help

[duffer55]

what am i doing wrong,my nitrites spiked 6-7 days ago, and there still off the charts. i cut my ammonia in half as was told for a fishless cycle. what am i doing wrong?

[xoolooxunny]

what are your ammonia levels? if they are zero, then start doing water changes until you get the nitrates under control.

[duffer55]

it`s nitrites not nitrates

[Chrona]

Have you disturbed the substrate or filter? Do you have any live plants? How long did it take to get to that nitrite spike? Temp? Sorry if I sound like an interrogator.

[duffer55]

have not touched gravel or filter, have 2 java ferns, and it took 7-8 days to get the spike.

[xoolooxunny]

sorry read that wrong!

[sergo]

patience. it will fall off in the next day or so. you'll be surprised when it happens. one test it's there, the next it's almost gone. are you still reading ammonia?

[Glasstapper]

your nitrites are going to take a little while longer than your ammonia did to come back down. You're doing it right, so don't worry. As said above, it could happen seemingly overnight.

I remember when I did my fishless cycling, I was testing the water every 3 days, and on the first test, I had very low ammonia and that was it. The second test showed low ammonia again, along with low nitrites. The third test showed no ammonia, and off the charts nitrites. The last test showed ammonia and nitrites at zero and nitrates at 10. It'll go fast. I was done in 12 days, but I also didn't have any plants and also used some old gravel and filter media from an established tank.

[duffer55]

thanks all for your replies