Nitrites Never Show Up, Does That Indicate Tank Isn't Cycled?

HI again.

With both our big 165L & 21L quarantine tank, nitrites have always been 0ppm before, during & after cycle (done both fishless & with fish cycles in our aquarium keeping "career").

Ammonia has done normal spikes & eventually gone, nitrates moved from 0ppm up (to above 40ppm in big tank, settled now at about 10ppm).

Quarantine tank parameters as of yesterday:

Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate less than 5ppm (much closer to 0ppm)
pH 7.2

We started cycling the quarantine tank on 16 December, but we weren't adding daily flakes to feed the BB. We are now, so I suspect it isn't cycled yet.

I only ask about nitrites because I've never detected them in either tank even when we've crashed the cycle in our bug tank inadvertently multiple times. Like, nitrates as high as 80ppm (those were dark days).

Is it possible the test solution is a dud?

 

I'm curious as to why you're cycling the QT? I would place the filter in the main tank for 2-3 weeks to seed it. You'd then have it ready for whatever fish you want to add to the QT.

 

Long story. Summary is because our BB in the main tank are very fragile because we didn't realise our rainwater had such low kH & gH so the pH was fluctuating down lower than 6 & killing our BB. Working through that now with SeaChem Alkaline Buffer & Equilibrium but we have 3 fish left in there & couldn't risk losing any of the few BB left to seed the QT.

Hope that makes sense? In a perfect world, yes our plan had been to seed....

 

Bacteria populates very quickly so I don't think there's any harm in adding the filter in the main tank to seed it. Sounds like you're adding the right products to increase the KH so your pH should already be at a level where bacteria won't die off. Besides, cycling with fish flakes takes a lot longer and is harder to control the ammonia output.

 

Bacteria populates very quickly so I don't think there's any harm in adding the filter in the main tank to seed it. Sounds like you're adding the right products to increase the KH so your pH should already be at a level where bacteria won't die off. Besides, cycling with fish flakes takes a lot longer and is harder to control the ammonia output.

Ok, so how is best to seed? Take the some of the filter floss? Bio sponge? I'm so worried because the big tank crashed when I changed 25% of the bio noods & rinsed 1 of the filter floss wool in old tank water 9 days ago & the ammonia has just come back to 0ppm today after 8 days of 50% water changes & Prime doses...

 

You could either take the entire filter and run it alongside the main tank for a couple of weeks or stuff the media next to the main tank's filter media.

Did the main tank crash because of the low pH? You also said you changed 25% of the bio (rings)? That could have caused a cycle bump as well. What is the pH now in the main tank and how long has it been since you saw that the ammonia stayed at 0? Also, what type of filter is in the main tank and what fish do you have?

 

You could either take the entire filter and run it alongside the main tank for a couple of weeks or stuff the media next to the main tank's filter media.

Did the main tank crash because of the low pH? You also said you changed 25% of the bio (rings)? That could have caused a cycle bump as well. What is the pH now in the main tank and how long has it been since you saw that the ammonia stayed at 0? Also, what type of filter is in the main tank and what fish do you have?

All of your questions are spelled out in painstaking detail in my first thread:

Resurrected Freshwater Tank Ph Very Low & Ammonia Problem

It crashed because of low kH, which crashed pH and combined with bio noods, tragedy ensued.

Ammonia spiked to 2, we lost 10 fish. Been at zero less than 24 hours for first time since crash.

Main tank filter:
Came with AR850 Aqua ONE
Top layer: filter floss wool pad
Next, bio sponge pad
Last, ceramic bio-noods

Fish remaining: 2 rainbow fish & 1 small pleco.

 

HI again.

With both our big 165L & 21L quarantine tank, nitrites have always been 0ppm before, during & after cycle (done both fishless & with fish cycles in our aquarium keeping "career").

Ammonia has done normal spikes & eventually gone, nitrates moved from 0ppm up (to above 40ppm in big tank, settled now at about 10ppm).

Quarantine tank parameters as of yesterday:

Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate less than 5ppm (much closer to 0ppm)
pH 7.2

We started cycling the quarantine tank on 16 December, but we weren't adding daily flakes to feed the BB. We are now, so I suspect it isn't cycled yet.

I only ask about nitrites because I've never detected them in either tank even when we've crashed the cycle in our bug tank inadvertently multiple times. Like, nitrates as high as 80ppm (those were dark days).

Is it possible the test solution is a dud?

So any thoughts on why every single nitrite test ever on at least 2 different watery sources & 2 different tanks is always 0ppm? I'm pretty suspicious the test kit is a dud at this point...