Stuck on nitrite phase for exactly one month now!

[Tiger1]

Hm, so you've had high nitrites for 3-4 weeks now? And have been cycling for a month? Have you tested your tap water for nitrite by any chance?

I'd keep dosing ammonia at least to 2-3; you don't want to not dose too long or else the bacteria adjust to the smaller dose. You've also done a sufficient amount of water changes so I'd say you're ok for at least a few days there. What type of ammonia are you using? Did you start the cycle with any seeded media or bacteria starters? The nitrite phase is the longest of the phases and can test patience lol I don't see any reason why they shouldn't come down to 0 eventually. Do you have an air stone in the barrel or any sort of surface movement to promote oxygen exchange?

Nitrites have been off the charts for a month (since oct 21), I started a week before that. It only took about 5 days for them to spike, and a couple days after that, nitrAtes were almost 80. Progressed fast, but been stuck here ever since. A whole month now w nitrite spike. I have an airstone, a 200 filter that had a filter pad from another tank that may have been in a mini cycle (but I'm sure it had some BB on it). I also added a homemade mini skippy filter, a couple weeks ago, which will be my main filter after this seasoned one gets it stable. I will run them both for a while. 0 nitrites in my tap. Using Ace janitorial 10%. No bacteria in a bottle stuff used. Ok, so I'll go add a bit more ammo to get it to 2. So if it's off the charts tomorrow, I should just leave it and dose it to 2 again?!?

 

[Tiger1]

Ammonia 0, only 1/2 of the blue drops slowly turned purple before shaking. Final reading looked like 5. Dosed only up to 2 ammo for second day. Will test again tomorrow.

 

[Broke EF]

OK, I just did a 100% water change, dosed the ammo (maybe a lil much). Readings are,

Ammonia 3PPM
Nitrites 2PPM
Nitrates 20PPM? Looks more red than normal, but I'm not really sure.

I will read everything again tomorrow and see where its all at! Hopefully I'm moving in the right direction. Thanks for all the help!

Sean

 

[jlk]

Both of you guys keep us posted!!!!

 

[Broke EF]

Quick question for you guys. Would it be OK do to another 100% water change in the near future? Should I wait for some of my levels to get to a certain point before doing it, or I'm OK to do it whenever. The reason I ask is I really want to level my stand (a cabinet) and in order to do so I need to lift it up and put shims under the legs. I would have done it yesterday when it was empty, but I dint have the shims. I made some up today, and I can probably do when I do a 50 or 60% water change, but of course the lighter it is the better What do you guys think?


Thanks,
Sean

 

[jlk]

Another wc will not hurt anything & if you need to lift the tank, by all means go right ahead with one!! Just make sure you dose you ammonia after you refill.

 

[Tiger1]

Asking for help may have brought me good luck, although I will remain cautiously optimistic. Today's reading..... Ammo 0 (of course). Nitrites just barely turned purple on top of blue drops before shaking. Definitely less purple than yesterday. Final reading looks like 2. Redosed ammo up to 2. This will make it the third day at 2 ppm. I'm almost afraid to start dosing back to 4. If things continue to look better tomorrow, what should I do?? Back up to 4 or stay at 2 for ammo? If I dose back up to 4 soon, should I expect nitrites to spike again?

 

[librarygirl]

Asking for help may have brought me good luck, although I will remain cautiously optimistic. Today's reading..... Ammo 0 (of course). Nitrites just barely turned purple on top of blue drops before shaking. Definitely less purple than yesterday. Final reading looks like 2. Redosed ammo up to 2. This will make it the third day at 2 ppm. I'm almost afraid to start dosing back to 4. If things continue to look better tomorrow, what should I do?? Back up to 4 or stay at 2 for ammo? If I dose back up to 4 soon, should I expect nitrites to spike again?

It's hard to say. More ammonia will probably mean more nitrite. Eventually it should come down to 0 on its own. I think it should have already so you should be close. I'm wondering if it being outside is causing some issue but not sure. You can continue to dose to 2. Dosing to 4 is designed to be overkill and unless you grossly overstock your tank after the cycle your fish shouldn't produce anywhere near 4 ppms of ammonia. If you wanted to continue to dose to 2 and then stock fairly slowly after the cycle finishes rather than adding all fish at once I think that would be fine.

