need some help on my new tank

[iamaloner]

hi everyone

many years ago, started with a betta and a goldfish, managed to kill both of them quickly, water wasn't filtered, nor heated - lfs did not tell me how to keep them otherwise and i didn't research

this time I thought I will go about it better, but i'm having issues

I have a 12 gallon fluval edge, in my office, not in direct light.
Eco-complete fine substrate
tiger eye rocks and Malaysian driftwood in place.
rock was vinegar tested, did not flare, driftwood was boiled for 5 hours and tannis was pretty much removed completely.

planted:
1. anubias nana
2. Java fern
3. rosette sword
4. Christmas and phoenix moss
5. dhg (yet to be planted, just getting it ready)

all planted within the last week

the water was very cloudy for 3 days before it finally cleared up on its own.
no fish yet. my eventual plan is for 10 shrimps and 5-6 CPD (galaxy rasbora) that's it.

I have been feeding the tank fish food.
tested my tap water for all (pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates) all were good, except pH was around 7.6-8.0

have been testing the tank for 5 days now (pH, ammonia only), decided to test for nitrite today
ammonia is stable around .25-.3 ppm
pH is getting really high 8.0-8.2 and what is really upsetting me is that my nitrites are testing super high 2.0 ppm +

i was under the impression my ammonia would first peak and then drop to 0 before the nitrites would spike & why is the nitrite spiking so badly - why is it so high

i also want to lower my pH but I don't want to use water conditioners, i have read that they mostly don't work.

what is happening? any help would be appreciated.

pic attached, tank is not full of water yet as I still have some planting to do.

 

[mistersprinkles]

Co2 injection will lower your pH. Your plants will thank you. Generally, plants don't do as well at higher pH like that but everything should work out ok. Is the pH in the tank gradually going up? Do you have any basic rocks in there like limestone?

 

[iamaloner]

Hi
Thanks for the reply. I'm not concerned with the pH right now. Its only been 5 days and I'm sure it will stabilize considering the plants and the wood will eventually lower the pH. I'm more concerned with the massive nitrites levels. As for the CO2 I'm not going to do that just yet as I read that most of my chosen plants will do fine in a low tech tank. No, no lime stone. Only tiger eye as previously mentioned.

 

[flitabout]

Those aren't massive nitrite levels. If they where off the charts then I would suggest a water change. If it goes over say 5 then it's probably time for a water change. Your cycle does seem to be going really fast, but that doesn't sound like a bad thing to me. GL and KUP

 

[iamaloner]

thank you both
i will do exactly that if the nitrates get very high. i double checked and my tap water is 0ppm nitrites and ammonia. so something fishy is happening in the tank lol

thanks again guys

i was thinking of the CO2 but its so **** expensive, also i dont know if it will hook up nicely in the fluval edge due to its design