Should I Perform a Partial Water Change During My Fishless Cycle?

[myatminthant]

Hi everyone,

I’ve had my reef tank running for about a month. Initially, I used Aquaforest Bio S as my bacteria source and dosed approximately 2 ppm of ammonia.

However, after three weeks, I wasn’t seeing much progress in the nitrification process, so I decided to switch to Fritz TurboStart 900 last week.

Since adding TurboStart, I’ve finally started seeing some signs of progress. However, my latest test results are:

* Ammonia: ~1 ppm
* Nitrite: Over 5 ppm
* Nitrate: ~100 ppm
* pH: 8.0
* KH: 6–6.4 dKH

I’m concerned about the high nitrite and nitrate levels, especially since my cycle seems to be progressing slowly.

Would you recommend doing a partial water change at this stage, or should I leave the tank alone and let the bacteria continue establishing themselves?

I’d also appreciate any advice on whether these high nitrite levels could be slowing down my cycle.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Subsea]

Detectable nitrite interferes with nitrate measurement.

Nothing about your readings warrants a partial water change.

The nitrification cycle is complete when 2ppm of dosed ammonia goes to ZERO within 24 hours.