# Cant get nitrites to stay down



## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

i have a 150 gallon thats been set up for about 1 and half months and i thought it was done cycling but maybe i was wrong? here are my water parameters.

Ammonia - 0
nitrite - 3-5ppm if i do water change will go down but goes right back up next day.
nitrate - 20ppm

*** been slowly stocking the tank and all fish are healthy with no problems

3 blood parrots 2-3"
7 silver dollars 2"
2 black convicts 1.5"
3 cory cats 1"
1 albino bristle nose place 2-3"
1 pictus cat 3"
1 clown loach 2"

filtration is a aquatop 500 canister and medium api rena canister - i havent touched either canister since i set up the tank.

so is my tank still cycling? untill now my biggest tank was a 75gallon. does the 150 take this long to cycle? should i keep doing daily 25% water changes and cut back on feedings?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It sounds as if the tank was not fully cycled prior to adding the fish OR that you added to many fish at one time to a newly cycled tank.

My suggestion is a 50% water change to bring the nitrites down by half and then repeat the following day. The water change won't harm the cycling process and it will be better for the fish. Continue the 50% water changes to keep the nitrites as low as possible. It sounds as if you are very close to being cycled.

Does your tap water register anything for nitrates?


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

i just tested it and it looks like it has about 5.0ppm.. is that normal for tap water to have nitrates?

i have prime and it says i can dose 5x the normal amount to detoxify high nitrites untill i do the water change in the morning.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Your tap water should ideally have zero nitrates...IDK what the legal limit is in the US but some people near farms seem to get a reading. Drinking fertilizer...blech!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

It may or may not be 'normal' for your particular area, do you have a private well or are you on the city system?

Use the Prime until you can do the water change but try and increase the surface agitation of the water with your filter(s) if you can. This can be accomplished by lowering your water level a bit so the filter output drops onto the water surface or if you have a power-head, just point it up towards the surface.

When increasing the Prime dosage this way, it is usually recommended to increase the surface agitation of the water.


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

i just checked my water company's website and it says up to 10ppm is safe. im calling them tomorrow to test my system, im on public water. ill angle my spray bar and power head up to break the surface a bit more..


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Hard to get your tank down to 10ppm after a water change though.


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

DJRansome said:


> Hard to get your tank down to 10ppm after a water change though.


yep..


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

ok so did almost a 50% water change abiut 4-5 hours ago and my nitrites are 0.25ppm currently.
i will check again tonight. my tank is also crystal clear, i havent seen it this clear yet! should i do another 50% water change in the morning? i didnt feed the fish last night thinking about skipping tonight too?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I would double check the nitrites again tonight prior to a water change tomorrow, if they are still that low, skip until needed. You do sound as if you are very close to finishing the cycle.

Your fish should be fine skipping a couple days of feeding.


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

Deeda said:


> I would double check the nitrites again tonight prior to a water change tomorrow, if they are still that low, skip until needed. You do sound as if you are very close to finishing the cycle.
> 
> Your fish should be fine skipping a couple days of feeding.


Thanks for the help Deeda!!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

You are very welcome!!! Please keep us posted on how things are going.


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

so checked nitrites this morning and they were probably 1ppm maybe 2ppm its hard to tell, the purple colors look the same. i just finished another 50% water change and my nitrites are back down to 0.25ppm, ill check them again tomorrow morning.


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

almost 24 hours later and almost 5ppm again! how much longer is this going to last? doing another 50% water change as i type. fed the fish a little last night, but made sure they ate it all. anything else i need to do other than wait it out and do 50% water changes?


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

A new tank will take about 6 weeks to cycle, that is the norm. But, OK
What filter do you have? And how are you cleaning it? Maybe you might need to add another. STOP feeding for a few days, they will not starve. It is not the uneaten food that causes Nitrites, it is the Ammonia given off by fish that makes Nitrite.


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

tanker3 said:


> A new tank will take about 6 weeks to cycle, that is the norm. But, OK
> What filter do you have? And how are you cleaning it? Maybe you might need to add another. STOP feeding for a few days, they will not starve. It is not the uneaten food that causes Nitrites, it is the Ammonia given off by fish that makes Nitrite.


tanker see my 1st post, it has all the info you ask.


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

im at a loss? i cannot get my nitrites down! they are still somewhere between 2ppm and 5ppm maybe higher the test only goes to 5. i cant afford to do 50% water changes everyday, i actually havent done one since Sunday and the fish are fine. should i switch from prime to something else or try adding some live bacteria? clean my filters? more surface agitation?

wouldnt the fish be gasping at the top of the tank after 5 days of high nitrites? any and all suggestions are welcome and i will attempt to try.

Thanks.


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

There's nitrates and there's no ammonia so it's getting there. It just takes time. I wouldn't even worry about it, it's not critically high and nothing will make it go down but time.


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

so i showed the nitrite test to my wife and she compared it to the chart and she says its only 1ppm not 3-5ppm like i was saying. maybe my color vision is off? im gonna do a 50% water change tomorrow and just continue to wait it out.


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## jayy (Mar 12, 2016)

At the time of your first post the tank was 6 weeks old. At how many weeks did you start adding livestock? Or did you add them all at the 6 week mark?

I prefer to go slowly. Even once the tank is cycled, it only has enough bacteria to handle a very minimal bio load. Adding a lot of fish at once greatly increases the bio load and it takes time for the bacteria to reproduce and build up to the correct level. In fact if you add too many fish at once, the ammonia spike can actually kill the bacteria that convert nitrites to nitrates and you have a mini-cycle all over again.

See if you can get your hands on some hornwort or duckweed, floating plants that will float at the top of your aquarium and help absorb nitrogen.

I'd also see if you can buy or borrow a different test kit as well. Just to get a second opinion, some test kits are funny.

FYI, 10 PPM is the federally mandated maximum for Nitrates in your drinking water so if it's ever over that, call the water company and they fix it or face heavy fines.


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

jayy - i slowly added them little by little over the 6 week period. i dont think i can add any plants since i have the silver dollars, they will eat them. i tested my tap water just to make sure my nitrite test wasnt bad and it reads 0ppm, but i might bring a sample to the local fish store to have them test it.


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

ok just wanted to update everyone that has been following this and or helped me out. my nitrites are finally going down! i actually did not do a water change for a week or so and they were down to around 0.50ppm. so i did a little water change and now I'm almost at zero :thumb:


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## eyeguy05 (Apr 9, 2004)

im finally cycled! Ammonia and nitrites are at 0ppm and nitrates are 5ppm.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Congratulations!!! :dancing: :dancing:


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