high nitrates and nitrites?

[eurostar]

i have had my 5.5 gallon running for about 2-3 weeks now and i did a water test and both nitrites and nitrates are pretty high. is there something i should be doing or will this fix itself? i have fish and plants in the tank, and my ammonia is very low though. im adding a cycle qwater conditioner and some fertilizer for the plants.

[Roan Art]

Read this:

http://aquafacts.net/wiki/index.php/Cycling_a_Freshwater_Tank

and please stop using that Cycle stuff. It's snail oil and doesn't help at all. In fact, it's been known to push nitrites through the roof.

Roan

[liv2padl]

"cycle" doesn't work so you can stop wasting your money on it. a 5 gallon tank can hold nothing more than a few tetra sized fish or a betta ... anything more is severely overcrowded. water changes is your primary short term means to keep the nitrates low and the nitrites will eventually disappear ... but longer term, remove excess fish or you'll have continual problems.

[Ms.Bubbles]

Yes, do water changes. Enough to get the nitrites to unreadable levels, and keep it this way until both ammonia and nitrite stay at zero. At this point you can return to weekly water change schedule--25% weekly, or enough to keep nitrates below 20 ppm.

PS. Having live plants can really screw up the cycling process, especially the nitrites. Could be a long time in the nitrite stage of your tank. Plants are usually not recommended until after the cycle is finished, because they absorb ammonia and this interferes with the building up of the good bacteria.

[eurostar]

should i add a goldfish or something to add amonia until my cycle is done then?

[Ms.Bubbles]

Absolutely not.

It looks like the ammonia stage of the cycle is being completed (or the plants are consuming it), and you are into the nitrite stage now. Don't worry, you have an ammonia source in your tank already! (your fish).

You must keep the ammonia and nitrites at as close to zero as possible, and keep nitrates between 10-20 ppm. You can do this with frequent water changes. The whole process may take quite a bit longer than necessary though, because of the plants.

[eurostar]

okay thanks i will do a good water change tonight and hopfully that brings it down alot.