BenPursglove
Fish Fanatic
Sounds like the cycle is going a little askew right here.
I would try get the tank back to when you had stable 0ppm ammonia after 12 hours and 0.25 nitrites for a few days then add some fish! My reasons being:
1. You can only test so many times during any one ammonia adding period, sometimes the nitrites will have been high, other times low other times ZERO other times 0.25 which is pretty close to ZERO on a test kit.
2. You obviously have ammonia and nitrite cycling bacteria alive and available to cycle out to Nitrates. You could probably get to to day 365 if you tried and still have 0.25 Nitrite reading when you test due to 3.
3. It sounds like (as you are dosing flourish and ferts) you have a number of plants, these, as you probably know, will also be processing some of the ammonia you dose and therefore depending on other nutrient available differ in the amount they decide to consume. In turn I think the Nitrite swings you have just seen are a result of this. Imagine this scenario: over the last 48ish hours the plants, preffered eating tasty ferts and mostly ignored the dosed ammonia, filter ammonia bacts grew a bit and ate the ammonia. Nitrite filter bacts could not keep up with Nitrite produced (ammonia bacts seem to grow quicker than Nitrite ones).
I hate to say it but I think you have missed the boat when you had stable ammo's @ 0ppm after 12 hours and Nitrites @ 0.25ppm. Try to get the tank back there for a few days and I think you are ready to add fish!
Obviously the Ph is a worry but I wouldn't worry too much for now. It's possibly down to Flourish/Ferts dosing as is the only thing you put in the tank other than Ammo or water
(excluding external factors we don't know). Bogwood can also drop Ph quickly during a leach. After Ammonia dosing stops with your new fishes in, the filter will acclimate to whatever the load is at that point (assuming you don't overload!) and you can then up the fish load (weekly or every two weeks) from there towards your target crew, just don't do it at once is my advice. After the first fish are added, I'll eat my hat if you don't see Nitrite drop to ZERO after a week or so (unless of course you have some in your tap water already 
)
People seem to kid themselves about aquarium water: There is always Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and many other Elements/Compounds in every fish tank, as water-keepers (as opposed to fish-keepers ) we attempt to keep all elements in the water stable for our fish and plants to be healthy. We can only ever give the best that we can but our conditions will never meet the natural conditions from where the fish or plant came from.
My 2 cents although you are at liberty to ignore it completely
What fish are you wanting?
Good luck
I would try get the tank back to when you had stable 0ppm ammonia after 12 hours and 0.25 nitrites for a few days then add some fish! My reasons being:
1. You can only test so many times during any one ammonia adding period, sometimes the nitrites will have been high, other times low other times ZERO other times 0.25 which is pretty close to ZERO on a test kit.
2. You obviously have ammonia and nitrite cycling bacteria alive and available to cycle out to Nitrates. You could probably get to to day 365 if you tried and still have 0.25 Nitrite reading when you test due to 3.
3. It sounds like (as you are dosing flourish and ferts) you have a number of plants, these, as you probably know, will also be processing some of the ammonia you dose and therefore depending on other nutrient available differ in the amount they decide to consume. In turn I think the Nitrite swings you have just seen are a result of this. Imagine this scenario: over the last 48ish hours the plants, preffered eating tasty ferts and mostly ignored the dosed ammonia, filter ammonia bacts grew a bit and ate the ammonia. Nitrite filter bacts could not keep up with Nitrite produced (ammonia bacts seem to grow quicker than Nitrite ones).
I hate to say it but I think you have missed the boat when you had stable ammo's @ 0ppm after 12 hours and Nitrites @ 0.25ppm. Try to get the tank back there for a few days and I think you are ready to add fish!
Obviously the Ph is a worry but I wouldn't worry too much for now. It's possibly down to Flourish/Ferts dosing as is the only thing you put in the tank other than Ammo or water
(excluding external factors we don't know). Bogwood can also drop Ph quickly during a leach. After Ammonia dosing stops with your new fishes in, the filter will acclimate to whatever the load is at that point (assuming you don't overload!) and you can then up the fish load (weekly or every two weeks) from there towards your target crew, just don't do it at once is my advice. After the first fish are added, I'll eat my hat if you don't see Nitrite drop to ZERO after a week or so (unless of course you have some in your tap water already )People seem to kid themselves about aquarium water: There is always Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and many other Elements/Compounds in every fish tank, as water-keepers (as opposed to fish-keepers
) we attempt to keep all elements in the water stable for our fish and plants to be healthy. We can only ever give the best that we can but our conditions will never meet the natural conditions from where the fish or plant came from.My 2 cents although you are at liberty to ignore it completely
What fish are you wanting?
Good luck
less.
