Cycle finished but nitrites through the roof

oh, what you see on the filter may be because i cleaned the sides and it stirred a lot of it up and it got caught on the filter pad, until then there was no green there..
 
what's the longest the cycle should take? all my levels are good but the nitrites are at max and have been for over a month. I'm going into week 11, is it possible my cycle is just taking forever?
 
ok just ran full tests even including a pic :)

testsuz9.jpg


the nitrite on left is source water, right aquarium. The ph looks closer to 8.1 than in the pic.
 
i haven't done a water change in 2 days now, i guess i might do another tonight. Maybe i need to do one every morning and night until they start to drop? like a 20% change twice a day, or should i do 50% once a day?
 
DONT do any water changes unless you have livestock in the tank... it will only drag the process out longer...

i would let the tank run its course... and your nitrite looks closer to .5 it looks more purple than the darker red/purple at the bottom of the chart.. but maybe its just the pic..
 
yeah it's just the pic. Well, I've gotten a heap of conflicting info here and elsewhere. I'm about to do a 50% change tonight and another 50% in the morning. If that kicks my nitrites down to 1.0 or 0.5 then wouldn't my addition of beneficial bacteria be able to take hold knocking it down to zero? From what i read it seems my nitrites are so high it just kills off the nitryfying bacteria? I'm going into week 11, i feel like if i leave the tank as is i'll be no better in 2 more months :( keep in mind i did a 30% change then 2 days later did another 30% change and my nitrites were still pregged at the max. So far what I've thrown at the tank has not caused the nitrites to move at all so it must be completely saturated?
 
Ok, i took the plunge and did a 50% change! After 1hr my nitrates are reading 0.50 previously 5.0. I don't know if this means i'm in the clear or I'll wake up in the morning to 5.0 again. If i test in the morning and it has held at 0.50 should I add a small damsel?
 
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