Nitrite Levels?

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metweezer

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During the nitrogen cycle just how high will the nitrites, on average, reach before nitrates take over? 
 
You can find out by doing a dilution test with RO/DI water since most test kits only go up to about 5 ppm or thereabouts. If you follow the cycling guidelines recommended on here it shouldn't be high enough to stall the cycle.
There is a formula for working out how much nitrite is produced by a set amount of ammonia, but I can't think of it at the moment. I'll have a look and see if I can find it again.
Found it! 
1 ppm ammonia --> 2.7 ppm nitrite --> 3.6 ppm nitrate. 
 
generally about 1ppm for the first feed feeds after that will be significantly smaller amounts at least in theory
 
At over 16ppm nitrite (sorry, I don't remember the exact number) your cycle can stall, which is why TTA recommends 2 ammonia doses at 3ppm (6ppm x 2.7 = 16.2). Fortunately you should have some small amount of nitrite action during the first part of the cycle so your number won't get quite that high.
 

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