NitrIte Level At 1.0 ppm

[SimplyJR]

I'll try and include as much information as I can so that I don't leave any of you puzzled . I have had my 10 gallon freshwater tank for a little over 5 weeks now and thought the cycling process was going fine until I noticed that the nitrIte level has read 1.0 ppm for a week now. My ammonia level is at 0 and my nitrAte level is staying low at about 5 ppm. The pH hangs around at about 7.2. In the tank right now I have 2 dwarf gouramis, three platys, and two rosy barbs (all are still young and were added gradually). I have no real plants and two aerators.
I'm beginning to do a 10% water change every week because I read that this can help. I add NutraFin Cycle Biological Aquarium Supplement and Stress Zyme as directed on the bottles. The type of filter I have is a Marineland Penguin BIO-Wheel. Also, I'm not sure if this affects it or not, but I believe that I have my gravel too thick at about 2-2.5 inches.
Is there anything I can or should do to assist in lowering the nitrIte and raising the nitrAte levels. Thanks for taking the time to read and help out!

 

[TCTFish]

Don't do anything about the nitrite. It will zero out on its own and be transformed into nitrates. You don't really want nitrate levels to go up past 40ppm. The lower the better. The nitrogen cycle is still establishing. Give it another week or two. The substrate is fine.

 

[Menagerie]

[center:484f0557ca] Welcome to AA, SimplyJR!! [/center:484f0557ca]

I have had my 10 gallon freshwater tank for a little over 5 weeks now and thought the cycling process was going fine until I noticed that the nitrIte level has read 1.0 ppm for a week now. My ammonia level is at 0 and my nitrAte level is staying low at about 5 ppm.

The tank is coming to the end of the cycle and it's time for PWC.

I'm beginning to do a 10% water change every week because I read that this can help.

25% is even better. Right now, do 25% PWC every other day, until the nitrite zeros out. Do not clean the filter or vacuum the gravel yet.

 

[TCTFish]

25% is even better. Right now, do 25% PWC every other day, until the nitrite zeros out. Do not clean the filter or vacuum the gravel yet.

Doing such radical water changes can disrupt the establishment of nitrifying bacteria, making it take longer to complete. It needs to cycle through. The only time when you want to do such large water changes is if the entire system is crashing (when all levels are high and things are dying). In this case, it's not.

 

[Menagerie]

25% every other day is fine. The bacteria is growing in the filter and the substrate. Simply removing 25% of the water every other day will not remove the bacteria already there. Since the nitrates are reading and the are fish in the tank, you need to take their needs into consideration over the length of the cycle. It doesn't matter if the cycle takes an extra week when you are talking about potentially stressing the fish. Keep in mind nitrite poisoning is as deadly as ammonia poisoning.

 

[SimplyJR]

Thank you so much for all of your great advice! I'll start doing water changes every other day. Now on that note as far as water goes, do I have to keep buying distilled water or can I use water that I've let sit for about a week (I have many gallons)? I do have water conditioners but I was just afraid that putting too many chemicals in the tank would kill off the good bacteria. Thanks again for your replies!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

You really don't need to add any checmicals to the tank except for the dechlorinator. You don't need to keep buying distilled water. Most people will say to let the water sit in buckets overnight after you have added the dechlorinator. I followed this to the T when I first started in fish keeping. It's kind of funny now because we will take water out of the tank with the python, then fill a bucket of water from the bathtub, add in the dechlorinator, mix it up really good, then dump it into the tank.

About your gravel, it's not too deep at 2 inches. I think I have about 3 inches in my 10 gal. Idealy your gravel bed should be a least 2 inches.

 

[TankGirl]

I personally advocate water changes during fishy cycling, just for the sake of the fish, but it is true you have to weigh the risk vs. benefit because you want the cycle to get finished. For me 1ppm is just too high, and I would do a very small water change, again, must be stressed that you don't want to disturb any hard surfaces or substrate in the tank at all, as mentioned already.

I had a tank that I had fishless cycled and was just adding ammonia daily to keep it that way until my fish arrived. I had added new lights, got some algae, scraped the glass, got debris, decided to do a big ole water change in preparation for adding my fish and waved the gravel vac over the sand to suck up particles, and used my hand to rub algae off the rocks. The next day (still no fish in there yet!) I was back in a mini-cycle. The bacterial colonies are extremely delicate, so handle with care, but dilute the toxicity to protect the fish.

I just saw the part about distilled water, and that should not be added to your tank as-is. It is barren of trace elements that fish require, so your tap water is a much better choice unless you are dosing the distilled with everything it is missing, kindof silly when you have it right there in the tap. Water conditioners are necessary to remove chlorine and chloramine, and are perfectly fine for your cycle. You can age the water if there are no chloramines, but if you DO have chloramines aging will not rid the water of that.

Post back if any of this is confusing, as everyone has their own philosophy, so you'll have to make a choice based on your gut feeling, and then use your experience later to decide how to handle similar situations in the future.