Question on cycling
- Thread starter Steve34k
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bluprntguy
Well-Known Member
That's actually what you want to see. Converting the ammonia to nitrate happens pretty quickly, eliminating the nitrate is a slower process.
The fish is living in ammonia. You need to neutralize it using prime daily until your ammonia is down to zero. Prime converts the ammonia to ammonium, which is less toxic to the fish. The bacteria can still consume the ammonium.
I was told in the chemistry forum by Randy that hobby grade test kits will give a false high nitrate reading if there is nitrite present in the water. I had a similar issue where I dosed ammonia via dr Tim's method, and after dosing ammonia once my nitrate was at 30! I was stumped. After Randy's response I waited until my nitrite tested at 0.00 and sure enough my nitrate made more sense and tested around 5-10. My nitrite was .5 when I got the 30 nitrate reading.
Marco S
Always Learning
Thanks for explaining that. I have personally only used Bio Spira and Fritz Turbo 900 and have not run into any issues with high Nitrite or Nitrate yet, but that is good to know.
