Nirite ,how Long?

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

ive had my fish since saturday im doing 2 or 3 water changes a day as my ammonia is quite high each time

my water is about 0.25 and the highest its got is 0.50 because of regular water changes but im seeing not nitrite at all?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

it can take a good few weeks, at this point you have hardly any ABacs so the ammonia is being removed almost entirely by your water changes. it'll often be a few weeks before you see any noticable nitrite in a fish-in cycle.

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

it can take a good few weeks, at this point you have hardly any ABacs so the ammonia is being removed almost entirely by your water changes. it'll often be a few weeks before you see any noticable nitrite in a fish-in cycle.

should i cut down the water changes and just do 50% once a day?

 

[backtotropical]

Hi,

It may take up to a couple of weeks before you start to see nitrite. Cycling a tank with fish will take somewhere around 4 weeks in total on average, but there are many factors which can vary the time required, and each cycle is different.

I wouldn't worry about not seeing nitrite after 5 or 6 days. This is quite normal.

Keep on top of the water changes to keep ammonia to a minimum, and be patient.

Try to change as much water as is necessary to keep ammonia below 0.25 at all times.

BTT

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

Hi,

It may take up to a couple of weeks before you start to see nitrite. Cycling a tank with fish will take somewhere around 4 weeks in total on average, but there are many factors which can vary the time required, and each cycle is different.

I wouldn't worry about not seeing nitrite after 5 or 6 days. This is quite normal.

Keep on top of the water changes to keep ammonia to a minimum, and be patient.

Try to change as much water as is necessary to keep ammonia below 0.25 at all times.

BTT

ok cheers

 

[Miss Wiggle]

no don't cut back on water change. in a fish-in cycle your priority is the fish's welfare not the bacteria growth so do as many water chanegs as it takes to keep ammonia under 0.25ppm and just be patient.

fish-in cycling can take as long as a fishless cycle if not longer, it's just harder work with all the water changes.

 

[rdd1952]

In answer to your original questiion, it should take about 3 to 10 days for nitrite to appear (meaning ammonia is being processed) and then another 5 to 10 for nitrate to show up (meaning nitrite is being processed). Temperature and pH also affect these time frames as nitrifying bacteria are slow to reproduce at lower pH levels.

What size is your tank and what/how many fish do you have? Obviously, you don't want ammonia or nitrite but you need some to help the tank cycle. I don't know that you necessarily need to do 2 or 3 WCs a day but you do want to keep the levels at about .25 ppm. That allows enough food for the bacteria to reproduce but still keeps it low enough to have a minimal effect on the fish. Just out of curiousity, have you tested your tap water to make sure that you don't have ammonia or nitrite present there?

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

In answer to your original questiion, it should take about 3 to 10 days for nitrite to appear (meaning ammonia is being processed) and then another 5 to 10 for nitrate to show up (meaning nitrite is being processed). Temperature and pH also affect these time frames as nitrifying bacteria are slow to reproduce at lower pH levels.

What size is your tank and what/how many fish do you have? Obviously, you don't want ammonia or nitrite but you need some to help the tank cycle. I don't know that you necessarily need to do 2 or 3 WCs a day but you do want to keep the levels at about .25 ppm. That allows enough food for the bacteria to reproduce but still keeps it low enough to have a minimal effect on the fish. Just out of curiousity, have you tested your tap water to make sure that you don't have ammonia or nitrite present there?

ive got 3 danio's and 1 cory in a juwel rekord 70 tank

on the api master kit it the longer you leave it the darker it goes?

ph is 7.4-7.6

and temp 26-27 c

 

[rdd1952]

pH test results should be read almost as soon as you have mixed the water and solution. The longer afterwards, the more inaccurate the results can be. Other tests such as ammonia, nitrite and nitrate should be allowed to stand for 3 tp 5 minutes before reading. After that, those results can also become inaccurate. I've seen nitrite tests go to a color that isn't even on the chart after 30 minutes or so.

With the fish you have, you really shouldn't see high readings unless you are oer feeding. That is a prime cause of high ammonia readings. Uneaten food decays and creates ammonia too.

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

pH test results should be read almost as soon as you have mixed the water and solution. The longer afterwards, the more inaccurate the results can be. Other tests such as ammonia, nitrite and nitrate should be allowed to stand for 3 tp 5 minutes before reading. After that, those results can also become inaccurate. I've seen nitrite tests go to a color that isn't even on the chart after 30 minutes or so.

With the fish you have, you really shouldn't see high readings unless you are oer feeding. That is a prime cause of high ammonia readings. Uneaten food decays and creates ammonia too.

no its not that im feeding 2 or 3 tiny flakes once a day i think im leaving the test too long,its normally 10 or 15 min until i check

 

[BlueBlenny]

The API test kit shows total ammonia. Do you know what your FREE ammonia is? That's the ammonia that is really harmful to the fish. When I was doing a fish-in cycle, my total ammonia went literally off the API chart, but my free ammonia was still under .50. All of my platies survived and didn't show any signs of stress.

Like RDD said, you need some ammonia to cycle the tank. Can you cut your water changes down to once a day at most?

If you want to check free ammonia, Seachem makes an "ammonia alert" that sticks to the side of your tank and shows only free ammonia. Also, Seachem makes an ammonia test kit that shows both free and total ammonia--I found that test very helpful while cycling. It's a little involved, but worth it.

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

just tested again

ammonia 0.50
nitrite 1.0
nitrAte 10

should i do a water change now?

i only did one at 4ish

 

[Truck]

yes WC, get that ammonia and nitrite down to 0

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

ive done a 75% water change ill post the results in about a hour

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0.25

ill have to do another wc