You may find it takes a little while to go down. Sometimes it takes a while for the nitrite->nitrate bacteria to kick into high gear. Until the nitrites start to go down markedly don't worry too much about your nitrate readings. Most test kits will give you falsely high nitrate reading in the presence of excess nitrite.Thank you - and I much appreciate the insights and wisdom here. It's well timed, too! I just did my daily testing and my nitrites have spiked a bit. I'm trying to convince myself to not over-react and reading your comments has calmed me enough to know this is part of the process. Ammonia had spiked and is now down...so I know nitrites are soon to follow.