How Long For Nitrites To Drop?

[sjolliff]

Iv got the new fluavl e series heater, and i like it alot, looks good easy to use, loads of new features, always keep temp never seen it change red or blue and in a casing, IMO i would buy one ther come in different sizes, i got the 200w for my 125L tank, iv got another temp guage in the far opposite corner and its bang on.

my water feels cold to touch, but not like from a tap, have you got a temp guage?

IMO i would not by a digital one hust the old style glass ones.

if the drops are taking longer to turn it will be a few days from now i would say,
how much ammonia you adding?

 

[yasinullah]

i'm doubting whether the heaters faulty, if yours feels cold to touch also, then maybe it is fine after all, the light comes on if i turn the guage higher. It does have a dial/guage to alter the temp. I didn't think the thermometer would be that off either. Will just leave it for a while, gotta get a back up heater anyway though, as Juwel heaters are known to break down. Will look in to the Fluvals!

Am adding just a bit over 2ppm to my tank.

 

[sjolliff]

i'm doubting whether the heaters faulty, if yours feels cold to touch also, then maybe it is fine after all, the light comes on if i turn the guage higher. It does have a dial/guage to alter the temp. I didn't think the thermometer would be that off either. Will just leave it for a while, gotta get a back up heater anyway though, as Juwel heaters are known to break down. Will look in to the Fluvals!

Am adding just a bit over 2ppm to my tank.

how long have your nitrites been off scale while adding 2ppm?,
how long did you add higher amounts of ammonia till dropping to 2ppm?

 

[yasinullah]

basically my nitrites started processing within 24hours to 0ppm in just under a month i think, I impatiently did a water change as good few days later it wasn't processing at all in the 12hours test only 24hours. Then a week later again it was now processing under 24hours, I went away for a week and told my brother to add 2 -3 ppm every 24hours, and he says did though not always on time. I came back to find pH had crashed and nitrites off the chart on 27th of July. After this water change (90%, wanted to remove excess sand, as added waaay too much) nitrites remained off the charts so I did another water change (>30%) on 4th August, but I dosed very little amounts of ammonia to determine if nitrites were being processed. This is what makes me more impatient about the whole process, I've reached that milestone twice! but now no more!

So been dosing between 1 - 2ppm since 8th I think. 2ppm since this week I think. I've stopped keeping records. Hopefully soon it'll happen, am going to wait it out at about 2 weeks, then maybe do a small 30% water change if nitrites don't drop at all. I think I should see a drop in a week or so.

 

[waterdrop]

In my experience, once you've reached the point of processing ammonia pretty well (after the first month usually) and have done some good nitrite processessing at least once, then even if things go wrong and you kindof get "off", it shouldn't matter if you do water changes. During this second, longer, period of fishless cycling, when the N-Bacs are still developing, it should be fine to do occasional water changes, even every week if you feel it necessary, with gravel cleans, to clear out a lot of nitrite and nitrate and give the fishless cycle a bit of a kickstart, as we say. Mind you, this is not our ideal, but in some cases there's nothing wrong with it in my opinion. And when you do it, there is virtually no meaning to smaller percentages. Its better to just water change right on down to the gravel and then refill with dechlorinated tap water and recharge the ammonia. And, personally, now that you've tried the lower 2ppm, 3ppm thing and its not going that well, I'd perhaps try hiking it on back up to 4-5ppm and see what happens. I mean, heck, why not try some different variations when you feel things are being a bit too stubborn for you! Of couse, its also my opinion that you haven't been fishless cycling all that long, there are a significant number of cases that go out to 70, 80 or 100 days or more, so you may be one of those and only be at about halfway through the process anyway... Hang in there!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[yasinullah]

thanks waterdrop,

drops taking a few seconds to turn purple as they hit the bottom, I'm going to wait til next weekend then do a large water change. The heater now seems to be working properly again, water was warm yesterday and now today.

 

[sjolliff]

At the min the 4ppm of ammonia is gone withing 12hrs, and nitrites in 18hrs, is it worth bringing the dosing time forward?, to keep it goin or to leave it till 6pm (original time)

do i need to go up to 5ppm or is 4ppm enough once they both clear in 12 hours
so i can stock fish,
im only starting with about 6 fish, but iv seen you can full stock once fully cycled

 

[OldMan47]

Once a day is often enough and is better than getting a huge build of nitrates by dosing more than you need to.

 

[sjolliff]

Cheers,
so sticking to the original 24hr mark is better,
but once it processes in 12hr then ill have to dose every 12hrs till i get my fish?
also do i need to go to 5ppm of ammonia or is 4ppm ok?

 

[OldMan47]

4 or 5 ppm is fine and once a day is enough. Dosing more often than that is dosing to build levels of bacteria that no reasonable fish stocking could ever use. It will build nitrates at the rate of about 15 ppm per day even when you only dose to 4 ppm once a day. There is not much point to dosing enough to build at 30 ppm per day of nitrates when the typical fish load will only move a tank 20 ppm per week.