2 week Nitrite Spike?

[Adava]

So my 75 gallon tank has been cycling for almost 4 weeks now. I am doing a fishless cycle by adding ammonia. It is to the point where I can dose to 2 ppm ammonia and it will be back at zero 24 hours later. The Nitrite spike seemed to start about 2 weeks ago and doesn't seem to be dropping off. I am wondering if I should stop dosing ammonia? do a water change? or just wait it out? The Red Sea test kit I have only goes to 1 for nitrite so all I know is that I have been above 1. Other parameters are;

Ammonia:0
Nitrate: about 35
ph: 8
Alk: 7-8 dkh
Sal: 1.024
Temp: 79

I had an algae outbreak a couple weeks ago so I added a small CUC of 10 hermits and 10 snails. They all seem to be happy so far, but I am wondering if I got some bad advice on adding them so early.

Just looking for advice to keep the cycle going. I am patient so if that is all I need to do is wait, that is fine, I just don't want to do something that will delay the cycle further.

Thanks in advance

 

[CarrieB]

I don't think you need to keep adding ammonia. I would just wait for the nitrites to drop and you should be good to go.


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[OrQidz]

Yep, stop the ammonia and finish out the cycle. You're probably well on your way there, so just sit tight. Sometimes the nitrite changing bacteria take a bit longer than the ammonia eating ones, so probably playing catch up is all.

 

[CStrickland]

If the nitrite levels are really high they can slow down the bacteria. You might consider taking some water to an lfs for a check with a diff kit, and if you wind up with a high level you could do a couple water changes to bring it down. I don't think anybody knows what ppm nitrites will stall things, but I've heard 2ppm to be enough to do a waterchange. I'm sure the crabs will be fine.

 

[thegrun]

+1, by continuing to add ammonia you have caused a massive spike in nitrites. I would stop adding ammonia and make a large 75%+ water change to get the nitrites below 10ppm, or it will take a very long time for your cycle to complete. You only need to add ammonia once, there is no need to feed the bacteria, they will live over a year without food.

 

[Adava]

thanks everyone for the responses. I will definitely stop dosing ammonia and try a water change to bring nitrite down a bit

 

[Lsufan]

Ideally u wouldn't want them to get higher than about 5 ppm. As long as they are below 10 ppm it shouldn't really give u any issues though. I've had a few cycles that ammonia would go ahead and drop after a week or two but it seems like it took forever for nitrite to drop. Ammonia took 2 weeks to drop but I had nitrite for two months. I always pay attention to the nitrite and if it got to about 8 ppm I would do a water change. It's the only time I would do a water change during a cycle