Day 23 Nitrite appearing

[Moomin]

Hi

My better half has come back to the hobby after 20 years, we bought a 165 litre tank and added 5 guppies after testing the filter/heater was stable for 2 days. We used Stability on recommendation from the LFS who actively encouraged adding fish with it and dosed according to the instructions. We did the first 20% water change on day 7. Here is some more detail of how it's gone so far:

Day 3 and 5 and 6 - trace of ammonia
Day 7 - partial water change (20%) and added Stability
Day 8 - added 6 Harlequins and 1 bristle-nosed catfish and added Stability
Day 9 - female guppy swimming very wonky (moved her to hospital tank, she survived another 4 days but progressively her swimming got worse and she ended up almost bent double so she was euthanized - don't think this was water quality related, she was being harassed the evening before by one of the male guppies). Added 6 glowlights and 3 cories. Added Stability
Day 10 - 14 - trace to 0.25mg ammonia
Day 14 - partial water change
Day 16 - 0.25 mg ammonia
Day 17 - 0.25/0.5mg ammonia (between the 2 colours on API test kit) so carried out 20% water change and added Stability and Prime (for the first time - had been using a different conditioner)
Day 20 - 0.25/0.5mg ammonia so changed 20% water again and added Stability and Prime
Day 21 - slight trace of ammonia
Day 22 - added 6 dwarf neon rainbowfish. That evening, the Harlequins were actively spawning and the guppies rapidly eating the eggs they laid so they must be pretty happy!
Day 23 - First trace of nitrite so changed 20% water and added Stability and Prime
Day 24 (today) - 0.25 ammonia and 0.25 nitrite

The pH has been stable at 6.8 after initially being 7.8 when we first set it up (it dropped after 3 days). No nitrates detected yet, tank well planted. Temperature at 24 degrees, water is soft and all the fish are very perky and well coloured. No signs of distress.

I am getting nervous now the nitrites are showing. Should I dose every 48hrs with Prime directly into the aquarium and try to stay with one partial water change a week? I've read so much conflicting advice about water changes and the potential for them to slow down cycling if you do them too often, but I want to keep our fish safe:) I know Prime binds to make nitrites 'safe' but up to what level?

I am only dosing Stability now on water changes or when adding new fish. Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Tech Support EH]

Hi Moomin,

Welcome back to the hobby, and thank you for using our products! As you know, the amount of time that it takes for a tank to fully cycle varies from tank-to-tank. It looks like you are in pretty good shape and are progressing in the cycle properly. I would not be afraid to do a weekly water change (maybe 10-20%).

I would continue adding Prime directly to the aquarium for the entire water volume every 48 hours until the cycle is complete, in order to keep those nitrites in a detoxified state and therefore unable to harm your fish.

Best of luck to you, and please let us know if you have additional questions. Have a nice holiday!

[Moomin]

Hi, I thought it might be useful for others to hear how the rest of the cycle went with our tank.

We had small nitrite levels (about 0.25 using the API liquid test kit) since my last post every day until day 34 when they completely disappeared to zero. So in all, about 10 days of 0.25 nitrite and we used Prime every 48 hrs during that time along with weekly 25% water changes and had absolutely no problems with our fish; they are all bright and healthy!

Levels have been zero for ammonia and nitrite since day 34 (we're now on day 52), even after adding 9 neons on day 44 (a week ago now).

We'll continue using Stability on water changes/new additions and Prime as the conditioner on water changes. Fantastic products that really work. We followed the instructions religiously and I have nothing but confidence in them and thoroughly recommend them (and no, I have nothing to do with Seachem!)

[Tech Support HK]

Thank you so much for that wonderful feedback! We are all hobbyists ourselves at Seachem, and we believe in providing the best products possible; products that will make aquarium keeping simple and fun :)