Nitrites, Nitrates, Seachem Prime and all that other good stuff

[bizfromqc]

As some of you may know, I've started setting up a 25G that I will try to setup as an SA biotope.

I started "cycling" the tank a good 3-4 weeks ago with 3 zebra danios (slowly but surely). Been feeding them flakes lightly every two days. All has been well except 1 danio kicked the bucket after about one week in the tank (reason unknown since all params were good).

Readings since then had been 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite and 0ppm nitrate meaning the cycle hadn't started yet. I keep the temp at 26C (a little high for danios but these little guys are tough and it's going to help with bacteria colonizing) and PH right around a nice 7.0. I was also doing a 50% weekly WC even if all params were at 0 to keep the danios happy.

I also recently switched to using Seachem Prime instead of AquaPlus for conditioning water.

Well 2 days ago now, I noticed the danios seemed a bit "mellower" and less active so I tested the params and I got this:
Ammonia: 0.1ppm
Nitrite: 1.6ppm
Nitrate: 50ppm

So my cycle definitely started, so I immediately did a 50% WC, treated with Prime and the fish seemed happier right away.

Tested the params again last night and this time I got this:
Ammonia: 0.1ppm
Nitrite: 3.3ppm
Nitrate: 110ppm

Did about a 75% WC, again treated with Prime.

Fish all seem OK this morning again and will test water when I get home tonight. 

I guess I should mention that I am using the Nutrafin Mini Master Test Kit for checking my parameters.

So here are my questions:

1) I heard that using Prime may trip some test results. Is this so and if so, how/what?

2) My test kit manual says that high Nitrite may interfere with Nitrate readings, is this why my Nitrates are showing up that high? Both test colors (Nitrite and Nitrate) came up almost identical. With my knowledge of the Nitrogen cycle, I think I shouldn't really get a really high reading of Nitrate since the cycle is probably not completed yet and there's not enough bacteria to convert the Nitrite to Nitrate yet. So can I safely assume that my Nitrate readings are off?

3) I plan on adding some media from an established filter to help the cycle along, any ideas how long I'm going to have to deal with high Nitrites?

4) Should I keep with my 50-75% Daily WC regimen as well as using Prime until the Nitrite goes down and my cycle completes?

Thank you everyone for your input. Sorry about the verbose post 

Eric

[exv152]

As for prime affecting your nitrate results, I read the opposite. See the question posted on their website about the use of prime and how it affects nitrites and nitrates, last question on this link.  http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime.html
I recommend fewer but frequent WCs during the cycling of a new tank; the percentage of the water change is really up to you, but I'd say whatever it takes to keep the fish healthy & to keep you newly established beneficial bacteria alive (higher nitrates/nitrites reduce oxygen levels which kill BB). Also, during this time your water changes should really only be the removal of water, and not the siphoning of gravel or scrubbing of the glass because you want to allow all the bacteria to colonize any surface in your tank. Also, if you manage to keep the pH below 7 the ammonia turns into ammonium which is far less toxic to fish. I wouldn't worry too much about the nitrate readings, although they can be lethal as well, but the ammonia and nitrites are the most toxic to your fish, but super high levels are also bad for beneficial bacteria (oxygen).

[bizfromqc]

Thanks for the link, although I was more concerned about how it might affect the ammonia reading and not the nitrates (as I'm pretty sure they're off anyways and mostly irrelevant at this stage of the game).

I've got fine silica sand in there now and not siphoning it all, it does move around when I put water back it but that's just because I'm doing it a bit too fast (I dont have any aquascaping in there yet so I dont mind moving the substrate around a bit to speed things up).

So I guess it's just a waiting game from this point on, I'll keep up with the WC and hopefully with the addition of established media in my canister filter, I should see things settle down in a couple of days.

Interesting point about the pH and the ammonia/ammonium. I was pondering at maybe adding peat granules in the canister to tint the water/lower the pH a bit so maybe I'll do that now...

Eric

[exv152]

Check this out regarding water changes and cycling http://www.firsttankguide.net/cyclechange.php

[bizfromqc]

Check this out regarding water changes and cycling http://www.firsttankguide.net/cyclechange.php

That just confirms that I'm doing the right thing, good.

[touchofsky]

Adding a chunk of media from your existing healthy filter will really speed the process along.  I generally keep an extra small aquaclear with a couple of sponges running on one of my established tanks just to a) have an extra cycled filter handy in case one of my other filters fail, and b) in order to have extra sponges to use to quickly cycle a tank.

You can also add a few handfuls of established gravel in an old piece of nylon stocking.  This helps things along, too, but I generally just use the filter media and it works well.

[smalltownfan]

Used filter media and a few handfuls of substrate with some mulm in a filter media bag hanging in the tank can cycle a tank in a week using the ammonia dosing system. Hasn't failed me yet.

[bizfromqc]

Good idea.

I just thought about it and I have a sponge pre-filter that's been sitting in my cycled 10G for many weeks now. That thing must be loaded with good bacteria and I don't really need it in my 10G anymore.

I'll put it in my canister filter with some substrate from that tank in a nylon bag and also put that in there.

That should give the cycle a boost. Especially now that I know half of the good stuff is already in there (ammonia to nitrite), I just need the last part of the cycle to kick in (nitrite to nitrate).

Eric