Nitrites lingering after cycling 400 gallons

[doubtful101]

I have a ~400 gallon tank that was previously running that’s being started up again, but I’m running into a strange problem.

It cycles out ammonia usually in 24-48 hours, but nitrite is taking 2-3 days.

Parameters:
Ammonia: .5 on API and 0 on salifert
Nitrite: .5
Nitrate: 25
PH: 8
SG: 1.026
Temp: 68

I dosed 1 cup ammonia 2 days ago using Austin’s clear ammonia. Filtration is about 6 matala mats and maybe 30 bio bricks, plus live sand. I added fritz bacteria maybe a month ago and it cycled in about 2 weeks, then stalled a little, but picked up again to a steady pace but is very slow to process. I haven’t seen significant improvement in the processing speed and we are wanting to put fish, inverts, and anemones in soon. There will not be coral. Does anyone have any answers?

 

[cdnco2004]

You are cycled. Nothing to worry about with Nitrite. You have high Nitrate which can cause false Nitrite readings on most Nitrite tests. Do a good water change and then it looks like your ready for some fish.

 

[Garf]

Sounds like by the time you put your fish in, ammonia and nitrite will be zero? Excellent, don't keep adding ammonia. When nitrite is undetectable you can measure nitrate more accurately. A bit of nitrite in the tank ain't gonna harm anything, either way

 

[Lavey29]

Nitrite is basically irrelevant in salt water tanks. As long as you are producing nitrates.

 

[Spare time]

You are cycled. Nothing to worry about with Nitrite. You have high Nitrate which can cause false Nitrite readings on most Nitrite tests. Do a good water change and then it looks like your ready for some fish.

I think you have that backwards. Nitrite can cause false high nitrate readings

 

[Spare time]

Its normal for nitrite to take longer. The bacteria that produces nitrate takes longer to divide.

 

[doubtful101]

I think you have that backwards. Nitrite can cause false high nitrate readings

Definitely this, we are still getting false nitrate (100+) readings because nitrite is actually present. I know they’re false because they drop down to ~20 when nitrite drops to 0.

 

[cdnco2004]

I think you have that backwards. Nitrite can cause false high nitrate readings

lol yes I did flip them

 

[doubtful101]

Its normal for nitrite to take longer. The bacteria that produces nitrate takes longer to divide.

Normal for it to take longer to develop at all or normal for it to take longer to process nitrite? Because they are there, but it takes them an abnormal amount of time to work.

 

[brandon429]

It's that nitrite doesn't matter and you shouldn't own the test kit (not testing for a neutral impact parameter saves your efforts. You can aim them properly when not distracted by cycle concerns)

Sounds harsh I know, but updated cycling science has you focus this much on disease prep for the fish. The cycle is done it didn't matter how long nitrite takes to leave, it's neutral. It only matters in old cycling science


Only the ammonia matters nowadays, its the impacting parameter, and yours is controlled.

The only thing that matters now is your choice of fish disease preps from Jay's forum, all efforts aim there.

 

[doubtful101]

For curiosity’s sake could there still be an explanation as to why it takes so long?

 

[Garf]

For curiosity’s sake could there still be an explanation as to why it takes so long?

Ultra low phosphate levels can slow it down.

 

[Bucs20fan]

Its taking so long because its different species of bacteria that use ammonia and nitrite. You have lots of ammonia consuming bacteria, and less nitrite consuming bacteria. The nitrite bacteria take longer to grow. But all is well, and your tank is cycled and consuming ammonia, which is the dangerous one.

 

[brandon429]

I too would like to know, but I would not accept anything other than hanna digital nitrite reader as worth believing.


api nitrite is accepted by everyone as accurate bc it's the only kit we have making most measures. Their performance with ammonia is not as accepted, we have digital kit options that balance what api has said for 30 years now about how reef cycles work/how fast they are/rebound rates etc. our hobby picks and chooses which kits to believe based on biases.

how can we be convinced any given measure of nitrite is accurate in a given nitrite thread

 

[brandon429]

heck the chemists aren't even sure seneye is giving accurate data for ammonia; the only thing seneye has going for it is extreme consistency in the readings across thousands of tanks. api does not have that, it has the reverse. not that the kit is inherently bad/chemists wield api ammonia like thors hammer
but there are enough procedural confounds with the kit/reading directions/waiting before stating levels and converting to nh3 first/we simply can't trust api across the board in my opinion unless a select few are running the measure.

 

[Bucs20fan]

I too would like to know, but I would not accept anything other than hanna digital nitrite reader as worth believing.


api nitrite is accepted by everyone as accurate bc it's the only kit we have making most measures. Their performance with ammonia is not as accepted, we have digital kit options that balance what api has said for 30 years now about how reef cycles work/how fast they are/rebound rates etc. our hobby picks and chooses which kits to believe based on biases.

how can we be convinced any given measure of nitrite is accurate in a given nitrite thread

The reason is very simple, the bacterial additives we use contain several strains of bacteria, those that consume ammonia, those that consume nitrites, and then nitrates. The ammonia consuming bacteria bloom first, as ammonia is the first food available, then subsequently the nitrite consuming bacteria, and then nitrate. This is why nitrite takes longer.

 

[brandon429]

but you base that on unverified test kits

your recommend is not coming from any type of digital measure set of data I've seen

*only a stalled nitrite reading on a digital meter after day 25 would be handy to know. the cycle charts tell us nitrite isn't ready much before that delay wait time.

 

[brandon429]

I have seen occasional nitrite measures on the hanna device posted by Lasse. he says it runs in the hundredths ppm exchange rate in reef tanks, I found that interesting it was running slightly higher than ammonia turnover, as a constant.


in order to develop pattern data on it we would need a lot more hanna readings vs api ones.

 

[Bucs20fan]

but you base that on unverified test kits

your recommend is not coming from any type of digital measure set of data I've seen

*only a stalled nitrite reading on a digital meter after day 25 would be handy to know. the cycle charts tell us nitrite isn't ready much before that delay wait time.

I dont need a digital test kit to tell me how bacteria grow and reproduce relative to the amount of food around them...you base too much off of digital test kits and have only been around for the last 10 years. According to you, nothing was ever right or scientific till hanna test kits came out.

 

[doubtful101]

I too would like to know, but I would not accept anything other than hanna digital nitrite reader as worth believing.


api nitrite is accepted by everyone as accurate bc it's the only kit we have making most measures. Their performance with ammonia is not as accepted, we have digital kit options that balance what api has said for 30 years now about how reef cycles work/how fast they are/rebound rates etc. our hobby picks and chooses which kits to believe based on biases.

how can we be convinced any given measure of nitrite is accurate in a given nitrite thread

I probably should have specified I use salifert for nitrite… not that it helps too much.