at a loss
- Thread starter kellymarie1081
- Start date
H3D said:
wouldn't changing the water every day (if my nitrites are above 0 everyday) disrupt the cycle? i'm not doubting you, i just want to make sure.
no. any amount of nitrite will allow the bacteria to grow, even below the measure of a test kit. it'll be slow, but really anything is an improvement over the waiting game at this point.
Kelly,
I got really frustrated with my NItrite portion of the cycle, too. I only added Prime to my water, but it took me almost 4 weeks to get through the cycle (at least 3 of the weeks was the nitrite portion). I only added 3 fish at a time to keep it steady, but eventually I got there. The only thing that helped the cycle along and kept my fish happy was doing large water changes and often. I'm pretty sure that I did 50% every 3 or so days through the whole cycle. It got tedious, but the outcome was worth it!
Keep up the good work!
I got really frustrated with my NItrite portion of the cycle, too. I only added Prime to my water, but it took me almost 4 weeks to get through the cycle (at least 3 of the weeks was the nitrite portion). I only added 3 fish at a time to keep it steady, but eventually I got there. The only thing that helped the cycle along and kept my fish happy was doing large water changes and often. I'm pretty sure that I did 50% every 3 or so days through the whole cycle. It got tedious, but the outcome was worth it!
Keep up the good work!
I would like to add my two cents worth 
I know that ph readings will affect how slow or fast the bacteria will develope. Ammoina bacteria will do best at a ph of 7.8 to 8.5 and NitrIte bacteria will do best at 7.0 to 7.5 so I think it could be the ph reading and if it is a little high then the Nitrites will take a while longer to become established than the ammonia bacteria, also I know that at higher temp. reading will do wonders but then you might have a problem after you lower the temp. so I would just leave the temp. were it is. I am in the middle of a fishless cycle and it has been three weeks and the NitrItes are starting to come down, the ph reading is 8.0 and the ammoina was being consumed in 12 hours a week and a half ago,now they are consumed almost in 6 hours, but the NitrItes are very slow to grow. The readings on NitrItes were at 2 and 3 for about two weeks, now they are .5 so almost there. :idea:
I know that ph readings will affect how slow or fast the bacteria will develope. Ammoina bacteria will do best at a ph of 7.8 to 8.5 and NitrIte bacteria will do best at 7.0 to 7.5 so I think it could be the ph reading and if it is a little high then the Nitrites will take a while longer to become established than the ammonia bacteria, also I know that at higher temp. reading will do wonders but then you might have a problem after you lower the temp. so I would just leave the temp. were it is. I am in the middle of a fishless cycle and it has been three weeks and the NitrItes are starting to come down, the ph reading is 8.0 and the ammoina was being consumed in 12 hours a week and a half ago,now they are consumed almost in 6 hours, but the NitrItes are very slow to grow. The readings on NitrItes were at 2 and 3 for about two weeks, now they are .5 so almost there. :idea:tanhql said:
as i said before, i got really bad advice when i started. the first time i got the water tested my ammonia was high (come to find out, that's normal during a cycle). at that point i already had fish, due to the bad advice. i was told to do a 50% water change to stabilize the ammonia and that's when the nitrites spiked. i realize now that i should NOT have done the 50% wc that early in the cycle, but what did i know? i was listening to someone who was a "professional" and should have known what he was talking about. oh, well, i'm learning now! so we'll see how everything works out over the next few days.
