nitrite

[christian1971]

My ammonia still needs to go to 0. I was told to also watch my nitrites now. Why, since ammonia still needs to be t 0 in 24 hrs?

[strawberryblonde]

You actually don't have to watch the nitrites till the ammonia hits 0 in 24 hours. How fast is it reducing now?

[christian1971]

It was dropping nicely the first time, but is going slow again.

[christian1971]

I'm certainly in no rush. Wondering whether it will go slow every time I add ammonia to 5ppm? I haven't topped off the water. It is about 3 inches down. Nitrites aren't showing.

[Sean Buehrle]

I'm certainly in no rush. Wondering whether it will go slow every time I add ammonia to 5ppm? I haven't topped off the water. It is about 3 inches down. Nitrites aren't showing.

Whats your nitrate at


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[christian1971]

I don't think nitrate matters until nitrites are taken care of?

[Sean Buehrle]

I don't think nitrate matters until nitrites are taken care of?

You said you have no nitrite. If your filter removed the ammonia and you have no nitrite then you should have nitrate. Just trying to find out how far along your filter is. If you have no nitrite its probably getting close to cycled. Just keep adding the ammo to build up the colonies, they multiply fast once they are in there.i think i read somewhere that they double every 36 hours. Dunno its fast though.




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[christian1971]

My ammonia has not yet dropped to 0 within a 24 hr period. Once it does then I need to check for nitrites and go thru the same waiting period. Followed by nitrates. I still have ammonia because I added ammonia again a few days ago. Filter not fast enough yet to get rid of ammonia.

[exv152]

My ammonia has not yet dropped to 0 within a 24 hr period. Once it does then I need to check for nitrites and go thru the same waiting period. Followed by nitrates. I still have ammonia because I added ammonia again a few days ago. Filter not fast enough yet to get rid of ammonia.

The key to cycling a tank is patience. When you notice that you have nitrite and nitrate readings together, it's a good sign you're coming to the end of the cycle.

[discolicious]

You didn't mention whether you were using any products (like Seachem) to speed the process along. It can affect the process. I recently cycled two tanks fully stocked with discus in them using seachem. The ammonia rose to around 5, but did not affect the fish at all (no signs of stress, ate normally, etc.) because I kept the pH at 5.5 - 6 (thereby converting the ammonia to ammonium). The ammonia slowly dropped to 0 over 2 weeks and I was testing for nitrites the entire time. I never got more than a very minor reading for nitrite, not enough to affect the fish. The tanks completed cycling and are all balanced, with no issues at all to the fish. I can only attribute that to the Seachem adding both the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite, and the denitrifying bacteria that converts nitrite to nitate. The 2 colonies of bacteria seem to have been developing almost simultaneously. The process varied from 13 to 17 days. Just my experience.

[seanyuki]

Buy a seeded sponge from yr discus seller......with massive water changes daily.....You can have the tank running and put in discus and try to feed slowly for the first 2 weeks ...gradually reaching to normal feeding rate or the rate you prefer. By then, the biological filtration will be establishes and working effectively bi itself.