's showing i have nitrites in my tap water........what the heck do i do about that?