High nitrites, low ammonia, what to do next?

[Essjay]

The low ammonia/high nitrite is because you have lots of ammonia eaters but hardly any nitrite eaters yet. Patience is now needed so the nitrite eaters can grow. Don't be tempted to add more ammonia until the method on here says it's time.
Stability contains the wrong species of nitrite eaters, according to the cycling expert on here, so it will take some time for the right species to grow.


Soft water with low KH will allow the pH to drop during cycling. There are a few things which can be used to raise KH and stabilise pH, but the one most people already have is baking soda. The big water change at the end will remove all the baking soda making it safe for fish.

 

[katienewbettakeeper]

The low ammonia/high nitrite is because you have lots of ammonia eaters but hardly any nitrite eaters yet. Patience is now needed so the nitrite eaters can grow. Don't be tempted to add more ammonia until the method on here says it's time.
Stability contains the wrong species of nitrite eaters, according to the cycling expert on here, so it will take some time for the right species to grow.


Soft water with low KH will allow the pH to drop during cycling. There are a few things which can be used to raise KH and stabilise pH, but the one most people already have is baking soda. The big water change at the end will remove all the baking soda making it safe for fish.

thank you so much. I’ve been very stressed about this because i want to give my betta fish a good home (plus i’m a teenager w/out a job and spent pretty much all my savings on this project haha) so your explanations make me feel a lot better. After the cycle is over i’ll be adding some botanicals which i expect will make the ph drop more, after i have my fish if the ph gets very low again is baking soda safe, or should i just do large water change instead in that instance? thanks again for the help

 

[Essjay]

Baking soda shouldn't be used when there are fish in the tank as fish can't cope with the imbalance created when sodium is increased.

KH, or carbonate hardness, stabilises pH by reacting with the acidic things in the water (such as nitrite). Where KH is low it can be used up leaving nothing to stop the pH dropping.
KH can be increased in acidic tanks by adding calcium carbonate - crushed coral, limestone rocks, for example - though this will also increase hardness. I have low kH at 3 dH and I keep my pH stable by doing weekly 50% water changes which replenish the admittedly small amount of KH but it is enough to keep my pH stable.
But even if the pH does drift downwards it won't harm fish which need soft acid water. We have members with water so soft that GH and KH are almost zero, and we have members who use all reverse osmosis water (which has all the minerals removed from it) and they successfully keep soft water fish with a low pH.