High Nitrite And Nitrate But No Ammonia

[Euge]

Hi,

We purchased an aquarium (50L, 2'x1'x1') and have been letting it run for 3 weeks now. We followed all the steps and advise...treat the tap water with conditioner...add the good bactaria...every week do a 20% water change. After a few days the water turned cloudy but returned to clear within a day or 2. After the end of the first week we had our water tested and it contained extremely high levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. So they reccomended we left it another week and provided us with bactinettes which they said would elimate all 3 checmicals and rapidly fix the water.

At the end of week 2 we went back and had our water tested again. This time we had no ammonia but the nitrite and nitrate levels were still extremly high. They advised we leave it another week and do a 50% water change. During that time we purchased a testing kit so we could monitor the levels during the week hoping to see signs of improvement.

Its now the end of week 3 and our nitrite and nitrate levels have not changed at all. We have tested the tap water and found that it contains none of the 2 chemicals. We have tested the treated water before adding it to the aquarium and found that it still had none of levels. When we do carry out a water change the levels do decrease but only to rise back again within 24 hours. All the reading material i can find implies that high levels of nitrite and nitrate occurs with high levels of ammonia but this is not the case as we have no ammonia.

I never imagined it could be so difficult to look after fish...we haven't even got as far as adding the fish yet.

So i really would appreciate any advise anyone has to offer on this matter.

Regards,

Eugene

 

[Rooster]

The filter will NOT cycle without a source of ammonia... this is either added as a chemical, in the "fishless" cycle.
Or provided by fish waste if you go the "fish in" route.
During the initial setup its the filter we are "growing" - it should (when healthy) contain 2 types of bacteria... one converts ammonia to nitrIte, the other converts the nitrIte to nitrAte... this is then used as a plant food or removed (or rather kept to an acceptable level) with water changes.
This is the cycle we talk of, the process of growing a nice colony of these 2 bacterium... a process that can take a couple of months, but you must provided the "food" for this chain reaction - ammonia.

 

[Euge]

The filter will NOT cycle without a source of ammonia... this is either added as a chemical, in the "fishless" cycle.
Or provided by fish waste if you go the "fish in" route.
During the initial setup its the filter we are "growing" - it should (when healthy) contain 2 types of bacteria... one converts ammonia to nitrIte, the other converts the nitrIte to nitrAte... this is then used as a plant food or removed (or rather kept to an acceptable level) with water changes.
This is the cycle we talk of, the process of growing a nice colony of these 2 bacterium... a process that can take a couple of months, but you must provided the "food" for this chain reaction - ammonia.

Thank you for your quick reply. Ive spent awhile reading various threads on here today and i am just amazed at the amount of good quality information on here. I had no idea of what 'cycling' the tank involved, i had just used what the store person had recommended which was several products that removed ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. I would not have considered that by removing all ammonia i am infact slowing the 'cycling' process down due to the fact im cutting off the good bacterias food.

Following your advice, and a pinned thread on fishless cycling, i have got hold of some ammonia and media from a friends tank. Hopefully, should be all sorted now i understand what it is im supposed to be achieving.

Thanks again,

Eugene