Cycling - Nitrite staying high

[sleepydoc]

I'm in the final stages of moving/rebuilding my 120 and my cycle doesn't seem to want to finish.

I have about 80 pounds of pukani dry rock purchased at my LFS. I washed it and cured it for 3-4 weeks in heated salt water, adding lanthanum chloride to chelate any phosphate that leached off. Once the phosphates had dropped, I moved it into my tank and started cycling my tank with a pinch of fish food every couple of days.

I've been following NH3, NO2 and NO3 - there has never been any NH3, and no real spike of NO2 or NO3, but the nitrite has consistently been 0.05~0.1, and the nitrate 5~10 for the past month. I'm thinking I'll start adding fish since the nitrite/nitrate levels will be fine for them, and there's no ammonia, but I'm trying to figure out why it's not dropping. Any ideas?

 

[Luke Schnabel]

If it's still recordable then your still cycling. When the cycle is finished you should only have Nitrates. Let it go a bit more till you have zero.

 

[blando233]

It took awhile for mine. Just need to let it finish do not want to rush. Patience my friend lol

 

[CStrickland]

yeah, its funny how it's steady. You'd think with the regular feeding it'd either go up as you kept adding food, or down as it was consumed. I'd think testing error, but with the nitrites showing on your nitrate test too, it seems like something is there.

Also, a lot of people when they cycle just use API tests that barely change color at 5ppm NO3 / .25 ppm NO2; or the strip things. Yours might be picking up something that alot of folks have but don't know about? But it is not uncommon for them to hang around and then all of a sudden drop away overnight, I just don't know if it usually takes a month, specially since your rocks were already wet for a while.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ dunno, curious to see what others say

 

[Dkuhlmann]

You can find out if it's finished by dosing ammonia to 2 ppm and see if it goes away in 24 hrs. If it goes to 0 then great you are cycled, if not you need to wait until it hits 0 and nitrites hit 0

 

[sleepydoc]

Yeah - I probably need a bit more patience. It just seemed odd to persist so long and since there was no ammonia spike, I kind of assumed the cycle was half done when I put the rock in the DT anyway. The only ammonia we have in the house has soap in it, so I don't want to use that; I'll have to just wait a bit longer.

FWIW, I'm using salifert test kits using the high sensitivity method (looking through the side instead of down from the top,) so they may well show nitrite/nitrate longer than a less sensitive kit.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

You can get plain ammonia at the grocery store or hardware store cheap. No don't use the one you have

 

[Spar]

sleepy, how long did it take for NO2 to drop for you?

I haven't been through a cycle in ages until I started redoing my tank this past month. Ammonia only stuck around for a matter of a few days, but it has been nearly 3 weeks of NO2 showing at around 1ppm. I know it isn't a major concern in reefs, but it is just shocking me that it isn't dropping as quick as ammonia did.

I dosed seachem stability, and have TBS live rock added and I ghost feed the tank a couple cubes every couple days (albeit just started this a week ago).

 

[edinphilly]

sleepy, how long did it take for NO2 to drop for you?

I haven't been through a cycle in ages until I started redoing my tank this past month. Ammonia only stuck around for a matter of a few days, but it has been nearly 3 weeks of NO2 showing at around 1ppm. I know it isn't a major concern in reefs, but it is just shocking me that it isn't dropping as quick as ammonia did.

I dosed seachem stability, and have TBS live rock added and I ghost feed the tank a couple cubes every couple days (albeit just started this a week ago).

How big is your tank? A couple cubes a day seems pretty heavy for ghost feeding. But maybe you have a lot bigger system and more live rock than me.

 

[Spar]

450g water volume

 

[Jenacho]

I have the same issue. I am using dry rock and dry sand, but live bacteria. Ammonia seems dropping very fast, but nitrite level still stays 2 ppm and nitrate is low. I do not know why. It has been three weeks already.

 

[CStrickland]

I have the same issue. I am using dry rock and dry sand, but live bacteria. Ammonia seems dropping very fast, but nitrite level still stays 2 ppm and nitrate is low. I do not know why. It has been three weeks already.

The live bacteria you can buy doesn't have all the bacteria. Be patient on the nitrites and they'll go all of a sudden one day, it just takes a little longer. Don't keep cranking ammonia into the tank, as that can leave you with high nitrates later. The bacteria that need ammonia can live for a very long time without it once they get started.

Welcome to the forum!
There's a very good thread called "SETTING UP" with a red arrow at the top of this page. It has a ton of info to get you off on the right foot

 

[Jenacho]

I am wondering how good those name brand live bacteria are or if you wait long enough, the cycle will be done at the end.

 

[Spar]

I am wondering how good those name brand live bacteria are or if you wait long enough, the cycle will be done at the end.

they speed it up noticeably fast. can cut off weeks of cycle time.

cycle time varies for each tank though, so you get mixed results. i had a tank once that I used bacteria product and it seemed to be cycled within a number of days (4-5). my current tank cycle seemed to take 3 weeks even with product added... mostly in the nitrate to nitrate stage. who knows how long it'd have taken if i didnt use product.

 

[Jenacho]

There must be some contributed factors which are affecting the cycle time. This is not my first time setting up new tank. The only difference is that I am using dry rock and dry sand. I am very skeptical about dry rock. It appears very porous on the surface, but when it is cut up, the porous appearance is gone. I don't know the chemical composition of the rocks and the sources. Everything is possible.

 

[blrrobinson21]

Here is my recent experience. I got back into the game roughly a month ago setting up a 60 cube and a then a 20 long for a frag tank. I used about 45 lbs of Dry rock in the 60 and one medium rock in the frag just for giggles and being impatient I dosed Dr Tims in both tanks. As of right now my 60 is cycled and Im getting 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites with about 5 nitrates. My 20 long however is stuck with very high nitrites and has been that way for about two weeks. I have no idea why.

 

[Jenacho]

My nitrite level is finally dropping from 2 to 0.5 ppm after adding Dr Tim's bacteria. It looks like it is working.