Very HIGH Nitrate in cycling tank.

[platyperson]

My tank which has been cycling for 3 or 4 weeks now has no ammonia present but very high Nitrates and Nitrites, Ive been doing 30% water changes everyday for the last few days and have had no luck. I even done a 40% water change yesterday and tested the water today and still had high readings, there is nothing in my tank that could be rotting I checked the plants and everything yesterday.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

This is fishless cycling I take it?

What are the readings?

 

[daza]

How high are they? When I fishless cycled my tank the nitrates were off the chart at over 250mg/l but it still cycled okay. If it is a fishless cycle you are doing then I wouldn't worry about water changes to reduce the nitrates, sort them out with water changes after the ammonia and nitrite show a cycled tank.

If you are doing a fish cycle then it's a different matter of course.

 

[platyperson]

The nitrites are quite high, over 3.3 ppm, and the nitrayes are well over 200ppm

 

[isu_guy]

From my understanding-

The only way nitrITE should be present is from bacteria breaking down ammo.

so if waterchanges are not bringing that down, I would think that either there is ammo being broken down to replace the nitrITE or that the tester is expired.

try taking some water to a LFS and having them test.

Are you fishless cycling??? in this case I wouldn't put it as an emergency, so I'll assume it is not.

I'd test your dechlorinated water. See what the levels of nitrATE are on that. If you have very high levels in your new water you'll never bring down the level in your tank. Just one more variable to eliminate.

good luck

 

[platyperson]

It is a fishless cycle, I thought I posted in the begginer questions thing? oops.

 

[freddyk]

Are the nitrites rising or sinking, or do they seem stable? Are the nitrates steadily rising? If the nitrites are going down and the nitrates keep going up then it's a good sign, and I'd just leave it alone.

I agree with getting your water doublechecked to make sure you're getting good results from your tester.

 

[platyperson]

Nitrates are down to 5 now.......