# Fishless cycling high nitrites, high nitrates



## wafb (Jul 13, 2010)

Hi everyone. I am knew to aquariums and I need some help… 

Ok…I am currently in the process of fishless cycling a 5 gallon aquarium. I got seed gravel from LFS and started ammonia (ACE Hardware) at 5ppm. The ammonia came down over 5-7 days and my nitrites started showing up (spiked). Now at day ~12 my nitrites are >5ppm (off the chart) and my nitrates are >100ppm. 

I am only dosing my ammonia up to 2ppm since the initial drop. Why do I have sky high nitrates without any drop in my nitrites? Do I do a PWC or just leave it alone and let it run its course. I don’t want to inhibit growth of the nitrite converting bacteria by the high nitrites/nitrates.

Thanks for any suggestions. I appreciate the help! J


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## Adastra (Jun 18, 2010)

I had a similar issue, I did a partial water change to bring down the nitrites into a readable range and then quickly added ammonia up to 4ppm. Make sure your water is aerated and that your heater is up to about 85 degrees, this will speed up growth.


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## FloridaBettas239 (Jun 29, 2010)

From what it sound's like to me is you dont have, None or enough good bacteria. Because it need's to go ammonia into nitrite into nitrate. And your ammonia levels and nitrite levels should be 0 Its okay to have nitrate, Not to much but some..

You need to get some bacteria supplement and add some...


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