High nitrite levels

[Shadowfax]

Hi my tank has been up for 2-3 weeks now (180L or 45 Gallons). It a buge tanks and all I have are 8 Tetra's in there. My Nitrite levels are high 0.7mg/l and I have done daily water changes (10-15%) and at the same time I've been adding "Stress Zyme" bacteria (2 tea spoons). But the levels don't change. Is this because the bacteria needs time to grow? Or I'm not adding enough bacteria?

 

[rdd1952]

Personally, I'm not much of a believer in the bacteria additives. I think Stress Zyme actually is supposed to have bacteria that removes other things form the water but doesn't actually speed cycling. The bacteria that processes nitrite develops much slower than the ammonia eating bacteria so it tanks about twice as long for the nitrites to drop. I would step up the water changes to about 25 to 30 percent daily. Have you tested your nitrates? If you have nitrate ratings, it means that the cycling process is proceeding as it should. What kind of tetras do you have? Some are more hardy than others so the .7 (that is in mg/l what does that equate to in ppm) could be deadly to some (neons) and not really harm the other much (red-eyes come to mind).

 

[OrkyBetta]

If i were you i would steer clear of the bacteria products, but continue on water changes like every day.