Nitrite and new cycle

SaltyMermaid86 · Mar 18, 2022

Ok I'm sorry if this may have been answered already, however I've been looking through the forums for a few days and could not find the answer to my question specifically.

I am on day 13 using Dr Tims one and only and his ammonia. My ammonia is and has been 0 for a few days. But our nitrite is staying at a consistent 1. My husband is the tester, I am not good at those things. I'm just tired of seeing him scratch his head over it. He even did a water change to try and see if it would make a difference but it didn't. He is using red sea test kits and API although I've told him that others have said API isn't the most trust worthy he still uses it for consistency.

I've also had fish in quarantine For over 30 days. So we are ready to transfer them to the DT.

When should we see the nitrites start coming down? Do they need to be 0 to add our fish to the DT?

blaxsun · Mar 18, 2022

Ditch the API and stick with the Red Sea test kits. Basically you'll see an ammonia spike, then nitrites spike - then nitrates spike (with no ammonia and little if any nitrites). Then the nitrates will settle down. So until you've gone through the nitrate spike I wouldn't plan to transfer anything across.

SaltyMermaid86 · Mar 18, 2022

blaxsun said:
Ditch the API and stick with the Red Sea test kits. Basically you'll see an ammonia spike, then nitrites spike - then nitrates spike (with no ammonia and little if any nitrites). Then the nitrates will settle down. So until you've gone through the nitrate spike I wouldn't plan to transfer anything across.