Nitrite

[mackay55]

I did a 90% water change yesterday and im still reading 5ppm nitrite?

 

[CezzaXV]

Can you give us a bit more information on your situation? Are you cycling? Fishless or fish-in? Or is this just your general tank setup?

It's impossible for us to diagnose anything on that one piece of information.

 

[HayzH]

what part of the cycle are you doing? fish-in? or fishless? if fish-in...how many? what are your other specs?

 

[mackay55]

im doing a fish less cycle but my other tank has cracked and I need to put the fish in asap

 

[CezzaXV]

I'm guessing then either your nitrite was previously very high, and even with the 90% water change your nitrite still reads 5ppm. Either that or there is nitrite in your tap water.

If you absolutely MUST put your fish in now (if there no way you can repair the tank with aquarium silicone or something similar from your LFS?), then you need to treat it as a fish-in cycle as there obviously isn't enough bacteria in there yet to handle the waste.

 

[HayzH]

I'm guessing then either your nitrite was previously very high, and even with the 90% water change your nitrite still reads 5ppm. Either that or there is nitrite in your tap water.

If you absolutely MUST put your fish in now (if there no way you can repair the tank with aquarium silicone or something similar from your LFS?), then you need to treat it as a fish-in cycle as there obviously isn't enough bacteria in there yet to handle the waste.

+1

 

[BigbruiserAl]

How big is the tank, how much ammonia do you add and how long in days are you into the cycle

 

[mackay55]

i have 180 litre tank im about 19 days in my fish-less cycle i add a a few ml of ammonia because my tank can do 4ppm in 12 hours.

 

[lucasluke]

Well if your doing a fishless cycle don't worry about your Nitrite, just let the bacteria colonise and it will clear soon. But as you said, your other tank has cracked. So do 3 90% water changes after each other. So do 1 change, refill and do another.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

im doing a fish less cycle but my other tank has cracked and I need to put the fish in asap

Did the cracked tank have a "cycled" filter for the amount of fish in there? If so, simply move the filter across to the tank you were doing this fishless cycle on with the fish, job done!If you keep the new tank's filter running alongside the one you have just moved, you should get some bacteria growing in the newer filter after about six weeks.