Nitrites and Nitrates

[rubbaducky92]

I've had a tank up and running for about a month now, lost two fish early so I'm doing a fishless cycle. It's a 5g tank, with filter and air pump going. I've kept the water about 80 degrees however...
My nitrite is off the charts high.
Nitrate is at about 40 ppm.
Rest of the parameters are stable but I can't for the life of me get those nitrites down. Been doing a 25% water change every other day, did a 50% last night. Hasn't helped. Is the nitrites too high for bacteria to even grow? If the nitrates are high... that means there's some colonization going on but... Does anyone have any advice or help for this? A time estimate for finishing this cycle? Should I just dump the water and start over?

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[Goldiegupp]

To lower nitrites, vacuume the gravel until you don't get anymore crud up. You can also scrub down the walls, and do about a 50% water change every day.. If you have no fish now, you may wanna just dump it and start over. Just put in a good water conditioner like Aquasafe and run it for about 3 weeks with no fish at least before getting any fishies.

What kind of fish did you have before they died?

 

[OrangeCones]

My nitrite is off the charts high.
Nitrate is at about 40 ppm.

What is actual readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate now (off the charts is kinda vague)? Sometimes tapwater has nitrates (15-20 is normal where I live in the spring and summer due to farmland upriver from me).

Does anyone have any advice or help for this?

Are you adding ammonia daily to the tank?

 

[FroggyFox]

Sounds like you're trucking along (you have nitrates that are higher than your tap water (they sure BETTER be...don't think I've ever heard anyone say their nitrate is that high in tap water) so that is a good sign)...you should be adding ammonia to the tank if not every day at least every other day to keep the bacteria kickin. (you'll know its working if you add ammonia and there is no trace of ammonia on your kit less than a day later)

I'd just keep on keepin on, no little water changes. The nitrites usually drop suddenly...like literally overnight they'll be in half or less and then the next day they'll be GONE and you'll have a ton of nitrates. If those nitrates get any higher (or if they're on the darkest color on your chart) you can do a BIG water change. Sometimes the nitrites will get "stuck" when everything is super high...but if that wasn't the cause you have to wait for those nitrites to build back up...so an extra dose of patience is in order

 

[rubbaducky92]

Sweet, yeah I've been doing 20% water changes daily and a teaspoon of ammonia every 3 days. Crap still sifts up when I pour the water in so I figure there's still left over food.

Last I checked, 2 days ago, the nitrite was passed the darkest shade so maybe >10 ppm? the nitrate was at 40 ppm. Unfortunately, the test strips don't include ammonia but when I took a sample in to Petco, they didn't say anything about it. Then again... they never told be about cycling and sold me two fish that were too big for my tank -.-

I checked the tap water and aside form chlorine, both Nits didn't show up on the test. In fact, it was perfect other than the chlorine lol

Goldiegup... would vacuuming my gravel destroy the bacteria that's starting to grow? I wouldn't mind cleaning it... I just don't want to start from scratch again lol

 

[rubbaducky92]

Oh sorry Goldie... forgot. I had a pictus catfish and a red tailed black shark.