Nitrites - how long is part of the cycle?

S

ssmith24

Registered Member
Nov 6, 2005
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My freshwater tank is cycling. Amonia has dropped to zero and Nitrites have started increasing. Nitrites are between 1 & 2 (it's hard to distinquish the color on the test). I have been doing daily water changes since the nitrites hit .25. The last 6 days since Nitrites >1, 25% water changes daily. I am not seeing any change. How long does this part of the cycle normally take?
I also added some aquarium salt yesterday to help avoid nitrite poisioning

Tank 55 gal
2 gourmais
Readings
temp 76
ph 6.6
am 0
Nitrite bet 1-2
Ntrate 10
 
seajays said:
You should stop doing water changes. Here is some good info.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64301
Click to expand...


He has fish in there. I wouldn't reccomend stopping water changes.

I tried to instant cycle my tank by moving the filter from one tank to the other. It took my tank pretty much a week to ten days to clear the nitrites doing 25% water changes daily. But mine never climbed over .25.

edit: Besides that link you gave him tells you to change the water during a fishycycle.
 
If you added a good inoculation of both needed bacterial types initially, the nitrite phase should not and need not be any longer than the ammonia phase. If you did not and the initial ammonia phase was long, the nitrite-oxidizers likely starved to death. Or if you ran very high ammonia levels you could have suppressed them.
 
My "story" is a bit more complicated. I originally removed my 2 plecos from my pond during the fall. My goal was to winter them inside and then place them back into the pond in the Spring. The plecs were fairly large and as you can imagine, the ammonia went off the scale (8, ph 6, nitrite 0, nitrates 0). Nothing I did could get the ammonia down. This went on from mid September until Jan 2. On Jan 2, I lost my the last of my plecs, leaving only the gouramis. Again, I thought that with the plecs gone, I would see some ammonia movement but didn't. After 3 or 4 weeks, I went the the LFS and they recommended that I drain the tank, clean the gravel very. I did all of that. Everything was "fresh" except for the bio-wheel which was 5 months old. Now my readings were 0,0,0,0. Within few days ammonia went to .25, several days later, .5. Then the ammonia started to dropped and now is at 0. Nitrates started at roughly the 7th day after the new cycle was initiated.. My nitrites are now between 1-2. Water changes do not seem to have any impact. I've read things about cycles "stalling" and given my experience (limited and not successful) I'm worried that I'm doing something that's wrong.
 
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