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System appears to be stuck?
Ok, it's been like this for a week.
No ammonia, Nitrite 5ppm+, Nitrate 20-30ppm
Water temp 76F
pH 8.1
250 gal IBC (220 actual)
How long will this take?
I've done 15% water changes to dilute the nitrite, twice, within a 24 hour period. And still no change.
Really?
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Permalink Reply by Patrick DiFlorio on
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Hey, Randall, thanks for the reply. I am cycling with fish. I've stopped feeding 5 day ago. That's what is so puzzling. The nitrite spike happened almost overnight. I just can't seem to budge it back down, at all. The fish seem to be ok. Active, wanting to feed...the water clarity is perfect. Maybe I'm still populating my growbeds?
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Sounds normal to me. The second phase of establishing bacteria (consumers of nitrite) is the slowest. It may take up to six weeks to be completely cycled.
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Well, that of course was my biggest concern, as I have stock fish on the way. Someone along the line mentioned that
above 7.5pH Nitrite may not huirt the fish? Any comments?
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Search nitrite and you will find some info from Vlad on salting to mitigate damage to fish. Salting and water changes are your only hope, so far as I know. Also, you should find the levels which are likely to harm your fish. 7.5 seems like a death sentence to me.
The good news is that once you are cycled, provided you have enough bio filter, nitrite will never again be a concern. I stopped testing for it a long time ago.
I killed most of my fish with nitrite early on so definitely take it seriously. I was stocked with bluegill and catfish and almost all of the catfish died but about half the bluegill survived so risk varies by species.
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