Should I do a water change? (High Nitrite & Nitrate)

Hi guys. I know the basics of the cycle but am a bit unsure what to do next. Below I have added the charts of my test results. My tank is 33g and PH is around 8.5. I dosed 2ppm of ammonia on day 1 & day 6. I have the following questions:
Should I do a water change to get Nitrite & Nitrate down?
Should I dose 2ppm Ammonia every (other) day when it reaches 0 or wait for both ammonia and nitrite to reach 0?
Should I dose more ammonia (4ppm)?

 

Welcome to Fishlore

At this point I would get both nitrites and nitrates down with a water change. 50% should get them down to more comfortable levels. Once done I would get the ammonia back up to 2ppm (higher is not necessary). Go to dosing ammonia every other day at this point and continue to do so until both ammonia and nitrites are zero.

I am also going to suggest you start adding a small pinch of crushed flakes every other day until the cycle is complete. This thread will explain why I am recommending this. PSA: Something I am seeing more and more often, fishless cycling.... | Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle Forum | 477380

 

Welcome to Fishlore

At this point I would get both nitrites and nitrates down with a water change. 50% should get them down to more comfortable levels. Once done I would get the ammonia back up to 2ppm (higher is not necessary). Go to dosing ammonia every other day at this point and continue to do so until both ammonia and nitrites are zero.

I am also going to suggest you start adding a small pinch of crushed flakes every other day until the cycle is complete. This thread will explain why I am recommending this. PSA: Something I am seeing more and more often, fishless cycling.... | Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle Forum | 477380

Just did a water change. Nitrites are down to 6 and nitrates are 50-60, good to go?

 

Just did a water change. Nitrites are down to 6 and nitrates are 50-60, good to go?

Yes, since this is a fishless cycle these numbers should be alright. As long as the ammonia you add continues to go down to 0 within 24 hours your cycle is moving forward. Should it stop or even slow down it will be time to do another water change.

 

When I was doing a fish-less cycle, I would dose only 2 ppm of ammonia, and only dose when both ammonia and nitrites go down to 0. If you dose it only when ammonia goes down but nitrites don't, your nitrites might start to pile up. I'm no guru as the user above me is, but that's how I cycled my tank.

 

If you dose it only when ammonia goes down but nitrites don't, your nitrites might start to pile up

Not a problem if they do. In the end you will have a strong colony of nitrite eating bacteria.

 

Not a problem if they do. In the end you will have a strong colony of nitrite eating bacteria.

That's fair... I just wanted to see how fast both of them would go down before re-doseing ammonia.

 

Hi guys. I know the basics of the cycle but am a bit unsure what to do next.

Hi there! Microbiologist here. Don't worry, the cycle can be pretty confusing. But I'll help ya out.

Below I have added the charts of my test results. My tank is 33g and PH is around 8.5. I dosed 2ppm of ammonia on day 1 & day 6. I have the following questions:
Should I do a water change to get Nitrite & Nitrate down?

4ppm ammonia would have only generated 10.8ppm or so nitrite, and even if all that converted to nitrate, you'd have only generated 14.6ppm nitrate. Neither case require you to do a water change. It's only when nitrite for example get way high, like above 20ppm, that one starts to need to worry. To clarify, your high nitrate is a false reading. There is no way it can get that high unless there were other ways it is produced. The nitrate test kit works by converting a portion to nitrite, and measures that as a proxy. That's why when you already have (a lot) of nitrite, nitrate just reads falsely high unnecessarily.

Should I dose 2ppm Ammonia every (other) day when it reaches 0 or wait for both ammonia and nitrite to reach 0?

When both ammonia and nitrite read zero. Revan is correct. If you dose ammonia when nitrite is above zero, it can just spike nitrite to levels far beyond what you'd want, unnecessarily prolonging the cycle. There's no need for that.

Should I dose more ammonia (4ppm)?

Nah, 2ppm is perfectly fine.

View attachment 812792

Yeah as you can see in your chart, nitrate just spikes way high. It reads like 70ppm or so? Where would it all be coming from? Even if all your nitrite converted to nitrate (it did not), that'd only generate 14.6ppm nitrate, or let's round that to 15ppm. Where would the extra 55ppm come from? Nowhere is the answer. It's a falsely high reading caused by the presence of nitrite.

[EDIT]

I forgot to ask, what size water change did you do?

 

Hi there! Microbiologist here. Don't worry, the cycle can be pretty confusing. But I'll help ya out.

4ppm ammonia would have only generated 10.8ppm or so nitrite, and even if all that converted to nitrate, you'd have only generated 14.6ppm nitrate. Neither case require you to do a water change. It's only when nitrite for example get way high, like above 20ppm, that one starts to need to worry. To clarify, your high nitrate is a false reading. There is no way it can get that high unless there were other ways it is produced. The nitrate test kit works by converting a portion to nitrite, and measures that as a proxy. That's why when you already have (a lot) of nitrite, nitrate just reads falsely high unnecessarily.

When both ammonia and nitrite read zero. Revan is correct. If you dose ammonia when nitrite is above zero, it can just spike nitrite to levels far beyond what you'd want, unnecessarily prolonging the cycle. There's no need for that.

Nah, 2ppm is perfectly fine.

Yeah as you can see in your chart, nitrate just spikes way high. It reads like 70ppm or so? Where would it all be coming from? Even if all your nitrite converted to nitrate (it did not), that'd only generate 14.6ppm nitrate, or let's round that to 15ppm. Where would the extra 55ppm come from? Nowhere is the answer. It's a falsely high reading caused by the presence of nitrite.

[EDIT]

I forgot to ask, what size water change did you do?

Thanks mate, clears it up. I did around a 50% water change. Mainly did it because my test kit only reads up to 8ppm.