Need Help With Nitrogen Cycle

Hi all,
I am in the process of doing a fish in cycle for a 10 gal aquarium. I am still new to this hobby and trying to learn more. This process has been going on for a month but did a water change about 2 weeks ago and I believe that could have messed my cycle up. My ammonia levels are at 0ppm nitrite levels 5ppm and nitrate levels 0ppm. I am just nervous overall that I screwed my cycle up. I have made a few connections and I have been recommended to use Seachem Prime and Stability but havent bought yet. I feel like my nitrites are stuck at a 5ppm and I am not to sure as of why. Are the fish in there producing ammonia that is then being turned into nitrite immediately? Can I add the prime and stability right into the tank and have it work my cycle or should I do a 20% water change then add the chemicals. I appreciate all the help. Thank you

 

Nitrite that high i would do a 50% water change. Then add the chemicals. Nitrite is still quite toxic to fish.

 

Hey,

depends on the pH ... the higher the pH, the less toxic the nitrites, but the more toxic the ammonia.

I would even change 75% water. Are you sure you're not mixing the tests up? 5ppm is incredibly high.

 

Hey,

depends on the pH ... the higher the pH, the less toxic the nitrites, but the more toxic the ammonia.

I would even change 75% water. Are you sure you're not mixing the tests up? 5ppm is incredibly high.

I do not have the master freshwater test kit yet and I have been going to my local exotic fish store to have them test my water. If i did a 75% water change? Would that reset my nitrogen cycle and I use the prime and stability for a week or 2 until everything levels out?

I do not have the master freshwater test kit yet and I have been going to my local exotic fish store to have them test my water. If i did a 75% water change? Would that reset my nitrogen cycle and I use the prime and stability for a week or 2 until everything levels out?

Also, my ph was about a 7 when i had it tested

 

75% water change would leave you with 1.25ppm of NO2, more than enough for a cycle. Prime is only necessary for the tap water you use for a water change, stability might help a bit.

 

75% water change would leave you with 1.25ppm of NO2, more than enough for a cycle. Prime is only necessary for the tap water you use for a water change, stability might help a bit.

Update: just bought the ap freshwater test kit. Ammonia: 0 Nitrite 2ppm Nitrate 40ppm

 

First……….Welcome to FL.

Ok….now you’re getting close to more typical results. Having 2ppm of Nitrite when your Nitrates are at 40ppm is a bit of a mystery. Plz retest your Nitrites again.

With your test kit, plz test the pH, GH, KH, of both your tank water and your water source. Do you age/aerate/heat your water if aged? What is your biomass comprised of….all creatures you have in tank? What kind of filter do you use? What about your substrate? Are your fish indicating trouble?…..red gils, all at bottom or top, labored breathing, excessive slime, ragged fins. Do you treat your water for chlorine and chloramine? What is your water source. Sorry abt all the questions, but the more data provided, the better things can be detected and addressed.

Your doing WCs will not destroy your water cycle unless you put in some poor source/tap water. In fact, WCs are ideal to take on the challenge of this.

 

How many fish are in the tank and what are they?

How high did the ammonia get before it went to zero? It takes less than 1ppm ammonia to produce 2ppm nitrite, but you should have seen some.

As bgarthe said, retest the nitrate. Reread the instructions and follow exactly.
It takes about 30ppm nitrite to produce 40ppm nitrate. Seems unlikely, unless you have a lot of fish in there.

Test daily and do water changes as needed. Water changes are needed to keep ammonia as well as nitrite below 0.5ppm to protect your fish. So, for example, you teted 2ppm nitrites. A 50% water change will bring it to 1ppm. A second change, later the same day will bring it down to 0.5 etc. You may have to do daily water changes or not. It will depend on your daily test results, which will change as the cycle progresses.

Remember, with fish-in cycling you are cycling the tank to handle the bioload of what is currently in the tank. So if you are cycling with one fish, when the tank is cycled it will only be able to handle that one fish, so you can't go out and get a few more fish and put them in. To add more fish you must do it icrimentaly over a few weeks to allow the biofilter to grow to the increased load (ammonia) with each new fish. I realize that with a ten gallon tank, you may not be planning to add more fish, so in that case, once it's cycled you are good to go.

 

experienced this same kind of thing on an overstocked aquarium recently. Look, you are fish in cycling. You have to do the water changes and trust the method and it will work out in the long run. Start loosing your cool and doing a bunch of different things to counter and it all goes downhill,
Trust the method.
Ok so, Your fish are producing ammonia 24/7 all the time, that ammonia is cycling the aquarium. you are at the nitrites phase, until the nitrites get broken, they will stack up, when they start to break to nitrates, it will move quickly.

The ammonia isn't a pile of ammonia like it is with fishless cycling, it's the ammonia the fish are producing, once the colony is up to speed for the load of the fish, that's it, you won't see the ammonia again. it all goes to nitrites, once that colony of nitrite breakers is up to speed, they all will go to nitrates and you won't see ammonia or nitrites anymore either, you might see ammonia again with a fish deat or something, or if you kill your colony, but once it's up to speed all you are going to see are nitrates after that.

If you get scared for the fish at any point doing fish in cycling you can do a water change. from 10%-100% doesn't even matter, the colony you are building is in the filter, not the aquarium. If your fish die, it was from temperature differences or some coincidence, or something else, not just changing too much water. it's safest to do up to 50% in one shot though, even if you do 50% and 8-12 hours later do another 50%. this is mostly for water temp regulation.

I've had 5ppm nitrites and not lost a fish. it was probably even much higher than that really. nitrites are less toxic than Ammonia, it's a larger particle than ammonia is. it shouldn't be allowed to run up that high because it can lead to a diatom bloom or bacterial bloom and cloudy water for a while, neither of which will kill fish either. I suppose if nitrates get stupid stupid high, can kill fish. but 5ppm wasn't it for me.

Anyways, Do a water change like 50%, cut the nitrites in half, if you want do another 50% tomorrow.

it's doing it's thing, it's not stalled. you didn't mess it up, and all you really need to do is nothing and wait for the tank to break the nitrites next and it's done cycling, but "when in doubt, change it out" water changing hurts nothing,

And I'm going to admit, when my nitrites were pegged out, it scared me a whole lot also the first time. Make a water change and settle down

youre' almost there. the nitrite to nitrate step is faster than the ammonia to nitrites step. just when those bacteria aren't up to speed yet, the nitrite can stack up in a backlog, they will however get up to speed and knock it all out. that or diatoms and other bacteria will populate and eat up the excesses the nitrifying bacteria can't handle until they can handle it. it's almost done cycling. Water changing and bringing it down would lessen the chance of getting a cloudy bloom for a while though.

best of luck!