cycling issues

[987klb]

Okay, so I started a new 20gal freshwater tank, doing a fishless cycle (started this on 7/31/11). Got some dirty gravel from my sisters established tank and everything. Tested my water yesturday morning and bam! Results were:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 160ppm

So my sister goes, yay, now do a 90% water change to lower your Nitrate to 20-40ppm, and then you should be ready for fish.
So I do the water change and I dose it with prime and retest my water. My ammonia went to 1ppm! So I realized I must have Ammonia in my tap water, so I tested that and indeed I do. So I do a double dose of prime. This morning I test it, and I got:
Ammonia .25ppm
Nitrite 1ppm
Nitrate 30ppm

Why did the Nitrite come back? Im going crazy!

[utsadude]

I love having well water.

Free bump.

I say dump some feeder goldies in there and see what happens.

[aquabee]

Okay, so I started a new 20gal freshwater tank, doing a fishless cycle (started this on 7/31/11). Got some dirty gravel from my sisters established tank and everything. Tested my water yesturday morning and bam! Results were:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 160ppm

So my sister goes, yay, now do a 90% water change to lower your Nitrate to 20-40ppm, and then you should be ready for fish.
So I do the water change and I dose it with prime and retest my water. My ammonia went to 1ppm! So I realized I must have Ammonia in my tap water, so I tested that and indeed I do. So I do a double dose of prime. This morning I test it, and I got:
Ammonia .25ppm
Nitrite 1ppm
Nitrate 30ppm

Why did the Nitrite come back? Im going crazy!

It's been my experience that the Nitrospira (that convert nitrite to nitrate) are fairly delicate. One huge water change and they go a little nuts.

Here's what worked for me last week in my 125 gallon-- Go buy some Stability (by Seachem) and dose accordingly. Test your water in 24 hours. It should look perfect. Do a water change if you need to drop your nitrates. Add fish. Dose the maintence dose of Stability daily for 7 days and you should be fine. I even did a complete substrate change 2 days before adding my new baby Moba frontosa, and everyone is doing fine. Water parameters are brilliant.

Stability has worked for me every time since I started using it. The theory is that the bacteria in there are in spore form and that they germinate when in your warm aquarium water. And Houston water does have about 1 ppm of ammonia but it also contains Nitrosomonas (ammonia to nitrite) in small amounts, which is a good thing for us tank-fiends.

Good luck ok? Since you already went through a fishless cycle, you should be just fine 24-48 hours after using Stability. It's just a matter of building up enough bacteria PLUS keeping them alive and well-fed til your fish come. Use the Stability, then get your fish a day later. Trust me, a number of people from this forum recommended this to me and it totally worked.

[987klb]

Thank you so much! sorry for sounding dumb but...whats the difference from stability and prime?

[Geral]

trust me you dont need , those chemicals for cycling fresh water never had to use them just wait the bacteria to build up (drop some food time to time when u do the cicling so the bacteria can build up) or better get some media
already used from other tank or some tank that u know is good,

[aquabee]

Thank you so much! sorry for sounding dumb but...whats the difference from stability and prime?

LOL that's not dumb, a lotta people have that question. Prime is a dechlorinator and ammonia-detoxifier (of sorts). Basically it's meant to remove chlorine, chloramines, and possibly some ammonia. Stability is for your biological cycle... it does not remove chlorine/chloramines and is said to actually contain bacteria in spore-form. Prime has no bacteria/spores in it.

[cichlid1409]

stability is bottled bacteria and there are several different kinds on the market I like 'stress zyme'. prime is a dechlorinator.

[aquabee]

stability is bottled bacteria and there are several different kinds on the market I like 'stress zyme'. prime is a dechlorinator.

I've used it too. But sometimes StressZyme can increase your ammonia levels transiently, which I haven't seen happen with Stability.

[987klb]

I actually do have stress-zyme and used it for the first 1.5 weeks of my cycling..so you think I should add more bacteria/spores in there even though the nitrites are showing up again on my testing?

[danielp]

Take some seed from an established tank throw in a few giant zebra danios and let nature take its course.

[utsadude]

Like I said, feeder goldies.

Cheap, expendable, big poopers, bacteria farms.

[987klb]

I did get some gravel and a little water from an established tank like the first day I set up, I should do that again?
Can you ever have too much Bacteria?

[aquabee]

I actually do have stress-zyme and used it for the first 1.5 weeks of my cycling..so you think I should add more bacteria/spores in there even though the nitrites are showing up again on my testing?

That's what worked best for me. All the options that people have suggested so far will work, and I've tried them all also over the years. I've just never seen anything else work so quickly and smoothly as Stability does. So take your pick and good luck! :) Let us know how things pan out.

As far as too much bacteria is concerned... it's possible to have blooms and stuff, but Stability (when used as directed) shouldn't cause that. Sometimes people see cloudy water but it's not known to be harmful when controlled. Just leave your lights off as much as possible while you're adding Stability and most importantly, add your new fish slowly so as to not overwhelm the system.

[987klb]

Okay yall thanks again, Im sure Ill be back!

[utsadude]

For the record, I wasn't saying any of the before mentioned methods were wrong/bad. I'm just cheap and patient. Lol.