...can't get nitrites to show up UPDATE, now I can't get nitrites DOWN!

I'm about ready to pull my hair out. I FINALLY got nitrites to show up the day after dosing BT-9. They were sitting between .5-1 ppm a couple of days after they first showed up. The next day they were over 5 ppm. Did a water change of about 40%. The next day still over 5 ppm. Did a water change of 70%. Still over 5 ppm. Today I did a water change of 90%. They are STILL over 5ppm. I'm about to scream! NitrAtes are sitting at about 30ppm after the 90% water change. Is there anything I can do or is this another one of those 'be patient' things? I'm scared to keep changing 90% of the water every dang day trying to deal with this, I don't want to start all this crap over again. I'm also tired of blowing through bottled water for RO/DI. Can I cycle this tank with straight up tap water and then when I do the final change after it's cycled go back to RO/Tap mixed?

Steve Hampton said:

Way to go Kyle! I hope you have all the success you desire. Best of luck always.

Cheers,
Steve

Click to expand...

Patience is what I suggest. I have always cycled tanks by adding benificial bacteria and adding a few guppies. And then just waiting until my tank is cycled. Keep testing the water and keeping it suitable for the guppies to live. (If possible) If the guppies die put new ones in. Once the water params are suitable for the guppies, buy some cheap ghost shrimp until the nitrates remain at a level to where more delicate shrimp can live in your tank. If you have nitrates though then something is going on in your tank.

When I first got into aquariums, the lfs' didn't even sell benificial bacteria so this was the way it used to be done. Personally I wouldn't even consider adding shrimp to a new tank until I was absolutely sure that whatever I was putting in my tank would live.

Eventually the tank will cycle and eventually, the tank will become suitable for shrimpies. This is the way I have cycled every tank I have ever owned. Sorry you feel like pulling your hair out, sooner than later your tank will come along.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy using Tapatalk 2

Nitrifying bacteria are the same no matter what the source of the ammonia.

Tetra Safe Start has the right species, and adding filter media from a cycled tank is the best source. Dr. Tim's One and Only, and Microbe Lift's Nite Out II are also good. Look for Nitrospira species of bacteria.

I'll bet your tank was cycled from day 1, but the messed up ammonia test had you adding so little ammonia that the bacteria died off to match that level of ammonia. You saw only a brief blip of nitrite because of adding so little ammonia and having plenty of bacteria in the filter then. Nitrate has been climbing slowly because of such low ammonia additions.

However, the bacteria died off. Now you have added another source of bacteria, and are adding more ammonia. Perhaps the remaining bacteria from the first addition is beginning to grow, perhaps the product you added is working. Either way, it should go faster with more ammonia.

These bacteria grow best:
High oxygen (so maintain good water circulation)
Good level of ammonia (3 ppm is the target. More leads to too much NO2)
Moderate levels of nitrite (keep it under 5 ppm)
GH and KH over 3 German Degrees of hardness. (These bacteria need certain minerals and carbonates)
pH in the 7s or a bit higher. (I do not know if it is strictly pH, or if it is related to the carbonates, but the bacteria slow down a lot by 6.5, and are almost worthless at 6.0)

Thank you Diana! So just keep adding ammonia and plugging away? pH is sitting at 6.8 as it's on Azoo Plant Grower bed. I added mostly tap water today on the 90% change so that will shoot it up a bit and push the GH and KH up (GH was fine at about 6, KH has been running 1-2, this should push it up to about 3-4 for now). Total ammonia has always been over 4ppm and I read that the bacteria can use both free ammonia and total. Is this not true? If it's not then yeah, the cycle probably went whacky on me. There are about 20 ramshorns in it as well being a constant ammonia source on top of adding the pure ammonia (it's a 12g tank). When I first began using the API test it was correct, because there was nothing being added to convert ammonia to ammonium and it took me two days to finally get it up to 5ppm (added probably 5-6ml of pure ammonia to get it there). I had done a couple of water changes when the ammonia reading got too high (over 5ppm) and then added tap water with prime which I will assume was converting at least some of the ammonia into ammonium since once I switched to the Seachem test the total ammonia was the same as what the API test had been reading. Only the free ammonia was what obviously different since Seachem tests for free and API doesn't. I never stopped adding ammonia the whole time and with that being the case and the snails do you really think all of the bacteria died??? Asking because I'm really trying to wrap my head around everything and make sure I'm dealing with this correctly. Thanks for your time!