 

[Tiger1]

It's working. Nitrites were at 1 about 3 hrs ago and now they are at .25. But now I'm curious to know if I can fully cycle with more ammo. I'm gonna dose up to 3 tonight. What's the worst that can happen? If nitrites skyrocket overnight, then I will finish off dosing at two again.

 

[librarygirl]

It's working. Nitrites were at 1 about 3 hrs ago and now they are at .25. But now I'm curious to know if I can fully cycle with more ammo. I'm gonna dose up to 3 tonight. What's the worst that can happen? If nitrites skyrocket overnight, then I will finish off dosing at two again.

Sounds like a good plan!

 

[Broke EF]

HOLY CRAP, I think my tank is cycled!!! I just tested it, and here are my readings

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 80+ (DARK RED, but not quite 160)

This was the first time I have tested it since I drained the water the other day. I am so pumped! I just dosed it up to 4ppm of ammo again and will see what happens. The only problem I have is I want to wait till I get a couple of things (mid week) before I can add some fish. I should be able to just dose the ammonia until then right? I know I need to have the Nitrates lower than 20ppm before I add fish as well, but I will be doing a LARGE water change to level the tank before fish go in anyway so that should be no problem.

Sean

 

[Hholly]

Cool! Good for you!

 

[Tiger1]

HOLY CRAP, I think my tank is cycled!!! I just tested it, and here are my readings

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 80+ (DARK RED, but not quite 160)

This was the first time I have tested it since I drained the water the other day. I am so pumped! I just dosed it up to 4ppm of ammo again and will see what happens. The only problem I have is I want to wait till I get a couple of things (mid week) before I can add some fish. I should be able to just dose the ammonia until then right? I know I need to have the Nitrates lower than 20ppm before I add fish as well, but I will be doing a LARGE water change to level the tank before fish go in anyway so that should be no problem.

Sean

Yay, keep dosing until you're ready. Enjoy your tank!!

 

[Tiger1]

Wow, I'm having the exact same thing happening, same pH as yours too. I feel your pain. Just curious, do you have live plants?

How are you coming along?!?!

 

[Hholly]

I did a large pwc and it was still very high. But at least nitrates increased a lot after that. Hopefully will have time tomorrow to do another. I'm hoping it will end up like yours after tomorrow. Yay! Do you have your fish picked out?

 

[Tiger1]

I did a large pwc and it was still very high. But at least nitrates increased a lot after that. Hopefully will have time tomorrow to do another. I'm hoping it will end up like yours after tomorrow. Yay! Do you have your fish picked out?

I haven't reached the finish line yet. Went back up on the ammonia two days ago so my nitrites went up a little too. But not off the charts. I expected that. It was only at 1, so I'm still waiting for them to come down again. I'm doing this for a bunch of mosquito fish I caught in a nearby pond. Lol. But it has been a learning experiment. I have learned so much just about water quality, that I now know how to take better care of my 3 existing tanks.

For my water changes to get my nitrites readable, I was draining all the way to the gravel, then added a 5 gal bucket of dechlorinated water, to dilute the still nitrite rich water still left in the gravel, and drained that again. Saved me from having to do 2 full 100% WC back to back. Maybe you could try that if you don't have time to do WC after WC to get them down. I think the goal is to get them readable before they have a chance to spike on you again.

 

[Hholly]

Cool. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Hholly]

Ok, this is weird! I never did the next giant water change, just kept dosing the ammonia. Checked params last night. Still had at least 2ppm nitrites, and 0 ammonia. Dosed it again last night. Tonight I got: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites (yay!), lots of nitrates. So am I a water change away from getting my fish???

 

[Tiger1]

Ok, this is weird! I never did the next giant water change, just kept dosing the ammonia. Checked params last night. Still had at least 2ppm nitrites, and 0 ammonia. Dosed it again last night. Tonight I got: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites (yay!), lots of nitrates. So am I a water change away from getting my fish???

Yay!! Sounds like you're done!!! What fish are you getting??? I need ideas for my inside tanks.

Wish me luck, last night I was at .25 nitrites. I'm hoping today is my lucky day.

 

[Hholly]

Good luck! I hope yours goes away quick.
I'm hoping to get some rainbows and killies, and cories and eventually shrimp. And maybe a gourami.