Nitrite level won't go down!!

[adzlovesu84]

We have a 300 gallon system that we set up 7 weeks ago..we have about 200 pounds of dry rock that we used in the sump...we added raw shrimp and then a bottle of bacteria...we had a really high ammonia spike the first 2 weeks or so and them after that our nitrite level is through the roof..that was 4-5 weeks ago and it hasn't gone down since...not sure what else we can do..I didn't think it would take this long..any suggestions?

 

[Dalmatia]

Keep feeding the tank, your bacteria need food to live and thrive

 

[adrianthetwin]

I think you should wait a bit more I had that same problem a couple weeks ago I'm a newby to this hobby my nitrites aren't going down for like 1month and couple weeks so what I did was just bought live rock like 4pounds of it I swear the dat I put it in like 2 days after they went down to zero abd nitrates blew up and went down too and now I just put my clean up crew to clean up you might wanna try that if you want I only did it cause I was tired of waiting but maybe it might work for you

 

[ingtar_shinowa]

took my 125g 5 months to cycle its nitrites. Ghost Feed (pinch of flakes every day) until its done. Wasted a bunch of money on bacteria in a bottle.

 

[Pete polyp]

Time..... 7 weeks from the time you set up with dry rock isn't bad. With the amount of rock and the size of the system I would be feeding the you know what out of it. Just feed it, give it time and let it do its thing. This is what happens when you use dry rock instead of live rock. I have read all about this bottled bacteria and it seems like complete snake oil. Nobody seems to have a shorter cycle than usual with it. It could take another month before the tank is cycled for you.