Think Cycle Has Stalled ?

[phocoena]

Good.

The nitrates are still a bit high, but they aren't causing a pH crash. A water change may be in order soon to clear the nitrates (and nitrites, too) but it can wait. If the nitrites stay off the chart for another 3 or 4 days, you will want to change the water to bring them back into readable levels.

With nutrafin nitrate test it may be a false high. Reagent 1 and 2 are the same as the nitrite test, reagent 3 "converts" the nitrite to the nitrate (by changing the nitrate back to nitrite) test but it does depend on the nitrite level in the tank. So those being off the chart would almost automatically.

At one point I tested with both API and Nutrafin. One read 110+ (off the chart) the other 20. This was in the prescence of off the chart nitrite. Hagen themselves admit their is a problem when there is a prescence of measurable nitrite

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Right, but if the nitrites stay high, they will need to be removed via a water change, and any nitrates you have will go with them.

 

[Mattyduk]

So I guess dose to 3PPm and wait and see

 

[Mattyduk]

Down to 1 PPM this morning

Not going to check Nitrites for couple of days

 

[Mattyduk]

Well a quick update

I decided to go buy an API kit for testing Nitrate and as Phocoena said had happened to her they were in fact not "off the chart" they were 20-30 PPM so I was probably thinking I was further along than I really was. I am continuing to dose to 3PPM each day at 10 PM and test at same time after 12 hrs & 24. after 24 hrs Ammonia is generally .5 PPM and Nitrites have been dropping and are now consistently 1PPM each evening and 3PPM each morning and slowly getting less so I am getting somewhere Just slowly. Nitrates were this evening 40-60 and I had done a 50% WC last night.

I was planning on this weekend doing some of the hardscaping no plants just so that if I don't like it or want to change it its not got fish or plants in it etc. Any reason not to ?

 

[Mattyduk]

Any ideas why I just cant seem to increase the speed of clearing ammonia if I dose to 3PPM even after 24 hrs its cleared only down to .5 ppm but at 12 hrs is only a little more than that

Nitrite is consistently around 1 ppm.

 

[phocoena]

what is the pH?

 

[Mattyduk]

PH 7.5

Was thinking today that maybe I don't have enough water movement as surface is barely shimmering. So I added an additional powerhead from the old Jewel filter that was in the tank when I got it.