[thebuddha]

Originally Posted by Diana

Do water changes to keep the nitrites under 5 ppm.

When you feed too much ammonia the first population of bacteria turn it into too much nitrite faster than the second population can get rid of it. That is why you aim for 3 ppm max on the ammonia. That much generally will not make the nitrite spike too high.

okay. so it will be complete when:
i dose 3ppm of ammonia, and in 24 hours i get readings of 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and any amount of nitrates. then do a wc to get rid of excess nitrates. then its ready?

but isnt it bad to have 0 ammonia, because then some of my nitrifying bacteria would die off?