Sky High Nitrites - Water Change?

[Azedenkae]

Update:

Tested a 50/50 mix of the new saltwater in the tank with fresh mixed saltwater that reads 0ppm by itself, and the result is a color between 0.5 ppm and 1.0 ppm.

Multiples by 2 this must mean the new tank saltwater is now around 2ppm. Guess this is just a case where the API test kit colors are near impossible to decipher.

What’s the next move here? redose ammonia just a tad? worried about raising nitrite too high again

My recommendation would be to claim a faulty nitrite test kit with whoever you bought it off of, and get a replacement (or refund). Then test again once the new kit comes in. I absolutely don't think you can trust the results off of this test. Unless there's an unknown ammonia source that is being consumed, or a source of nitrite itself, you should not get such high nitrite readings. It's just super off.

The recommendation others probably will give would be just to ignore nitrite completely, especially after you've done such a massive water change. Just base cycling results off of your ammonia readings.

 

[brandon429]

see the detail, the dollar amounts of reefs we work with, the follow up statements from participants. your tank is ready like theirs was

your tank meets the same criteria theirs did, as well. its no leap of a claim.

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

non digital ammonia test kit readings (api, Red Sea, nyos, seachem badges) make you think you aren’t cycled when indeed you are if you owned a $200 expensive seneye meter, you’d never be doubting your cycle status. since .01% of the reefing population owns these, we need a way to help the...

www.reef2reef.com

reason it got that high: your test kits cant be used to cycle correctly. if youd invested 200$ in seneye for ammonia, you could get an accurate reading, and if you spent 180$ on a nitrite hanna digital tester, you could know where your neutral impact nitrite stands. our thread saves you from ever having to buy those.

its also ok to wait weeks for nitrite to clear, many do.

Be using that time to cycle up a qt tank.

 

[Marinelifelover]

Thanks for the reply. I just did 25/75 mix of salt to RO and its still the same color. Going to keep going down

Sound right

 

[Marciustm]

Update:

Tested a 50/50 mix of the new saltwater in the tank with fresh mixed saltwater that reads 0ppm by itself, and the result is a color between 0.5 ppm and 1.0 ppm.

Multiples by 2 this must mean the new tank saltwater is now around 2ppm. Guess this is just a case where the API test kit colors are near impossible to decipher.

What’s the next move here? redose ammonia just a tad? worried about raising nitrite too high again

Honestly I think APIs Nitrite test doesn’t get any darker than the last reading. My Nitrites last night was far over 10ppm but still read as 5 on the vial test. My nitrates was bloody red which is a very noticeably different than that of the red on the api chart It was sitting pretty above 200ppm which prompted me to do a very large water change at 75%. It was short lived I woke up today and I was back above 160ppm and myself left very confused. I don’t know how fast things are going in their but no way it’s producing that fast.

I’m very new to this hobby. Tank started 6/8/2021 and my ammonia levels finally hit 0… 2 days ago. I’m guilty of cheating or as I say now punishing myself because I grabbed 4 fish from my cousin added prime, added one and only bacteria, and let them roam while feeding 3 days straight. Took them back home and it loaded my tank with ammonia in the process. (They are doing fine) but my tank has a bit of their load to process and I’m sure I’m in the nitrite spiking period but there is no way to know how high they are until you do that one water change that brings you above the belt.

Even after a 75% w/c it was still around 7-8 ppm, and nitrates above 160. Even after I done a 90% water change and complete removal of live rock and raking the sand (which I really didn’t want to disturb for obvious reasons) I finally fell to 1ppm nitrite and 40ppm nitrates. Who knows what it’ll look like in 2 more days but I’m sure I got a continuing fight with nitrates on my hands, but as long as nitrites doesn’t go into the great beyond I guess we just got to be patient with it. My ammonia was around 8-9 ppm before it spiraled down to zero in 4 days so maybe none of this even matters maybe thing just get stupid high in the beginning. Maybe it’s the nerves & excitement that just has us tight by the balls every chart on the nitrogen cycle in aquariums says exactly what I’ve experienced besides everything being almost twice or triple the results especially with the extremely high nitrates I’m getting already( which I’m still confused about) but I’m expecting nitrites to hit about 20-40 ppm before they begin to go down. But I fear doing these water changes is just prolonging my cycle. Or maybe it’s an unknown cheat code. Because once it rises up again that’s usually when it comes spiraling down on its own from what I’ve seen trying to control the high ammonia I had. Which climbed to 8 and brought down to 2ppm after 75% w/c. Then 2 days later back to 8ppm and then dropped to 0 after 4 days of re-spiking. Water changes seem to be the life of the party.

