What to do?? Cycling question.

[Kelly]

Hi, it's me again. :D

My tank is cycling (fishless) right now...and things have been going pretty good. The ammonia levels dropped a bit, the nitrites are building everyday now too. But last night, just to get an idea I tested the NitrAtes. The are HIGH?! Why would that be? I thought that didn't come until later??

Also, I accidently got my ammonia a bit to high, misjudged and added a little to much when the levels had dropped and now have them around 6.0ppm instead of 5.0 ppm. Should I do something to fix this or just let it be?

Here are the current levels...this is a 29 gallon freshwater tank.

ammonia 6.0 ppm
nitrites 1.6 ppm
nitrAtes 50 ppm

I am using a testing kit that my LFS reccomended "Master Test Kit" by Hagen.

HELP I don't know what to do!!!

[OrionGirl]

You can do a small water change to lower the ammonia--I probably would, just to keep the tank stable (the oxidizing of nitrogen will 'use' up buffers, so a small water change will help keep the pH stable).

As for nitrates--it's possible for them to be there early on. A couple things to make sure of--test your water source. Some water sources have high nitrates already, which can complicate using this water for your tanks.

[Lukara]

...yeah what Orion Girl said :D

I think it's safe to say that (if your tap water doesn't contain nitrates to begin with) from the point that you see nitrites you will soon after start seeing nitrates.

I'm also doing using the fishless cycling method for my q-tank and there's one thing I noticed about what you're doing which I'm not sure is right. I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that once you start to see nitrites, you should start keeping ammonia levels at half the original level (2.5ppm) until both ammonia and nitrites test zero 12-24 hours after you've put ammonia in the tank. This is what I've done.

[Kelly]

Thanks for the help! I did a small water change and got the ammonia down to around 4ppm. It's in between 2.4 and 4.9 on my chart. :rolleyes:

The Nitrites are now between 0.8 and 1.6 and the nitrates are still at 50.

I did check my tap water that I am using and it didn't register any NitrAtes.

I'll just keep an eye on it I guess and not add as much ammonia next time.

Does anyone know why I would be having Nitrate readings so high, so soon in my cycling? Is this normal??

At least things are moving along I guess huh?

Thanks again! You guys are SO much help!

Oh, one more question, if I go to test my PH levels right now will they be a correct reading or will it be off since I am in the process of cycling??

Thanks!
Kelly

[OrionGirl]

Not sure what makes nitrates show up; all I can offer is the reassurance that it's fairly common to see nitrates before nitrites. It's not a signal of anything wrong, just different.

You can start testing for pH, but it may still fluctuate while you're cycling. However, it's still good to monitor this, because if the pH crashes, it can go low enough to inhibit the nitrifying bacteria.

HTH

[Kelly]

THanks so much for your help OrionGirl. I appreciate it. :)