Nitrites are FINALLY DROPPING WOOT!

[TinFury]

Ok my nitrites are FINALLY dropping. It's been so long I forgot my gameplan. When My Nitrites and Ammonia is down to 0 and 0. What do I do next? Should I do a water change immediatly after?

I think the 1st week I'm going to go diving and get all the little animals I need for my cleaner pack. Do you think the below list would be too much at once?

Turbo/Astrea Snail: 25
Peppermint Shrimp: 5
Emerald Crab: 5
Coral Banded Shrimp: 1

[seabass]

just wondering how long did it take for your nitrites to go down I'am kind of in the same boat my tank is cycling right now my ammonia is at o but my nitirites are high.
Tony

[amcarrig]

You still have to wait for nitrates to rise then fall down to "0". After everything drops to "0", continue to leave it alone I'd wait about a week or two after your levels drop before changing water. You can add a cleanup crew during that "down" time though.

As long as you have enough algae for the snails and crabs to eat, you should be able to add that many animals. You'll have to feed the shrimp though but only once every few days.

[TinFury]

seabass well my stuff hasn't fully dropped off yet. Man those nitrites take long to come down. I think it will be on the 7th week flat (this Sat/Sun) I'll reach 0. I didn't have my sand seeded by an established tank or anything.

amcarrig: Yea thanks for the reply. I'll definately drop them in then cause I have a massive brown diatom bloom going on and I want to get rid of all that stuff. I guess the banded shrimp could wait.

[amcarrig]

I wouldn't add a clean up crew until you nitrates rise then drop unless you want a tank full of dead snails and hermit crabs.

[Tangster]

T/F after they drop to zilch nada goose egg or zero then I'd still wait another 4 to 6 weeks But thats me , The nitrates need to get a hold now and runa course. These are not deadly but they need time to build up to the needed levels to finsh the de nitryfing process. What are they reading at ? Oh and don't feed a lot to the tank either..just let it runa bit more.. Nitrits can take up to 50 days to get totaly steady.. I have seen people get in hurry and loose everything with a large spike in Ammonias and nitrites well past 50 to 60 days Thats why I always wait 12 weeks. I never had a problem so i never changed my methods..

[TinFury]

Tang: ok no additional fish. How about a couple corals and my cleanup crew?

[TinFury]

Tang: Oh I mis-read what you were saying. Sigh. I guess no clean up crew then.

[Tangster]

As for some snails and hermits that would be pretty safe to do at the juncture of the cycle. But feed sparingly at best..NO'3are not ll that bad But what I was saying is Ii have seen many tanks hit another ammonia and Nitrite spikes 50 + days into the what was thought to be the end of a cycle and all that was rushed into the tank was toast as for the fish and inverts. But a clean up crew would be OK may even help I usually add them at about 40 days or so I'm getting ready now to add mine to the 180 in the next few days.

[TinFury]

Awesome I'll do that tomorrow then SWEET!