Will Nitrites Go away on there own

Educatedthug

Educatedthug

AC Members
Jan 9, 2007
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DeKalb... Illinois
I have a 155 gallon tank I thought was cycled but with fish in it my nitrites would not go down. I have changed about 1500 gallons worth of water at least but a hour after change nitrites shoot up
all other water test are normal
nh3/nh4 0 ppm
no3 5.0 ppm and 0 ppm cant really tell
no2 2.0 - 5.p ppm

took all fish out and have them in friends tank to be safe should i let it run for awhile or try to take action to lower it with no fish in tank

I have 1 wet/dry filter
1 rena xp4
1 magnum 350
and i have a emp 400 running to get bact for daughters 55 gallon tank she wants to set up please any thoghts or ideas?
nitrites where high as soon as i put fish in it took about a week or so my tank was cycled using the fishless method. IM am not sure what else you will need to know
 
Well without fish in the tank, the nitrites will burn off (get consumed) but then the bacteria will die off as well without food.

Seems there just wasn't enough nitrite consuming bacteria but plenty of ammonia consuming bacteria.

Water changes will work as will adding some NaCl to the tank at 1 tsp per gallon.

You could try adding a few of your fish back to the tank, not the full load. This may allow the bacteria a chance to catch up. Of course this method will take weeks as you add a few fish a week to the tank.

The nitrite consuming bacteria are slow growers, much slower than their ammonia eating friends.At this poit patience or Bio-Spira are your only good bets.
 
Ok so add NaCl (table salt) at a teaspoon per 1 gallon of water then what do i need to do and do i do this with or with out fish. There is no store or lfs around that have biospira we have cycle and thats about my choices
 
You can also toss a raw peeled shrimp in the tank and let it rot, that should provide enough ammonia for the cycle to start as well. I wouldn't add the salt unless your fish are still in the tank, I *think* that's supposed to help lower the toxicity of the nitrItes.
 
Doing a fishless at this point is silly since the fish are already purchased. Moving them around to a new tank will just lead to spikes in that tank and cycling issues. Might as well deal with what you have here.

I would leave the fish in the tank and continue with water changes whenever the nitrite spikes above 0.25ppm. Adding the salt to make up water (say 1/4 of the full dose per few hours or so) if the nitrite spike stays up abd refuses to lower. The salt will just help prevent any permanent nitrite damage to the fish.

Then it is just a waiting game with lots of work. Spikes can be tedious but to keep your fish healthy you just have to deal with it. Hopefully it won't take too long, but it may be a week or more of water changes.

Good luck
 
Since the fish are already out, You Need to keep adding ammonia in some form until you see the nitrites drop. Cocktail shrimp or from a bottle, or fishfood...otherwise bacteria will starve and you will "de-cycle" your tank.
Adding Ammonia won't make the nitrite go away any faster, it will just keep feeding the Nitrosomonas bacteria, who will in turn keep producing the nitrItes , to feed the Nitrobacter, who will then multiply.
During this time dont act to reduce the nitrites. They will "go away on their own" when there is a suffieciently large colony of nitrobacter. Essentially you will be finishing the fishless cycling.
I don't know of anyway to speedup that process.
If you put the fish back in ( which i dont recommend if they are ok where they are) then you do water changes and the salt thing protect the health of your fish. I imagine that it might take longer with the fish back in because of the necessity of keeping the nitrite level low for the fish.
Just curiously, what made you think that the tank was cycled. is it possible that it was cycled and something happenned to disrupt the balance?
I
 
well i did the cycle with minos and dicided i didnt want to be cruel to the fish so took them back and started the fishless cycle 5 ppm amonia until they start to drop keep them at 2 ppm untill the nitrites spike then keep adding amonia till one day the nitrites will disapear and add 5 ppm and the next day readings oppm then do a water change and start adding fish 2 at a time. I think i might know what heppened but need to wait for kids to get home from trip to moms house. I think they cleaned the sponges and such with tap water which would kill my bacteria correct?
 
Put some fish back in and do water changes as required.
 
Ok Now they seem to be gone

Ok it has been about a week now i put salt in tank left fish in tank the nitrites where at about .50 to 2.0 ppm that is what i could keep them at because I had to go to work would change water in morning and when I got home from work fish seem to be ok temp is at 78 fish are very active and eating well. I checked water today

No3 5.0 ppm
Nh3/Nh4 0ppm
No2 0ppm

my question is do I wait a couple more days weeks or can I assume the cycling is over again and relax a little bit?

Do I need to do a massive water change? which since this all started I think I have change about 20 full water changes what is that 3000 gallons or so cant wait to see water bill

and I forgot my other questions so lets leave it at that

Thanks for all your help and support.

I rember I had a alge explosion for lack of better word is this due to the high nitrites that where in tank? :troll:
 
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