my amonia levels are low, everything else is ready safe and normal, the water is clear, but my nitrite will not go down, ive even done water changes, any ideas?

Is this a new aquarium that is still cycling? Do you have fish in there? If so, the only resort is large water changes until the level is 1ppm or below to avoid damage to your fish. Adding aquarium salt might reduce stress on the fish if the species you have can tolerate it. The high nitrite stage of the cycle took a while (4-5 weeks) in my case, so you'll have to keep an eye on it. Using Tetra SafeStart helped in my case.

When I was cycling my 10g I had a bad nitrite spike, I would have 5+.ppm after a 50% wc and I went out and bought some tetra safe start and it brought my nitrites down to 2.ppm within 8hrs and down to 0.ppm within 24hrs, I've heard it doesn't work for everybody but it did wonders for me, its essentially a culture of live bacteria the gives your cycle alittle kickstart, you could get. The same effect if you have or know someone with some exrta filter media from an established tank you can put in your tank

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10g- 2 hi-fin fm platys, 3 koi & red wag sword fry
40g Breeder- 6 danios, 4 female swords, 1 male swords
"I was born with nothin and I still got most of it left."- Seasick Steve

Water changes will reduce nitrites by whatever % of water change you perform. So if you only do say, 25%, then they will only reduce 25%. What are your levels at?

Do water changes, clean your filters regularly and correctly. This is the very easiest and most effective. You can also add plants; this requires more work and education. There's another way which is dangerous and controversial so I won't even go into that. Google "anaerobic nitrifying bacteria" if the science interests you.

stop adding food and nitrItes should go down in a few days.



my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden