Nitrite stuck a 2ppm for weeks

Nitrite stuck at 2ppm for weeks

HI I have a 55gal community tank (1 pleco, 2 catfish, 3 guppies, 5 mollies, 2 angelfish, 4 swordfish, 4 neons, 2 platy and 1 female beta) with fluval c4 out of tank filter, 2 air stones . The tank has been set up for 3 months, I've gradualy increased the fish community in the tank to what is there now. I had a ammonia spike at the beginning but its been over 8 weeks that I haven't had an ammonia spike ( always 0 or .25ppm). Now its been 4 weeks my nitrite has been at 2 ppm to 5ppm.

I've done daily water changes 25 to 33%, sometimes just water change, no gavel vacuum and other time partial gavel vacuum and other time full vaccum, but the nitrite is always in that range. The nitrate has never spiked, I'm assuming all the water changes is keeping that in check. Using prime or aqua+ as a water conditionner.

I've added prime to reduce the nitrite effect but the next day the nitrite is back.
I've added biological enhancements like stability or cycle even double the recommended dose daily ... nothing changed.

In the filter I'm using biomax chips in the chemical section with active carbon, my biological section there is c nodes.

I've read everything on nitrogen cycle, water changes , high fish stock and still no clue why the nitrite is stuck at 2ppm and up.

There is no fish death, no disease and the water is Cristal clean.

Is there something I'm doing wrong ? Can't figure out why the nitrite stay high!!!

 

Welcome to FishLore!

It would appear that you have the bacteria that converts ammonia into nitrite, but haven't yet grown the colony of bacteria that converts nitrites into nitrates.

I've never used Stability, so I have no answer for why it doesn't seem to be working. I have had success with Tetra SafeStart. If you were to use that, you would want to do a large water change to get your nitrites as close to 0ppm as possible, wait 24 hours and add an entire, well shaken, appropriate sized bottle of SafeStart. Then do nothing but lightly feed your fish for the enxt 14 days. On day 14 test your water and if all work correctly, you've cycled.

On the other hand you can just keep up the daily water changes with Prime until the tank finishes cycling.

Best of luck!

 

If you use stability you NEED to use it for a min. Of 7 days following directions on bottle.
I'm curious if you've stalled the cycle b/c of how you were slowly adding fish into the cycling tank. I've used stability and prime for multiple fish in cycles, and have always been cycled within 14-20 days.

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If your cycle is stalling on nitrite, the problem might be phosphates. Any way to test for them?

 

The phosphate could be something to look at, when I started to notice the nitrite stall, the fish store clerk, made me buy chemipure elite to fix my nitrite,used it for 2 weeks nothing changed ... reading on chempure is a resign for phosphate removal and other minerals, Could it be a chemical unbalanced in my aquarium?

I'm going to purchase a phosphate test kit, and let you know.

Something that I've been looking at is adding sea salt to my aquarium , any commen's on that? Good or bad... would that help?

 

Salt in freshwater is an old-school technique that new science has shown to be at best, mostly useless, and at worst harmful to many fish.

I asked about phosphates because nitrite to nitrate bacteria need trace amounts of phosphate to do their job. If you have 0 phosphates, your cycle will stall.

 

another vote for safestart

 

Stability works too

 

As anybody used nutrafin cycle, is it a good biological enhancer like stability... because tss is not readily available at my fish store.

 

It goes against my moral code to help a Habs fan with anything.

 

IME, I LOVED nutrafin cycle. Prime didn't help my tank and nutrafin saved it when I was first starting out. Petsmart doesn't sell it anymore unfortunately. But I had large success with it in the past.

 

It goes against my moral code to help a Habs fan with anything.

Sorry to hear that!!! This year hasn't been a good one! That's why I took on this new hobby.

 

The above is one of the first people I've heard claim that Nutrifin Cycle works. It seem to have a very bad reputation around here.

But I have to mention to tokiodreamy Prime and Cycle are two totally different products for two totally different problems. Prime is a water condition that remove chlorine, chloramines, heavy metals etc, and also detoxes ammonia and nitrites. Cycle on the other hand is a bottled bacteria which is supposed to add the bacteria needed to cycle a tank.

 

I did a phosphate test and it's at 0ppm. How could I naturally add phosphate to my tank? Isn't phosphate a bad thing to have in your tank.

 

Excess phosphates are bad. Some phosphates are necessary for the ecosystem to work.
What filter are you using?

 

I've used both but I've had better results with TSS. Stuff is awesome

 

Excess phosphates are bad. Some phosphates are necessary for the ecosystem to work.
What filter are you using?

I'm using fluval c4, with active charcoal and biomax in the chemical section and cnodes in the bio section.

 

You can use Seachem's phosphorous fertilizer, or a few drops of phosphoric acid in the filter to boost phosphorus count.

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Following, as I've always had 0ppm when I've tested for phosphates....I thought it was a good thing to have the reading at zero....the geek in me has gone on alert and is interested in where this might go...

 

The above is one of the first people I've heard claim that Nutrifin Cycle works. It seem to have a very bad reputation around here.

But I have to mention to tokiodreamy Prime and Cycle are two totally different products for two totally different problems. Prime is a water condition that remove chlorine, chloramines, heavy metals etc, and also detoxes ammonia and nitrites. Cycle on the other hand is a bottled bacteria which is supposed to add the bacteria needed to cycle a tank.

Thank you for clarifying! It's when I first started out years ago. I added too many fish too soon and I used prime to detoxify the ammonia but I was still loosing fish. I went back to the lfs and they suggested to add nutrifin cycle. Worked like a charm and didn't loose anymore fish. Mind you I haven't used either product since. But I did pick up a bottle of prime last weekend... just in case for my shrimp tank. I'll give anything a second shot

 

I asked about phosphates because nitrite to nitrate bacteria need trace amounts of phosphate to do their job. If you have 0 phosphates, your cycle will stall.

I thought phosphates were bad to have at detectable levels. I have a phosphate tester, and mine are always at zero which I thought was a good thing. Can you tell me why I should want phosphates in my tank? What else depends upon phosphates? What should a normal reading be?

 

Nitrifying bacteria actually require trace amounts of phosphates to be able to work. The exact perfect number of phosphates to shoot for in your tank depends heavily on what you're trying to grow in there as far as plants. Phosphates are very readily absorbable form of plant food so excess phosphates can quickly lead to algae blooms but you need some to maintain plant life.

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I'm happy to say that my aquarium finally cycled... ammonia 0ppm, NITRITE 0ppm and nitrate 5ppm. The way I achieved it, I think, it's 50% water change 2 days in a row skip a day, another 50% 2 days in a row skip a day, today the reading are good.
I did no gravel wash, just water change without disturbing the gravel. Every day I added 10 ml Stability and conditioned the water with Prime.

I'll wait one week before doing a gravel wash.


Thanks everybody that posted on my question .