Nitrites Off The Charts

[rousell]

Hi guys
I think my fishless cycle is stalled at the second level. My ammonia is processing in 12 hour but my nitrites don't seem to be processing to nitrates. My nitrite reading has been off the charts for around 2 weeks with no sign of reduction. Could my cycle stall due to high nitrite? Would a large water change help? Please help

 

[Aqua Tom]

Hi guys
I think my fishless cycle is stalled at the second level. My ammonia is processing in 12 hour but my nitrites don't seem to be processing to nitrates. My nitrite reading has been off the charts for around 2 weeks with no sign of reduction. Could my cycle stall due to high nitrite? Would a large water change help? Please help

The nitrite eating bacteria generaly take twice as long as the ammonia eating bacteria to establish themselfs. You are not stalled & I think you only have days untill you see an overnight drop in nitrites.


Tom

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

It took my nitrites like 25 days to drop but i was overdosing on ammonia. Remeber to just use 2-3ppm

 

[rousell]

That would make my day if that happens. My nitrate levels don't seem to be rising either. They haven't moved from 5ppm since I started (about 4 week ago) and that's the same as my tap water. I did ask about this on another thread and was told my test might be inaccurate.
Will the nitrites drop to zero overnight or will it be a gradual reduction over time? Thanks

It took my nitrites like 25 days to drop but i was overdosing on ammonia. Remeber to just use 2-3ppm

I've been dosing ammonia 2-3 ppm for about a week. So I guess I overdone it to start with. Maybe that's why it's taking long to catch up?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Maybe so! Yeah it does seem like overnight but with mine the tests would say "off the chart" but i could tell it was starting to go down because the test would take a little longer to say "off the chart" if that makes any sense

 

[rousell]

Maybe so! Yeah it does seem like overnight but with mine the tests would say "off the chart" but i could tell it was starting to go down because the test would take a little longer to say "off the chart" if that makes any sense

Which tester do you use? I use the api liquid tester and the drops turn purple as they get to the bottom. What confused me slightly was in rdd guide it says if the api test goes off the chart the drops will turn purple and then after 5 minutes they change green or something? But mine never change colour from the purple if that makes sense.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

While I was cycling and testing a lot I was using strips, I figured, if it's off the chart high it doesn't matter about having a very exact reading So when they were super high I would dip the strip and it would instantly go very dark pink but then a few days before my nitrites dropped to 0 I noticed that the colour would turn dark pink over a few seconds instead of instantly, so that gave me hope that the big drop was coming. I would keep using the liquid kit though, I just needed to get rid of the strips so I was using them up on cycling

 

[FishFanatic04]

If you think about it...Your nitrites could have gone SO FAR off the chart...then they could have already started dropping...but since they are STILL off the chart, you aren't seeing it happen. It happened very suddenly with my cycle. Just wait it out.

 

[rousell]

Ok thanks everyone. I must sound really unimpatient. I've just come this far and I would hate it if something went wrong this far into the cycle. Thanks again!!!!

 

[OldMan47]

If you want to be able to monitor your progress, by all means do a huge water change so that you can measure your nitrites. I don't know if it really helps the cycle but I do know it helps us see what is happening and often that is enough for people to be happy that they are actually making progress.