High nitrites and stalled cycles.

[Troublekitty]

Could excessively high nitrites cause a stall in your cycle or should I just keep patient. I can't find a straight answer anywhere.

 

[Sk8r]

Your question assumes the answer yes or no. It depends on time, among other things.

 

[mcgyvr]

With "high" nitrates I would expect a finished or near finished cycle.. or an excessive amount of ammonia to start with..

Give us some dates/levels/details on whats going on with you...

 

[Troublekitty]

Your question assumes the answer yes or no. It depends on time, among other things.

It's been 9 days and I know that's really early in the cycle but I have basically 0 ammonia and between 5-10 ppm nitrites with nitrates being high also. I've read some places to do a 25% WC and some to just let it ride.

 

[Sk8r]

Ah. Well, you can often expect a cycle to take 4 weeks. When I set up I don't even bother testing during the first week, and really don't expect ammonia until week 3. I typically set up using a little really specimen-crusty live rock, some cured rock, washed sand, and a pinch of fishfood. I give it about a flake per 10 gallons a day and expect it will just lie there for a while. When it produces ammonia, I keep 'feeding it for a few days and if the food disappears and there's no ammonia, that's a confirmation there are bacteria and they're on the job. I do not do water changes. I want the tank to go through its nasty phase and feed those bacteria.

Suggestion for the 'excited but bored waiting' phase: read the stickies atop this and other pertinent forums. It'll put you on top of problems before they happen.

 

[mcgyvr]

It's been 9 days and I know that's really early in the cycle but I have basically 0 ammonia and between 5-10 ppm nitrites with nitrates being high also. I've read some places to do a 25% WC and some to just let it ride.

Keep going on the details.. did you start with "live rock" or "dry rock" ?
If live was it sourced locally and kept wet?

Did you add any bacteria in a bottle products?
Are you sure your test kit is accurate for ammonia?

What is your nitrate reading? "high" is relative..

 

[Troublekitty]

Keep going on the details.. did you start with "live rock" or "dry rock" ?
If live was it sourced locally and kept wet?

Did you add any bacteria in a bottle products?
Are you sure your test kit is accurate for ammonia?

What is your nitrate reading? "high" is relative..

It's a 10g with live sand and dry rock. I'm doing the ammonia cycle and was using test strips but the colors were pretty vague so I bought master test kit. Tests read:

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 2.0-5.0 it's hard to tell the difference of the two purples

Nitrate 80+

The Dr Tims method says not to let your nitrite get above 5ppm and to do a partial WC but i figured I'd come here for advice.

 

[mcgyvr]

So you are using Dr Tims products too? Which?

 

[hecterma]

Did you use RO/D water?

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[Troublekitty]

So you are using Dr Tims products too? Which?

The bacteria in a bottle and ammonia. Like I said the test strips were pretty vague with the color so when adding 2ppm worth of ammonia the nitrite was hard to determine and I made have added AMM when I didn't need to. I stopped dosing because I'm at 0 but the nitrites and nitrates are pretty high. I was gonna wait 3 days to see if nitrite comes down before I do a partial WC to get them down manually.

 

[Troublekitty]

Did you use RO/D water?

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Of course

 

[mcgyvr]

Ok.. so.. yes do a 50% water change...yes 50%... then wait till nitrites hit zero..
After that the tank is more than likely cycled..

Then do water changes to bring nitrates down to the level you wish to keep them at..

Do not add any more ammonia but you can continue with bacterial products if you wish..

I have no idea what Dr. Tims full schedule is so if there is more to follow in that plan then you can probably do so..

Your high nitrates didn't "stall" the cycle though.. Its just not as "easy" to see the steps as a normal natural cycle without using bacteria in a bottle..
And you may have gone a bit crazy on the ammonia dose..

 

[Troublekitty]

Ok.. so.. yes do a 50% water change...yes 50%... then wait till nitrites hit zero..
After that the tank is more than likely cycled..

Then do water changes to bring nitrates down to the level you wish to keep them at..

Do not add any more ammonia but you can continue with bacterial products if you wish..

I have no idea what Dr. Tims full schedule is so if there is more to follow in that plan then you can probably do so..

Your high nitrates didn't "stall" the cycle though.. Its just not as "easy" to see the steps as a normal natural cycle without using bacteria in a bottle..
And you may have gone a bit crazy on the ammonia dose..

Ok. Yeah like I said those test strips were pretty vague with the color and it said to add if ammonia and nitrites were below 1ppm. I haven't added any in almost a week. It did say that when both are at 0 add more ammonia to see if it would consume all in a 24 hr period then your cycle was complete. Should I do that or let it ride?

 

[thegrun]

2-5 ppm nitrites is just about perfect and certainly not a reason to make a waster change, you simply need to wait to progress through the cycle. Nitrate readings are distorted when there are nitrites in the water, so the nitrate reading are meaningless. Once your nitrites do drop to zero then test for nitrates, if they are at 10 ppm or higher I would then make a large water change, maybe even 100%, but until that time sit back and let nature take her course.

 

[mcgyvr]

Ok. Yeah like I said those test strips were pretty vague with the color and it said to add if ammonia and nitrites were below 1ppm. I haven't added any in almost a week. It did say that when both are at 0 add more ammonia to see if it would consume all in a 24 hr period then your cycle was complete. Should I do that or let it ride?

Sure if you want you can wait till ammonia and nitrites are zero then redose if you want.. Thats the "safest" bet to ensure the tank is cycled..

 

[mcgyvr]

Nitrate readings are distorted when there are nitrites in the water, so the nitrate reading are meaningless.

heard that MANY times here.. Never found that to be true in real life when cycling tanks.. There was never a drastic unexpected change in nitrate readings after nitrites dropped to zero..

 

[Troublekitty]

So I did a 50% wc and now everything looks normal. Should I wait a day, dose ammonia and see what's going on or what?

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[TYC]

Ah. Well, you can often expect a cycle to take 4 weeks. When I set up I don't even bother testing during the first week, and really don't expect ammonia until week 3. I typically set up using a little really specimen-crusty live rock, some cured rock, washed sand, and a pinch of fishfood. I give it about a flake per 10 gallons a day and expect it will just lie there for a while. When it produces ammonia, I keep 'feeding it for a few days and if the food disappears and there's no ammonia, that's a confirmation there are bacteria and they're on the job. I do not do water changes. I want the tank to go through its nasty phase and feed those bacteria.

Suggestion for the 'excited but bored waiting' phase: read the stickies atop this and other pertinent forums. It'll put you on top of problems before they happen.

I would've went with this...9 days is too short to cycle unless u're Live Rock and Sand came directly from the ocean. by doing water change already you're just prolonging the cycle...

 

[Troublekitty]

I would've went with this...9 days is too short to cycle unless u're Live Rock and Sand came directly from the ocean. by doing water change already you're just prolonging the cycle...

I have live sand and dry rock. I started dosing with ammonia and I'm pretty sure I dosed when my nitrites were too high. I get 9 days is really short. Well that 50% water change brought it down to normal levels. Just wanted to make sure I didn't overdose.

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[mcgyvr]

.9 days is too short to cycle unless u're Live Rock and Sand came directly from the ocean. .

9 days really isn't too short when using bottles of bacteria..
While its not the "most preferred/recommended" method around here its certainly possibly to quick cycle a tank when using bottled bacteria products..

Cycling is all about getting sufficient bacterial populations to process the ammonia,etc..... If that bacterial is slowly propagated over time or dumped in from a bottle makes very little difference..