Hi all,
So this is the 2nd time I've had to cycle my tank due to moving house and the first time I don't believe I had too much dramas with the nitrites being too high or nitrates being as high as they are.
During this cycle my tank has been up approx 25 days so far. I was unable to get my hands on Dr Tims One and Only initially the weekend I was setting it up, however I was able to get some Seachem Stability. I know this seems to get mixed reviews as to it's effectiveness/quickness etc however I followed the 7 day guide on the bottle.
After day 1 or 2 I dosed some ammonium chloride (Dr tims) left over from the first time I set up the tank.
This pumped the ammonia up to about 2ppm or so and within about 5 days it came back down and appears to be now 0.
However, my Nitrites are 5+ and have been for about a 2 weeks and Nitrates went as high as 160-200 or so, came back down to around 40 after about 60-70L water change (Total system volume approx 260L) and then popped back upto about 80.
Should I look to continue doing some larger water changes or should I just wait it out and the nitrites will drop on their own?
I thought perhaps I needed to get some seachem prime to get rid of the nitrites (Nitrates I know will go down with the water changes and maybe some activated carbon).
Currently no livestock in the tank and also haven't dosed any additional ammonium chloride to test how quick it'll remove the ammonia due to the high nitrites (I didn't want to add to the 'problem').
Would appreciate your feedback/guidance.
Cheers
So this is the 2nd time I've had to cycle my tank due to moving house and the first time I don't believe I had too much dramas with the nitrites being too high or nitrates being as high as they are.
During this cycle my tank has been up approx 25 days so far. I was unable to get my hands on Dr Tims One and Only initially the weekend I was setting it up, however I was able to get some Seachem Stability. I know this seems to get mixed reviews as to it's effectiveness/quickness etc however I followed the 7 day guide on the bottle.
After day 1 or 2 I dosed some ammonium chloride (Dr tims) left over from the first time I set up the tank.
This pumped the ammonia up to about 2ppm or so and within about 5 days it came back down and appears to be now 0.
However, my Nitrites are 5+ and have been for about a 2 weeks and Nitrates went as high as 160-200 or so, came back down to around 40 after about 60-70L water change (Total system volume approx 260L) and then popped back upto about 80.
Should I look to continue doing some larger water changes or should I just wait it out and the nitrites will drop on their own?
I thought perhaps I needed to get some seachem prime to get rid of the nitrites (Nitrates I know will go down with the water changes and maybe some activated carbon).
Currently no livestock in the tank and also haven't dosed any additional ammonium chloride to test how quick it'll remove the ammonia due to the high nitrites (I didn't want to add to the 'problem').
Would appreciate your feedback/guidance.
Cheers