Didgeridoo

Hi there! Still in the middle of cycling my 20 gallon tank. I have a question about the readings on the API test kits for nitrite. My readings are consistently showing a solid 5 PPM for nitrite, no matter how much ammonia I feed the bacteria (they are little ammonia processing machines! They can do 4 ppm in 8 hours now). My question is; will it still show the color for 5ppm even if Nitrites are actually much, much higher? Or does it change into another color entirely? I'm having trouble telling whether or not my nitrites are way above 5.

Nitrates have been holding steady at about 10 ppm for a couple of days, which is weird. i do have quite a few anacharis and anubias plants in there, though- do they 'eat' nitrate?

Any and all advice or comments are greatly appreciated!

agabr123

the second nitrate bottle crystalizes and the chemicals you need won't all get into your test tube. you need to bang it a few times against something and then shake it for a solid two minutes

oh, and plants DO reduce nitrate, so that could be contributing to it as well

jdhef

Also, did you test your tap water. Last time I checked my tap water, the nitrates were 10ppm.

Didgeridoo

Thank you for the hints- i tried again shaking as you said, agbar, and it's showing a consistent 10 ppm for Nitrates now. Nitrites are still very high- any advice about what the test does when nitrites are over 5 ppm?

Jdhef, always a good suggestion. My tap reads 0 nitrates, though.

Shawnie

ive seen many times that the nitrites stick in this phase of the cycle process...most have said a small water change and then re add ammonia again kicks it over to a 0 reading...its usually from too much ammonia in the beginning that seems to get it stuck here...goodluck!

pepetj

Your nitrites will come down once "the other" type of bacteria find their way in your tank system. Anacharis is fairly good in taking in nitrates. These type of bacteria usually takes a little longer to establish. Once your tank is capable of clearing ammonia, you should cut the input of ammonia to half the amount you used to reach the 4-6ppm range. That means aim at 2-3ppm daily until your nitrites fade down to zero. If you add more ammonia solution than that, you may idle your cycle.

Personally, any Nitrite value at or above 1ppm I consider a spike; and below 1.0 but above 0, to me, suggest a mini-cycle is present.

You are in the second phase of the cycle, it may feel like forever, but hang in there, you are in the right direction.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Didgeridoo

Shawnie, excellent advice! I did as you said (although I made the water change a bit larger- around 40 percent) and that brought the nitrites down to an ACTUAL 5, as it seems my readings were way over and beyond five before. Sadly, it also brought the nitrates down to a dismal 0 ppm. Then I re-dosed with ammonia and let it sit for the night.

This morning I tested again, and my nitrites are all the way down to 1 ppm, while my nitrates have rocketed up to 40 ppm!

Almost there! Thank you so much for the advice and support, everyone!

Shawnie

im glad its doing better...many tanks get in that "stuck nitrite" phase and do require the water change for some reason....you are so close!!

pinkfloydpuffer

Anacharis is a nitrate sponge, it eats that stuff up lol