Why won't my nitrites go down?
- Thread starter hnf2k
- Start date
broomer5
Active Member
As I recall - this is a newly set up tank.
If your nitrites are still off the scale - it's a clear sign that your tank is still cycling.
Nothing to be too alarmed about - unless you have delicate fish or inverts in the tank - hopefully not.
What are you cycling the tank with ?
If your nitrites are still off the scale - it's a clear sign that your tank is still cycling.
Nothing to be too alarmed about - unless you have delicate fish or inverts in the tank - hopefully not.
What are you cycling the tank with ?
hnf2k
Active Member
im cycling with nothing. i put in 200 lbs of live rock(it wasnt fully cured). the die off did it i guess? yes it's a new tank and i was told not to do a water change until everything goes down.
there are foam prefilters. my tank was not initially set up with ro/di water. it was set up with tap water. i did however buy a unit from ----. should be here on the 6th. then i can post my complaints about how to set it up. im not very handy. i dont have any fish. waiting for my cycle to complete first. and it's taking a lot longer than i expected.
its just so aggravating. i spend all this money and it seems everything that can go wrong did go wrong. i just hope it all works out in the end. why would my wet/dry be hurting? my ammonia is at 0. my nitrites and nitrates are still very high. the tank has been up for somewhere around a month.
there are foam prefilters. my tank was not initially set up with ro/di water. it was set up with tap water. i did however buy a unit from ----. should be here on the 6th. then i can post my complaints about how to set it up. im not very handy. i dont have any fish. waiting for my cycle to complete first. and it's taking a lot longer than i expected.
its just so aggravating. i spend all this money and it seems everything that can go wrong did go wrong. i just hope it all works out in the end. why would my wet/dry be hurting? my ammonia is at 0. my nitrites and nitrates are still very high. the tank has been up for somewhere around a month.
broomer5
Active Member
Yep - as fshhub said - patience.
If you added a couple hundred pounds of uncured live rock to a large tank , I'd guess your ammonia pegged out pretty high.
Then the bacteria converted the ammonia to nitrite.
Now you're waiting on the next strain of bacteria to become colonized to start hitting at the nitrite.
Sometimes it takes awhile for this phase to complete.
But it will happen eventually.
You're going through what some call a "hard" cycle.
Best way in my opinion to start out a tank.
Keep testing - and the trites should drop off rather suddenly once the nitrite oxidizing bacteria levels rise.
If you added a couple hundred pounds of uncured live rock to a large tank , I'd guess your ammonia pegged out pretty high.
Then the bacteria converted the ammonia to nitrite.
Now you're waiting on the next strain of bacteria to become colonized to start hitting at the nitrite.
Sometimes it takes awhile for this phase to complete.
But it will happen eventually.
You're going through what some call a "hard" cycle.
Best way in my opinion to start out a tank.
Keep testing - and the trites should drop off rather suddenly once the nitrite oxidizing bacteria levels rise.
azrile
Member
One thing I can add (which isn't much since I've only done one saltwater tank), is that the nitrites will drop almost overnight.
it's not like you will check, and they will be slightly lower then before.. it's more like one time you will check and they are off the scale, and the next time you won't have any. Mine went from off the scale to nothing in 4 days max, and it could have been even more drastic then that as I only didn't test it inbetween.
it's not like you will check, and they will be slightly lower then before.. it's more like one time you will check and they are off the scale, and the next time you won't have any. Mine went from off the scale to nothing in 4 days max, and it could have been even more drastic then that as I only didn't test it inbetween.
fshhub
Active Member
Don't get me wrong here, I do like southdown sand. But, the use of it or any dry sand in cycleing will take a bit longer than using live sand, it does work well but it takes time just for it to cycle too. AS mentioned, once they drop, they can drop almost overnite or they can take a few days, but normally it is much more sudden than you would expect.
Again, be PATIENT. Trust us, it is ALL WORTH IT!
Again, be PATIENT. Trust us, it is ALL WORTH IT!
fshhub
Active Member
to be safe, i would say no more than a year.
kidding, but that would be the only real answer I could give, even if you ahd followed my set up to the "T", i still could not begin to predict or even take a wild guess. There is no way of telling.
ALL that i could say is IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT REAL SOON. and YOU WILL BE PLEASED. when it is done
kidding, but that would be the only real answer I could give, even if you ahd followed my set up to the "T", i still could not begin to predict or even take a wild guess. There is no way of telling.
ALL that i could say is IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT REAL SOON. and YOU WILL BE PLEASED. when it is done