3 weeks into fishless cycling, constant high nitrite and nitrate

[Andrea Rzad]

Hey guys,

 

   I need a little help and or reassurance here.  I started my fishless cycling process with the cycling kit from Sylvia about a month ago.  I also threw in one of my goldfish aquariums well used bio bags. Now it's a little shy of 4 weeks later,  I have been testing everyday, and I'll share what's going on. I initially had an ammonia spike but that has subsided with in the first week or so and now every time I add the ammonia it disappears within in 24 hours, good....But my nitrites won't go down they have been at 5ppm and my nitrates at 160ppm for almost 2 weeks. I know the Nitrates would be bad news bears for the fish so when should I expect my nitrates to start going down??  Right now my pH is at 7.6, read digitally and I have attached a few pics of my test results taken 10 days ago,6 days ago and the same results daily since then.  Am I just too instant gratification???  I am so excited and want to order some fish and get this system up and running.  Do I just need more patience?

 

Thanks again for your help and knowledge!

[TCLynx]

Yes patience.

Now it is actually the nitrite that would be bad news for the fish.

The Nitrates are what you are feeding your plants.

You might wait a bit or just dose very small amounts of ammonia while you wait for the nitrite to go down.

It is possible if you have any anaerobic areas that your nitrates could be getting converted back to nitrite and that would then want to degas into airborne nitrogen so make sure you have lots of aeration and that there are no really low oxygen areas in your system (like don't leave water sitting in the beds overnight etc.)

What sort of cycling are you doing?  timed flood and drain, siphons, constant flood?  If you do timed flood and drain you might switch to constant flood for a day or two and see what running the pump constantly does for you, sometimes doing that will get you past the nitrite spike a bit quicker.

 

But the truth is, patience, cycling does usually take time.  I expect you are almost there, when the nitrite drops it may do so very quickly and keep your eyes open for a sudden drop in pH around the same time or shortly thereafter.

[Andrea Rzad]

TCLynx Thanks so much for your help.  I did mean nitrites being bad for the fish my typing got a little confused.  I have the little aquabundance system that Sylvia sells, 60 gallons, and the flood and drain cycle is set to off for a half hour on for 15 minutes.  I will take you advice and dose a small amount of ammonia and let it run constantly for a while to see if it helps. I don’t think I have any stagnant areas where anaerobic activity would be taking place but it could be possible.  I’ll keep you updated on what happens.  Thanks for the heads up about the pH drop when the nitrites go down.  Ya know when I did this in my regular fish tank I cycled, added aquatic plants, and waited months before I added a fish, I just wanted to find the right fish and it took quite a while.  This go around I am a little more eager, and I will try not to think of them as pet fish….hopefully.  I have been reading up as much as possible on the aquaponics subject on this message board and in books and you have given some great advice to many people here, thanks for helping.

[TCLynx]

I expect that things will finish up for you shortly.  Running constant flood for a few days may make a big difference then you can go back to the timed schedule and do your last few doses and hopefully see the ammonia and nitrite go down to 0 in a day and you will be ready for fish.

[Andrea Rzad]

Hey guys just wanted to give you an update!  Look what happened ...no more nitrites! 

[TCLynx]

woo hoo!!!!

That's always a great feeling.