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Hi everyone

My ammonia is now 0 and has been for about a week and the nitrites are v high (doing regular water changes)

question:- How long does it take for the nitrites to spike and return to 0

I have looked at the various graphs etc but just wondered what everyone else has found

Ta

MarkX

hi Mark, welcome to FishProfiles

IMO the answer to your question is... "depends" sorry about that!

It depends on things like how quickly your bacterial colonies can get established and how robust they are. It depends on stocking levels, cleaning habits, type of filter and probably a lot of other stuff!

I hope somebody else can be a little more precise...

About as long as it took for your Ammonia to spike and go to 0. You're half way through.

Have fun, Mike

IME, it took ammonia forever and ever to spike before nitrites took over. The nitrites only lasted a few days before turning into nitrates. I'd say you're 2/3 of the way there

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Back in the saddle!

HI Mark and Welcome to fp.com

Are there fish in this tank or are you doing fishless cycling? If there are fish, what kind do you have in there and how many? What is the tank size?

If there are fish, I'd recommend adding just a small amount of freshwater aquarium salt as it will help them through this phase. It inhibits nitrite uptake into the bloodstream. I don't want to specify how much until I see what you have in the tank.

Also, are you using a bacterial starter? If you are using BioSpira, Cycle, Stress Zyme, Fritz Zyme-7, or any other bacterial starter, it should go faster for you whether you are doing fishless or not. The numbers generally do not go very high at all when using these products, if used at the beginning. When used after the cycle has started it can reduce the numbers faster. BioSpira is tops, but harder to find.