Nitrite Conversion

[NickK]

Can high levels of nitrites inhibit the gowth of nitrobacters (or whatever bacteria they think is responsible for consuming nitrites)? I'm still waiting on the nitrates to spike. They seemed to stall at the 7-10 ppm range a LONG time ago. I've tried everything.

[BlueTurquoise]

How long has it been that that you have measured 7-10ppm? How long has it been since you started the cycle?

I always thought that high levels of nitrates promotes the growth of nitrifying bacteria, after all they consume nitrates so if there is an abundance of food, plenty of oxygen I would say that they would thrive.

Chong

[NickK]

I have been deadlocked at 7-10 ppm Nitrates for almost 4 weeks. The cycle has been going on for a little over a month.

You confused me with your second paragraph. Please re-word.

Thanks,

[BlueTurquoise]

Nick,

hmmm... ok I will reword by explaining the nitrogen cycle to you in case I am wrong or there is a missunderstanding... (most likely I am wrong cuase I tend to be wrong often, so says me wife LOL)

Animal Waste and Uneaten Food are mineralized by bacteria (Heterotrophic Bacteria) that give off the waste and turn it into Ammonia (NH3), this is deadlyto fish at high levels. Nitrosomonas Bacteria in turn consume the Ammonia and they convert it to another harmful substance called Nitrite (NO2). Nitrobacter Bacteria consume the Nitrite and release Nitrate (NO3), this is relatively harmless to fish at acceptable levels.

So your question was


Can high levels of nitrites inhibit the gowth of nitrobacters (or whatever bacteria they think is responsible for consuming nitrites)?

Answer is no, as nitrite is exactly what the nitrobacters eat to turn into the more harmless nitrate. That is what I believed it was supposed to work... So high levels of nitrite means thriving for nitrobacters.

Anyway after 4 weeks the cycle should be near complete. Is this a fishless cycle? have you tried to measure for Nitrate? if you have slow production of Nitrate then this is a good sign that the Nitrite is being converted to Nitrate and that the cycle is slowly completing itself and you should be ready to add fish soon.

I hope I was clearer that time :)

Chong :thumbsup:

[Carol_Roberts]

It took me about 5 weeks to do a fishless cycle. any nitrAtes yet? AS soon as you see nitrates your almost there.

Carol :heart1:

[NickK]

Yes, I have had 7-10 ppm Nitrates for 3-4 weeks. No momentum.

[Carol_Roberts]

I'd do a big water change - like 90% add enough ammonia to show 5ppm, wait 24 hours and test all. You should show zero ammonia and zero nitrIte. If you show zero nitrate add another 5 ppm ammonia and test the next day.
Carol :heart1:

[NickK]

OK, this is too weird. What is going on? My tank has been stuck at 7-10 ppm Nitrates for a long time. (Fishless Cycle) I just did ~90% W/C, and retested all of the paramters about 30 minutes later. Nitrites still off the chart. However, Nitrates were at about 30!!! I tested my local water, and it measured about 7-10 ppm Nitrates. Why would they go up. The math doesn't work. I wonder if there were too many Nitrites/Nitrates, then my test kit was just registering low Nitrates? I will test tomorrow, but does this make ANY sense?

Nick

[Carol_Roberts]

are you sure your test kit is accurate? Go test the water at the fish store.
CArol :heart1:

[NickK]

OK, I just bought new test kits, and the Nitrate levels are very low ~7-10ppm. How long could this take to start showing any significant levels of Nitrates? My Nitrite levels are very high. Is this just a sit and wait game? Is it normal to take over a month to start showing Nitrates after the Nitrite peak?

Nick

[BlueTurquoise]

What type of filtration are you running? perhaps there is not enough filter surface area for bacteria to grow.

What does Ammonia test kit turn up?

hmmm :inquisitive:

Chong

[georgeeight]

Hi all

Because your Nitrite levels are high this is quite normal when cycling a new tank (second stage) and your Nitrite levels will fall when Nitrate starts to be present in the last stage of the cycle.

While a tank is cycling, however, a Nitrate kit can't tell you how much of the reading (if any) comes from Nitrate rather than Nitrite.

You have to test your Nitrite level first and until it becomes zero, then your Nitrate test kit will be able to test for Nitrate and give you an accurate reading.

:)

[ChienHsu]

HI! Nick:

I had a similiar situation like you have now when I did the fishless cycle. I went out to buy Bio-Spira and the fishless cycle completed within three days. I did not do accoridng to the instruction on Bio-Spira (I used only the half quantity). I used 30 gallon bag for my 60 gallon, since I do not want to overdose. Hopefully, this can help.

Chien