High Nitrite no ammonia spike?

Hi all! First time fish owner. I have a betta in a 3 gallon planted tank (which I’m aware is small, it was gifted but I have plans to eventually upgrade him to a 5 gallon). I cycled the tank for 3 weeks before getting him. The first two weeks after I got him the water was testing fine. These last two times I’ve tested high on nitrates with 0 ppm ammonia. The first time around I threw some prime in there and did a water change. It’s now only 3 days after the last water change and I’m getting the same test results. What could be causing this? I’ve read maybe my filter cartridge is too dirty, but I clean it during water changes? Not sure if I should just replace the cartridge or increase my water change frequency to twice a week? Any advice would be greatly appreciated- I’m not really sure how to solve!

 

Hi aappling
Your heading says nitrites and your first paragraph says nitrates . Can you please sort this for us?

 

Sorry about that! Nitrites! They are reading at .5 ppm currently!

 

Ok aappling nitrites are toxic at low levels. A small water change is required followed by another soon.

Do not be concerned about not seeing an ammonia spike. The only way you can have nitrites is from the poop of the ammonia eating bacteria. It’s a good sign .

DO NOT replace the cartridge. It’s unlikely to need cleaning. Only rinse it when the flow slows. Unless you have a ton of dead plants blocking the cartridge leave it alone.

When cycling a tank with fish as you are it is common to change some water every second day minimum. Changing some every day is ok . If you have time by all means test the water before you change some . If you don’t have time the water changes are much more important.

If you want you can write down numbers dates temperatures ph etc etc. OR just smash out water changes often.
Changing water after midnight or before breakfast is perfectly acceptable practice.
Never change more than 50% at one time. If changing often 30% is enough.

Only when the tank has a full working nitrogen cycle can you change water once a week. But even then changing water twice a week is completely ok in a fully cycled tank.

In short .
Because the test shows nitrites it’s not cycled. It’s still in the early stages.

A broken record.
Good bacteria live ON hard surfaces. Mostly ON the filter but also on the glass ,the ornaments, rocks , gravel etc etc. At this stage of building a cycle let the bacteria survive wherever they wish. Don’t clean any hard surfaces including the glass. Wait for a few weeks before you start cleaning one panel of glass one week and an ornament the next. In a very new tank we only clean half the gravel at most each week. In your tank right now don’t even touch the gravel.

Ok because you are new you can clean the front panel of glass in the nice new tank if you must.

 

This is super helpful- thank you so much! I thought my tank was fully cycled- but I have been giving the gravel and glass a heavy clean each water change :/ I’ll report back with hopefully good news, thanks again!