Tank size: 62 gallons
Tank age: 2 months
pH: 8
Temp: 79f
Nitrate: 50
Nitrite: 4
Ammonia: 0
Ok, I've been doing a fishless cycling for about 2 months now.
I made a big mistake in the beginning where I overdosed ammonia. But my bacteria was able to make it go down to zero eventually after 2 or 3 days which lead to a very big spike in nitrite and also nitrate.
Since then (more than a month now) I have not been able to make my nitrite levels go down.
I have been very patient but I've read in many different places that if my nitrite levels are super high I may have stalled the cycling process.
I'm not entirely sure what is the usual peak of nitrite during the cycling process but I came to the conclusion that it shouldn't be at the levels that I have right now which is approximately four parts per million.
I have also read in many different places that in order to make my nitrites go down I should do partial water changes and that's what I did but whenever I did a water change my nitrites level wouldn't change at all. I thought maybe it could be the test kit that I'm using so I decided to buy two other test kits to make sure. I'm using one from Red Sea, one from API and another one from Salifert all of them are giving me similar results: nitrite levels are super high.
I thought it was super weird that even after a partial water change of 60% my nitrite levels wouldn't even change. The only possible explanation that I can think of is that my nitrites are so high in concentration that the test kits are always pointing to the maximum value even after a big water change.
After doing more research I decided to buy Seachem Prime and after adding the recommended number of caps, believe it or not, nitrites were still at the same level as before.
At some point I was so frustrated that I decided to pour the entire bottle and I still see the same levels.
I don't know what else to do and if anyone have any idea to help me I would gladly appreciate.
it's important to note that during this time I have also been adding a few more bottles of nitrifying bacteria and I have also been feeding the bacteria with at least 0.5ppm of ammonia every day to make sure they don't starve.
Ammonia is always going down as expected. But nitrite is stuck at 4ppm (or more).
Also worth noting that Nitrate is also going up.
Any ideas? Any help is appreciated.
Tank age: 2 months
pH: 8
Temp: 79f
Nitrate: 50
Nitrite: 4
Ammonia: 0
Ok, I've been doing a fishless cycling for about 2 months now.
I made a big mistake in the beginning where I overdosed ammonia. But my bacteria was able to make it go down to zero eventually after 2 or 3 days which lead to a very big spike in nitrite and also nitrate.
Since then (more than a month now) I have not been able to make my nitrite levels go down.
I have been very patient but I've read in many different places that if my nitrite levels are super high I may have stalled the cycling process.
I'm not entirely sure what is the usual peak of nitrite during the cycling process but I came to the conclusion that it shouldn't be at the levels that I have right now which is approximately four parts per million.
I have also read in many different places that in order to make my nitrites go down I should do partial water changes and that's what I did but whenever I did a water change my nitrites level wouldn't change at all. I thought maybe it could be the test kit that I'm using so I decided to buy two other test kits to make sure. I'm using one from Red Sea, one from API and another one from Salifert all of them are giving me similar results: nitrite levels are super high.
I thought it was super weird that even after a partial water change of 60% my nitrite levels wouldn't even change. The only possible explanation that I can think of is that my nitrites are so high in concentration that the test kits are always pointing to the maximum value even after a big water change.
After doing more research I decided to buy Seachem Prime and after adding the recommended number of caps, believe it or not, nitrites were still at the same level as before.
At some point I was so frustrated that I decided to pour the entire bottle and I still see the same levels.
I don't know what else to do and if anyone have any idea to help me I would gladly appreciate.
it's important to note that during this time I have also been adding a few more bottles of nitrifying bacteria and I have also been feeding the bacteria with at least 0.5ppm of ammonia every day to make sure they don't starve.
Ammonia is always going down as expected. But nitrite is stuck at 4ppm (or more).
Also worth noting that Nitrate is also going up.
Any ideas? Any help is appreciated.