Nitrite not moving

[Ironwood]

Hi, I set up a bare bottom Qt tank five weeks ago. I put in a raw shrimp which has since decayed. Initially the ammonia level went up to .5 with the Nitrite and nitrate being 0. A couple of weeks went by and the Ammonia went down to .25 and the Nitrate started to climb, Nitrate still 0. Now for the last week and a half the ammonia level is 0 , nitrite level is at 5ppm and nitrate still 0. Does that sound right? it seems like the nitrite level is stuck at 5ppm.
Since I have this tank in my basement in a room that has my furnace ect I was thinking that there wasn't enough oxygen in the air and too much c02 (read this somewhere on this site) so I put in an air stone and kept the door open but it still hasn't budged. Seems very strange to me.

[redfishblewfish]

What does your QT tank look like.....do you have live rock or an HOB filter with filter pad on this tank? You need a place for the bacteria to hang out. It just can't be an empty tank with no place for the bacteria to do their thing. I prefer my OT's to be tanks with pipes and an HOB filter. The filter pad supports the bacteria need to do the ammonia to nitrite to nitrate.

[Ironwood]

What does your QT tank look like.....do you have live rock or an HOB filter with filter pad on this tank? You need a place for the bacteria to hang out. It just can't be an empty tank with no place for the bacteria to do their thing. I prefer my OT's to be tanks with pipes and an HOB filter. The filter pad supports the bacteria need to do the ammonia to nitrite to nitrate.

It is a 20 gallon QT tank with a aqueon filter. Besides the filter pad I added some fluval biomax rings from the beginning. Also PVC pipes/elbows for places to hide.

[jayball]

I had the same problem in my QT. I took a rock from my sump and put it in the highest flow area of the QT and that finished the cycle overnight. I did leave it in the QT and am prepared to sacrifice it if I need to medicate in QT.

[Ironwood]

I had the same problem in my QT. I took a rock from my sump and put it in the highest flow area of the QT and that finished the cycle overnight. I did leave it in the QT and am prepared to sacrifice it if I need to medicate in QT.

I'll try that. thanks

[Ironwood]

Well I have tried putting live rock from my display tank in the QT tank and the Nitrites are still stuck at 5ppm. I really don't understand why this is happening. Over the weekend I picked up more live rock and put an air stone in the tank but it still hasn't changed.
I do have this tank in my furnace room, is it possible that the furnace is taking up most of the oxygen in the air? I know that I have read that before.

[bertoni]

I'd try testing some RO/DI water with the nitrite kit. It should read zero. There might be a testing issue involved.

[Ironwood]

I'd try testing some RO/DI water with the nitrite kit. It should read zero. There might be a testing issue involved.

Thanks for your reply. I have have tested it before and I just tested it again and the rodi water is at 0 my display tank uses the same water and it tests at 0. It doesn't make sense to me. I think I'm going to change all of the water and see what happens. I have changed a 1/3 of it before and it still measured high. Thanks

[bertoni]

Hmm, let us know how the tank goes after the water change. With the nitrite that high, I might do the same.

[Ironwood]

Hmm, let us know how the tank goes after the water change. With the nitrite that high, I might do the same.

I changed 90% of the water in the QT tank Wednesday night and tested tonight. Ammonia 0 nitrite 1ppm , nitrate 5ppm. Hopefully it's doing something.

[jminick2]

well if you have nitrates then its doing something......It was taking so long because you had no source of phosphorus in your tank which is needed to convert nitrite to nitrate efficiently, when you added the rock you probably brought some in which is why its picking up now. Old school cycles which is what you were doing before you added the rock take FOREVER. Just my .02.