High Nitrites

[phasex]

I have A20 Gallon tank in the middle of its Nitrogen cyle. My nitrite levels are really high. I have been doing 3 - 4 50% water changes for the past 4 days and the levels still aren't dropping. Is there something i can add to the water to reduced the nitrite levels. I have already been adding Biological suppliment and have some living plants in the tank.

 

[Impulse09]

Buy prime and add to water if you have fish. It detoxifies nitrites.

 

[stingrays4]

Hi if no fish are present then stop the water changes immediately! The idea of cycling is to feed the tank a source of ammonia which the bacteria feed on,then changes to nitrite then when its peaks it will then drop rapidly over night and be zero then your tank is ready for fish! There is a proper explanation some where on here
I use water life's biomature and i reckon its brilliant

 

[Mrduna01]

Prime will help with nitrites but I think the reccomend using 5 times the normal dose when using it for this purpose however I would opt for a LOT of water changes over using prime in this manner. Do you already have fish in the tank? I assume you do. Unfortunately from my experience you will need to do multiple water changes per day to keep the nitrites from doing in the fish. Try doing three large water changes per day and see if that helps.

 

[Mrduna01]

Ha... I read your post wrong... Seems your already doing multiple changes per day. Hopefully others can lend more advice to help you out.

 

[tlkng1]

The Prime will bind the nitrites so they won't harm your fish but being exposed even to that for al ong period of time can do harm.

Now, on that, as has been pointed out, if you are cycling, leave the nitrites alone. Eventually they will turn into nitrates and THEN you do your water changes to prep for stocking. If you have fish, keep using the Prime and doing your changes but your cycle is going to take a lot longer. What is your Ammonia reading?

 

[phasex]

Thanks this helps a lot

 

[librarygirl]

As others said Prime is a good dechlorinator b/c it helps to detoxify the nitrites temporarily. However the Prime will wear off after about 36 hours and it shouldn't just be added without water changes. Water changes are the only thing that's going to get the nitrites down and keep the fish safe. You may need to do multiple 50-70% water changes per day. I'd also stop adding the bacterial supplement; they can work, or not work, or appear to work but then crash your biofilter down the road. They may be even outcompeting the correct bacteria depending on what kind you're using. Some may disagree but that's my opinion.

If you haven't seen it there's a link in my signature called: new tank with fish. It guides you what you should do to cycle the tank with fish in it. Good luck!