How long to convert nitrite to nitrates? Help with tank water!?

Question

My tank is still cycling as its only been with fish for about 3 weeks. I have 4 african cichlids and an aglae eater.
My ammonia levels are going down and my nitrites are peaking which I know is normal. But they are REALLY high and Im worried about my fish. How long will it take for these harmful nitrites to turn into nitrates?
My levels are 0 ammonia, about 5.0 in nitrites and about 40 in nitrates.
I know it should be soon since the nitrates are high as well, but how long until my nitrites go down? I was advised to not do a water change until the cycle is completed. Please help before I lose my fish! Thanks!

Answer 1

Just be patient. Sounds like you're doing it the right way and the best option at this point is to just let nature take it's course. The product "Cycle" might help, but I wouldn't waste my money on it if I were you. It's expensive, and I can tell you from past experience, it doesn't seem to speed things in the least. Some people claim it helps alot, but for the money you'd pay for a bottle, I don't think it's worth it on the off chance that it MIGHT shave a few days of the process.

I'd also have to disagree with the poster that said do not do more than 10% water changes for fear of changing the pH balance. It's true that fish don't like fluctuating pH levels, but if you've done nothing to lower your water's pH already, there's no reason why adding water from the same source you filled your tank with will change the pH drastically enough to bother the fish. The information you were told about not changing the water is completely false. You need to do at least a 25% water change immediately... I'd recommend a 40% change. A 5.0 nitrite level is bordering on lethal. Without a water change very soon, your fish will start dropping like flies.

The nitrite level should start dropping in the next few weeks. Could be later this week, could be next month... it's different for every tank. All you should do is keep testing, and keep changing the water whenever you see the nitrite level get over 2.0 or 3.0. Changing 25 to 50% of the water will not disrupt the cycling process, it WILL save your fish, however.

Answer 2

Nitrite To Nitrate Conversion

Answer 3

Start with a master drop kit, AP is good. For basic you need the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate, PH. Drop kits are more accurate then strips. Monitors are very spendy, and even then, you'd still need more then one. Those will range up in the 100 up bracket each depending on the monitor. Gh & Kh, and add in a salt level test kit also. You'll have to get a 02 test kit online though, but its also handy to have. A inch a gl is very outdated, some of the tropicals get too big for that even. Its better to go with more info in regards to species and how big they get fully grown then to rely on that old rule. It takes 6-8 weeks for a tank to cycle in, and depending on the species of fish, some can't handle salt, while others can, same with meds. Then you may be needing to salt dureing the Nitrite phase to offset brown blood disease , do check and go through this on a good board with the folks who know! Then you'll be monitoring & changing frequently, do use a good binder/dechlor such as prime, I would also recomend looking for a product called Bio Spira, its the actual bio bugs, the rest of the so called cyclers are a waste of $. If the readings are high, WC (water Change, at least 50%, bind the ammonia!) Nitrite is generally (check with a board and the experts to help you with your species) and salt to 0.1% (check first) thats 1 tsp per gl. Cycles done when you get 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite. And Nitrates are ok from 40 ppm and under. The lower the number there the better of course but is only harmful longterm in the 80's and over.

Answer 4

It is a very misguided belief that one should not do water changes during a cycle.

The myth: If you do water changes you will stop the cycle

The reality: If you do water changes it decreases the toxins, but doesn't eliminate them, which means the cycle still goes on as normal. By doing water changes you may just save your fishes lives. Always do water changes during a cycle if you want what's best for the fish, even if it prolongs the cycle a tad.

It's a shame that the easiest solution for cycling is always overlooked. Anybody can go ahead and add living bacteria to their tanks and shorten or skip the cycle altogether. How? By taking filter media, like foam, or gravel from a tank with a UGF, and placing this into your own filter.

By doing this you are quite literally adding healthy bacteria of both types. If you add enough, you may find the cycle becomes instant. Ever since I learnt this, a long time ago, cycling has become a non-issue for me. If you have a friend with a tank, get them to help you out with this, or if not, ask the fish shop - any one that wants your business again will help you out with this. And this is much more effective and reliable then any bottled bacteria, and cheaper too. Transport the filter media in a bag with some aquarium water too keep the bacteria alive.
Try it - you won't regret it and will be happy you learned it.

Answer 5

The lenght of time is definetly not set like it will go two more weeks and then bang it drops. It could be another week, it could be another three weeks, it's really hard to say. But that you've cleared out of the ammonia stage is a very good thing. My Nitrite elevations lasted about 17 days before they bottomed out, and was pretty consistant across three tanks, 75, 20 and 15 gallons respectivly. The key here is to keep doing what you are doing and be patient. Now at 5.0 thats rather elevated, and I'd reccomend you doing about a 20-40% change in water. I wouldn't go so far as a 50% change at this point but do a pretty large one to get those levels down. Use water changes to keep the levels out of the lethal range for now and just keep doing what you are doing. Be patient.

JV

Answer 6

You can try adding some "Cycle" or a similar product to the tank to help things move along a little bit faster. I'm not really totally convinced at it's effectiveness over just the natural cycle timeframe but others say it does help and it certainly can't hurt. Really there isn't much else you can do. I agree with no water changes until your cycle is complete. That ends up being self-defeating. I would avoid adding any other fish and be careful how much you feed and depending on the tank size you should see the nitrites dropping soon enough. Cichlids tend to be pretty hardy so hopefully they will all survive! Best of luck!

Answer 7

It takes about three weeks for the Nitrobacter colony to grow. You should probably start doing 10% water changes every day until the Nitrite numbers go to 0. This will slow down the cycle,but if you don't get the Nitrite numbers to start going down you will begin losing fish. I am a great believer in "fishless cycling" it's faster than cycling with fish,it doesn't require any water changes (until the cycle is complete),and it doesn't require that fish be kept in toxic water. It is definitely not as cruel as cycling with fish in the water. The disadvantage is that the aquarist doesn't get to put fish in the tank as quickly,of couse most of these first fish die pretty quickly.
Do not do water changes greater than 10%,the rapid change of pH caused by larger water changes can kill fish.

Answer 8

for a new aquarium to cycle completely can take up to 2 months and its better to just leave no fish until its cycled completely anyways to spped up the nitrite to nitrate conversion buy a couple of hardy plants I cant think of names right now but ask the people at the pet store that will also speed up the cycling process

Answer 9

What I've done that works, is to get 'Cycle'. It's a natural bacteria that you can get in a bottle from Walmart. It speeds up the change. Hope this helps, my tank is cycling too, and Im in the nitrite stage too.

Answer 10

and with an acid and u will geta nitrate within 5 sec