How Long For Nitrites To Drop?

[sjolliff]

2ppm of ammonia = less nitrites=less nitrates longer to cycle/develop
I got told that going down to 2ppm of ammonia would give the nitrites chance to come down,
could do with a reply off waterdrop or someone to confirm this or to make it more clear



Also, I read in a couple other logs where the user had been double dosing ammonia, and theirs did also reach 0ppm.[/quote]
i add 2ppm of ammonia every 24hrs even though it clears in 12hr

 

[yasinullah]

i dont think there is any particular said rule though, I guess it will vary from tank to tank. The way I see it is that people have double dosed ammonia and managed to reach 0s eventually so it can't do much harm. The reason to cut back to lower doses is suggested as it will mean lower eventual nitrate levels, and less likely your pH will crash.

I'm going to go back to adding about 1.5ml of ammonia,which is what I did originally way back. Which is only about 3ppm for my tank, so not a huge concentration, if it was fine before, should be fine to do again, because I have confirmed that some N-bacs are present in my tank already.

edit: with regards to my quote you used above, i mean in terms of how much nitrite is produced as a result, I think it was mentioned that 5.0ppm produces 13.5ppm of nitrite (not 100% sure I got the value right). So double dosing would = very high nitrite levels, yet these did come down to 0.

 

[sjolliff]

True every tank is different.
just makes me wonder whether its slowing it down or n ot
also the "fishless cycle guide" does say 3-4ppm of ammonia

 

[sjolliff]

Just done a quick nitrite test roughly 3.5 hours after the last test/ammonia does and there is a slight decrease in nitrite, slighlty lighter
hopefully will be lighter 2moz

 

[yasinullah]

fingers crossed

there are N-bacs present and they will grow, so just have to bear that in mind and wait it out now. I'm gonna stop testing for nitrites till the weekend, as it depresses me lol, will just check ammonia.

 

[sjolliff]

My nitrites are now down to less that one should i up the dose amount?
im currently dosing 2ppm

 

[yasinullah]

great news, am assuming this is after 24hours? the last time mine went to 1ppm , then 24hrs later was a near 0ppm. Hope you get that zero tomorrow !

missed this mornings test as got up late for work was off the charts tonight though (+12hrs)

edit, one other thing how long has it roughly been since the day your nitrites were off the charts? can't find your log sorry, thanks!!

 

[sjolliff]

I do too

i started a log before but then i did a full strip down and started again and could not be bothered to do one this time, i wish i did but too late now

my nitrites were off chart/high for about 8 days, but took a few days to get there, and its only been the last 36hrs its started dropping, but i was told there high for ages then all of a sudden they drop,

im not sure whether to wait till it gets down to say 0.25 then bump up to 4ppm of ammonia or start now, i added 2ppm of ammonia tonight

 

[OldMan47]

The idea of going down to 2 ppm of ammonia is indeed to keep the nitrites down. As long as you have a surplus of ammonia and nitrites, the bacteria will grow and reproduce as fast as they can. Think about swimming in a bath of warm soup. No matter how much you eat, there is still more left to use for growth. The bacteria are in the same position whether that bath is 0.5 ppm or 4 ppm. Why dose to the higher number when we know full well that the wrong bacteria are encouraged by high numbers?

 

[sjolliff]

Cheers,
the wrond bateria grow at 8ppm off ammonia
i need to be able to process 4-5ppm of ammonia and nitrites in 12hrs,

Should i bump up to 4ppm tonight as my nitrites are at 0ppm

 

[sjolliff]

Iv puy 4ppm of ammonia, now the wait starts again

 

[yasinullah]

more great news! congrats!

quick question, sometimes my water is warm, and get quite a quite a lot of condensation (very rarely actually ), most other days it feels cold to the touch, at 29degrees should my water feel warm? I don't trust the thermometer as it forever reads around 29, does decrease if I run under cold tap, which I did once to get it down to low 20s and then put back in tank to try and test it. Its a juwel heater. Sounds a silly question, but I wondered why it fluctuates, as sometimes the tank feels warm from outside, and most of the time slightly cold.

 

[OldMan47]

My own personal perception is that water at 29C feels warm, not hot, on my hand. At 25C, it can feel a bit cool and at 34C it feels downright hot but not hot enough to burn.

 

[sjolliff]

4ppm of ammonia processed within 12hours, nitrite down tp 0.50ppm at 2pm at at 0 at the 24hr mark 6pm
goin to dose 4ppm again

 

[yasinullah]

nice to see it progressing well! I am still at off the charts, but takes a tiny bit longer to turn purple as drops hit the bottom, I reckon the heaters rubbish and thus bacteria aren't growing as well as they would do normally.

i think i'm going to purchase a new heater maybe, water still feels cool/cold. Looks like I'll need a thermometer as well. Which heater and thermometer do you have sjolliff? The rena smart heater looks really kool, but is about £19 off ebay for 100watt (The Rena site says 50W is good for a 20 gallon tank, but ebay etc says 50W for 50 litres), other one I was looking at is the hagen elite which is normally recommended on here i think. Maybe I should search the hardware thread.

And thanks OM47 for your quick reply, much appreciated

EDIT: spotted your thread on the hardware section lol