After a week of cycling Nitrates are really high 80ppm

[maxpare79]

Hey guys,

Been cycling fw tanks for ever, first reef.

So it's been a week since I started cycling my new tank... Had around 3ppm of ammonia initially with bio spira and Dr. Tim one and only added as well.

Now ammonia is down to 0.5-1ppm, nitrites are between 2 and 5ppm and what worries me is the cycle is not even complete and Nitrates are at 80ppm! They were at 0 at the beginning of the cycle. Never had it go that high in my fw tanks. Any suggestions?

 

[Garf]

Hey guys,

Been cycling fw tanks for ever, first reef.

So it's been a week since I started cycling my new tank... Had around 3ppm of ammonia initially with bio spira and Dr. Tim one and only added as well.

Now ammonia is down to 0.5-1ppm, nitrites are between 2 and 5ppm and what worries me is the cycle is not even complete and Nitrates are at 80ppm! They were at 0 at the beginning of the cycle. Never had it go that high in my fw tanks. Any suggestions?

Your nitrAte test is picking up the nitrIte. You’ll never get a good reading with nitrIte in the water.

 

[Quietman]

Water change? I did a few during cycle just so I wouldn't have to do 100% at the end. Seems a bit high unless you've added more ammonia or had some organic decay. But all part of cycling.

 

[Quietman]

Since you said FW - if you're using API kits - they never show 0 ammonia.

 

[jorwill]

I would leave it until ammonia is at 0 and nitrite is at 0 then do a water change. You should have no fish in there at the moment i'd guess. once you get 0 on those two and have done a good 50% water change I would add some ammonia again to see how quickly it goes to 0. You know it's cycled when ammonia is gone within 12hrs of testing. Then just do some gradual water changes to get the nitrate to near 0(5ppm) and you should be good for a few fish(1-3 size). GL

 

[maxpare79]

Your nitrAte test is picking up the nitrIte. You’ll never get a good reading with nitrIte in the water.

Since you said FW - if you're using API kits - they never show 0 ammonia.

Makes sense Garf, I guess I am a bit more nervous with a reef tank then I was with FW tanks so I might not have tested fw tank as much during cycle

@Quietman yes it's an API test but what I meant was Nitrates were at 0

 

[TrevorL]

If you use api test kits it will never fully say your ammonia is at 0. My nitrite with api shows 0 everytime I test. My api tests always say that my nitrate is super high at like 80ppm but I got my water tested at a lfs and my nitrate was at 16ppm. Api is notorious for being wrong I would say let the tank cycle Atleast another 2 weeks and then do a water change.

 

[346700984]

If you use api test kits it will never fully say your ammonia is at 0. My nitrite with api shows 0 everytime I test. My api tests always say that my nitrate is super high at like 80ppm but I got my water tested at a lfs and my nitrate was at 16ppm. Api is notorious for being wrong I would say let the tank cycle Atleast another 2 weeks and then do a water change.

Agreed. Been there and done exactly that. Switched to Red Sea test kit after having our fish store test twice in comparison to API at home. Ammonia would never register 0 with API. Fish store confirmed 0 and so did/does this Seachem ammonia reader we have suction cupped in the tank. It was $7. API tends to be off.

If it weren’t for the blue light, you’d see that alert, alarm and toxic are green, light blue and dark blue and the sensor in the middle will change color based on ammonia levels.