Nitrites and Nitrates Through the roof

Hahnbrad25 · Mar 5, 2013

Hey, so I just started a 10 gallon nano that has been running for about 3 weeks. I have been monitoring the chemistry and everything has been fine and i have also been doing weekly water changes. I ordered 15lbs of uncured nano live rock and I have it curing in my display tank because there is nothing in there. The live rock has been in the tank for 3 days now and I checked my chemistry yesterday and Ph was 8.1, salinity is 1.024, ammonia was 0, and nitrites and nitrates were completely maxed out on the charts. So I performed a 30% water change yesterday and checked it again today and nitrites and nitrates were still maxed out. I was wondering if I need to perform a bigger water change or to let it cycle itself until the nitrates and nitrites fall. Im sure is it because of the large amount of rock in the tank but I over estimated the amount of live rock so I am just curing all the rock in the tank and I will probably remove the excess rock and do something different with it. As far as filtration I have a aqua clear 50 and two 250 Koralia nano powerheads. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Brad

SloppyJ · Mar 5, 2013

How long has the rock been in the tank? This is normal. It's part of the nitrogen cycle. Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate. So the fact that you have no ammonia is good but since you still have nitrites that haven't converted means you don't have enough nitrobacter (Specific bacteria that converts nitrite to nitrate). You're doing the right thing just keep patient and keep doing water changes.

Hahnbrad25 · Mar 5, 2013

The rock has only been in the tank for about 4 days now, but i suppose my question is should I just do water changes weekly or every time the nitrites spike like they are doing. Also, are 30% water changes acceptable or should I step it up to 50%?

SloppyJ · Mar 5, 2013

You still have a while to go. I'd let it be right now. The nitrates aren't hurting anything and you're just wasting time and money swapping the water. But that is my opinion.

I just started a new tank and it's been cycling for 3 weeks now. I still haven't done a water change. When I have no more nitrites I will start to gradually swap the water out to get my nitrates down to an acceptable level over a period of 2-3 weeks. I like to go slow and steady though and keep testing before I add livestock.

T.W. · Mar 5, 2013

I started my 20 gallon tank 3 weeks ago. Today my Ammonia is 0, NitrItes are 0 and NitrAtes are 10 and I still haven't done a water change, although that's coming by end of next week. I agree you should let the tank ride through the cycle. You want a healthy Biological filter for stability.