drgoodner
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2026
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- Texas
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- Texas
Hi everyone!
I'm currently cycling my 65 gallon reef tank and am hitting a large stall with my Nitrites. My ammonia spiked and has gone to 0 like normal, but my nitrites have spiked and are currently at >5ppm (that's as high as my test kit goes) and I cannot get it to go down. It has been this high for 2-3 weeks at this point. What makes things a little more difficult is I did go ahead and add clownfish and a small clean-up crew once my ammonia went down because I thought my cycle would be done soon and they were safe to add in, so this is no longer a fishless cycle.
Before I read that the nitrites were so high they were inhibiting my bacteria from working on them, I kept adding in more bottles of bacteria to see if that would work (it obviously did not) - could this have made things worse? Should I quit dosing my aquarium with bacteria or keep it up?
I've tried doing a 50% water change (I'm currently making more water now to try and do another water change) - nitrites are still reading at >5ppm, and I've just now added in Seachem Prime at 5x the dose to see if that will do anything.
Please let me know if I'm on the right or wrong track. Do I just keep trying to do aggressive water changes? do I add more bacteria? Withhold food from my fish? Just be patient?
Would really appreciate any help!
I had the same tank ~10 years ago and it cycled with no issues then (had to shut it down while I way away at college and am now starting it back up.)
Started this one back up with dry rock and dry sand because I didn't want pests this time.
I'm currently cycling my 65 gallon reef tank and am hitting a large stall with my Nitrites. My ammonia spiked and has gone to 0 like normal, but my nitrites have spiked and are currently at >5ppm (that's as high as my test kit goes) and I cannot get it to go down. It has been this high for 2-3 weeks at this point. What makes things a little more difficult is I did go ahead and add clownfish and a small clean-up crew once my ammonia went down because I thought my cycle would be done soon and they were safe to add in, so this is no longer a fishless cycle.
Before I read that the nitrites were so high they were inhibiting my bacteria from working on them, I kept adding in more bottles of bacteria to see if that would work (it obviously did not) - could this have made things worse? Should I quit dosing my aquarium with bacteria or keep it up?
I've tried doing a 50% water change (I'm currently making more water now to try and do another water change) - nitrites are still reading at >5ppm, and I've just now added in Seachem Prime at 5x the dose to see if that will do anything.
Please let me know if I'm on the right or wrong track. Do I just keep trying to do aggressive water changes? do I add more bacteria? Withhold food from my fish? Just be patient?
Would really appreciate any help!
I had the same tank ~10 years ago and it cycled with no issues then (had to shut it down while I way away at college and am now starting it back up.)
Started this one back up with dry rock and dry sand because I didn't want pests this time.