 

[Azedenkae]

Honestly I think APIs Nitrite test doesn’t get any darker than the last reading. My Nitrites last night was far over 10ppm but still read as 5 on the vial test. My nitrates was bloody red which is a very noticeably different than that of the red on the api chart It was sitting pretty above 200ppm which prompted me to do a very large water change at 75%. It was short lived I woke up today and I was back above 160ppm and myself left very confused. I don’t know how fast things are going in their but no way it’s producing that fast.

I’m very new to this hobby. Tank started 6/8/2021 and my ammonia levels finally hit 0… 2 days ago. I’m guilty of cheating or as I say now punishing myself because I grabbed 4 fish from my cousin added prime, added one and only bacteria, and let them roam while feeding 3 days straight. Took them back home and it loaded my tank with ammonia in the process. (They are doing fine) but my tank has a bit of their load to process and I’m sure I’m in the nitrite spiking period but there is no way to know how high they are until you do that one water change that brings you above the belt.

Even after a 75% w/c it was still around 7-8 ppm, and nitrates above 160. Even after I done a 90% water change and complete removal of live rock and raking the sand (which I really didn’t want to disturb for obvious reasons) I finally fell to 1ppm nitrite and 40ppm nitrates. Who knows what it’ll look like in 2 more days but I’m sure I got a continuing fight with nitrates on my hands, but as long as nitrites doesn’t go into the great beyond I guess we just got to be patient with it. My ammonia was around 8-9 ppm before it spiraled down to zero in 4 days so maybe none of this even matters maybe thing just get stupid high in the beginning. Maybe it’s the nerves & excitement that just has us tight by the balls every chart on the nitrogen cycle in aquariums says exactly what I’ve experienced besides everything being almost twice or triple the results especially with the extremely high nitrates I’m getting already( which I’m still confused about) but I’m expecting nitrites to hit about 20-40 ppm before they begin to go down. But I fear doing these water changes is just prolonging my cycle. Or maybe it’s an unknown cheat code. Because once it rises up again that’s usually when it comes spiraling down on its own from what I’ve seen trying to control the high ammonia I had. Which climbed to 8 and brought down to 2ppm after 75% w/c. Then 2 days later back to 8ppm and then dropped to 0 after 4 days of re-spiking. Water changes seem to be the life of the party.

Hi there. The answer to your sky high nitrate problem is that you don't have a sky high nitrate problem. ^_^

The nitrate test kit works by converting a fraction to nitrite, then measuring that as a proxy. That also means that if you already have nitrite in the water, especially at your high levels, then that will cause nitrate to just read artificially extremely high. And also result in the massive fluctuations you saw. Nitrate does not just come from nowhere, so seeing such massive increases in nitrate is odd and the explanation would be because yeah, it's false readings caused by the presence of nitrite.

 

[Marciustm]

Hi there. The answer to your sky high nitrate problem is that you don't have a sky high nitrate problem. ^_^

The nitrate test kit works by converting a fraction to nitrite, then measuring that as a proxy. That also means that if you already have nitrite in the water, especially at your high levels, then that will cause nitrate to just read artificially extremely high. And also result in the massive fluctuations you saw. Nitrate does not just come from nowhere, so seeing such massive increases in nitrate is odd and the explanation would be because yeah, it's false readings caused by the presence of nitrite.

Oh my! Thank you for that information. I was wondering how that could have happened so fast without the cycle being completed. I believe you because today I tested and nitrite is steady around 3ppm now and im having no reading on nitrates at all per my api strip test. I was confused about that, but luckily I think you provided a good explanation for that.