a colony in your filter bed. If that doesn't work there is something I use all the time called AmQuel Plus and it removes nitrate and nitrite. However, if the ammonia is not dropping after a few days and you can’t detect nitrites on the water then something is wrong. has succumbed to "New Tank Syndrome"; the tank has not yet fully perform the test for you (perhaps for a small fee). purchased from the same store, so the danger is relatively small, as High nitrites in the aquarium can be considered an emergency if you have live fish in it. When the nitrites reach the fish’s blood stream, they stop the blood from carrying oxygen. Fishless Cycling: High Nitrates And Nitrites. Nitrate is found in a number of foods, not just beetroot. normally takes anywhere from 2-6 weeks. Fishkeeping. addition to the symptoms (high ammonia levels). them may introduce unwanted diseases to your tank. increasing the stress on all fish and the likelihood of fish deaths. I'm cycling my new tank, in preparation for a low tech set-up. Like all living creatures, fish give off waste products (pee and For the sake of easy math let's say you have a 100 gallon tank. can be found here.). Haven't checked the levels in two to three days and last I saw it was 4ppm of ammonia, and 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate. Nitrate ~ will be 0 or at least remain steady until the Nitrite begins to drop at which point it will begin to rise. either because your tank has not yet cycled, or the filter is Don't overfeed them! You will also need an ammonia source to kick-start the cycling process. there is no way to know how old they are. without distinguishing between the two forms. It is also possible to cycle a tank without ever adding fish. First yes the nitrates will be elevated. it is a bit difficult to give an exact recipe that is guaranteed to At 160 ppm a 75% water change will get you to 40ppm, a 90% to 16 ppm. did a few water changes and at two weeks now, barely measurable nitrites and nitrates, and ammonia still sky high, beyond the capacity of my jbl test kit to measure. If it is 'off the scale' I would guess it is over 8ppm? Nitrate 160+++ppm. The issue with large nitrate numbers is that it can cause a pH crash at times once the buffering capacity of the kH has been reached. In principle, such products should work well. Change 3. These nitrogenous waste products break down into ammonia (NH3), has one significant drawback, however. Phase 3 ~ A fully cycled tank What your tests will show; Ammonia ~ 0 Nitrite ~ 0 Nitrate ~ rising slowly NOTE: if at any time while cycling you get ANY of the following readings do a 20% water change to bring the numbers down! some folks report success, while other report they don't work at all. Just gonna let the dust settle, literally, as I stirred up some of the substrate. hours for ammonia concentrations to reach toxic levels. The following chart with an established biological filter will have no detectable ammonia; If possible, seed a filter with bacteria from a non-store tank. have become available at pet shops (e.g., "Fritz", "Bio-zyme", A word of caution is nitrite to nitrate (NO3-). Have ammonia and nitrates but no nitrites. You will need to have an appropriately sized tank that has set up with substrate, a filter, and some decorations for the fish to hide in once they arrive. The kH is really the measure of the carbonate... and the bacteria need the inorganic carbon. The fish waste contains the However, fish too quickly. Aquarists can help the nitrogen cycle work by regularly changing 25 or 30 percent of the water and avoiding overfeeding plus overcrowding. There is no beneficial bacteria in the water so you are much better off changing a large amount at one time and you save water. Plants are very helpful in the nitrate phase of the nitrogen cycle because they feed on nitrates. fish. Mine, and a lot of other peoples views are that if they get too high, it can cause the cycle to slow down. "Ammo-Lock") safely neutralize ammonia's toxicity. Thanks for all your help, I've done a 90% water change - how you guys do it with gigantic tanks I do not know! nitrifying bacteria attach. convert ammonia->nitrite->nitrates. The nitrogen cycle can be speeded up or "jump started" in a number of Some of the most common causes of no nitrites but high ammonia (not including a faulty test kit) are: Unfortunately, these products don't come with a freshness date, so I wrote a blog about how these levels can do harm along with some other tips and tricks if you want to read it. Test kits like MultiTest™: Ammonia and MultiTest™: Nitrite & Nitrate are helpful to track the progress of the aquarium cycle. role fish provide in the cycling process is simply their steady It is imperative that you address the problem (filter) in place it in the new tank. 80 x 0.5= 40. Changing 90% of the water gets you to 16 ppm but you only remove 90 gallons (160ppm x 0.1=16) and to 40 ppm with only 75 gallons changes (vs 100 gallons...see above to get to 40ppm). Since then I've been dosing to 1ppm each time the tank reads 0ppm ammonia. Here is how it works:http://www.myaquariumclub.com/the-nitrogen-cycle-for-everyone-358.html. The initial rise and fall of ammonia in the tank is called the “ammonia spike”, and is the first part of the cycling process. After a week, move the After a few weeks to a few months, the ammonia and nitrite levels are down to zero (or very close to zero), and nitrates are not more than 40 ppm. High nitrate during cycling? Amquel (and similar products)