Change for the worse....

Morbius

Morbius

The Living Vampire
Aug 24, 2006
156
0
0
56
Saginaw Mi
Hello,all. Well I just tested my water this morning,and regret to state that my nitrites have spiked....considerably.How could this have happened?????? My ammonia and nitrites were @ 0,I'm positive.I dosed my ammonia the same amount as I did for the intial dosage(1 full dropper 12ml).Ammonia is completely back to 0,that is what's so confusing.How can my ammonia be back @ 0 but nitrites High????And their not off the charts,They read 1.6mg/l.What could I have done wrong???It seems as if there wasn't enough nitrite fighting bacteria populated in my tank.But if that's true,why did it read 0?????I feel soooo stupid now with my last post of final stages....man was that short lived.Please,can someone shed some light on the subject as to why this happened.I'm off to work wont be home till around 6 in the evening.....ANY advice would be greatly appreciated. :huh: :sad: :thud: :confused:
 
don't worry, Morbius! As long as you don't have any fish in there, you'll be fine. Don't feel stupid, we all could have made the same mistake. At this point, it's really not hurting anything, though (no fish involved). I would personally hold off on the live plants for awhile, though. They will only compete with the nitrifying (cycling) bacteria for nitrogen.

In my experience, the nitrite eating species takes longer not only to develop (because they're reliant on the first step to finish), but also to reproduce. For example, while the first step might take two weeks, the next one might take 3-4 weeks. This is just my own experience.

Also, the nitrite eating kind seems to be more sensitive to changes. Anytime I disturb the balance (by replacing filter media for example), I don't see any ammonia spikes, but I do have to go through the nitrite stage again. Like when I changed 100% of my gravel, I experienced nitrite for the next few weeks even though I left the filter media in place. Argh! And I had fish in there, too. So I was stuck doing 50% water changes sometimes twice a day to fight the nitrites.

Have faith, my friend. You'll get through this :)

As for why the test read 0 nitrites and 0 ammonia that time, I can not say.
 
This is good! I'm not sure why you are so worried! The cycle is, well, happening.
 
I haven't read any of your other posts on this topic, but I would like to state that during a normal tank cycle you should see:

Stage 1-some ammonia> then an ammonia spike> eventually 0 ammonia while nitrites build up
Stage 2-some nitrites> nitrite spike> eventually 0 nitrite while nitrates build up
Stage 3 (cycled): 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, nitrates

Some of these stages will overlap, ie. you'll have 0 ammonia and some nitrites...it looks like your tank is progressing fine to me. The whole process usually takes from 4-6 weeks.
 
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Hello,all. Well I just got home from work and checked my ammonia and nitrites again.My ammonia is still 0...and my nitrites are starting to fall...AGAIN! This morning it was 1.6mg/l,now it's 0.3.By tomorrow I'm sure once again it will be 0.So what gives,I thought once your ammonia and nitrites drop down to 0,you check nitrate level(still in the 25-50 range)then dose ammonia to 5ppm....wait 24hrs and they should be back to 0.When my nitrites fall back to 0 should I bypass the final dosage part and just do a big water change.I'm afraid if I dose,I'll just run into the same situation I'm facing now.
 
I'm not sure I understand your situation. Seeing the nitrites fall back to 0 is normal. What's the problem? When ammonia and nitrite go back to 0 within 24 hours of dosing the tank, and you have nitrate present, you're cycled. The nitrate will always be present in a cycled tank - it's not going to go back to 0. The only way to remove nitrate is via a water change, which you would need to do before adding fish to the tank.
 
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Yes cricket your right,but mine are doing it for a 2nd time!I dosed yesterday morning to 5ppm after I got a reading of 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites.24hrs was up THIS morning.When I checked levels again my ammonia was back to 0,but my nitrites had risen to 1.6mg/l. I just got home about 20 mins ago,checked everything again and ammonia is still 0 but the nitrites now read 0.3.do I just keep dosing my tank enough to feed the bacteria and let the nitrites stay @ 0 for....say, 2 days?Then full dose again and see what happens?That's the part that has me stumped.The cycling thread by daveedka states once your ammonia and nitrites are @ 0,dose to 3-5ppm,wait 24hrs and levels should be 0.But what if their not?
 
My guess is that the two bacteria have not reached equilibrium levels with one another. Not enough nitrite eating bacteria to make it go away to nitrates in the same period of time that the nitrites can convert the ammonia. I would continue the dosing until you see the expected results.
 
Hello bishop!!! So,just do as I mentioned in my earlier post,once nitrites reach 0 again,let it continue for a couple of days,dose to 5ppm and see what happens??
 
Also,should I continue daily dosing of about 1-2ppm? Or should I just dose enough to give the bacteria something to munch on?
 
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