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Nitrogen cycle stuck in neutral?

April 26, 2017CYCLE Neutral nitrogen stuck

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Nitrogen cycle stuck in neutral?

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Dear Bob, I’ve written before about this subject. I have a new concrete Koi pond (1,200 gallons), epoxy painted. I have a 2,300 GPH Seahorse pump pumping from a skimmer and bottom drain into a Laguna filter/waterfall return. I have 6 small Koi. The Ammonia spiked as expected, maybe even a little earlier than expected given the small fish load and light feedings, but it spiked and then went to zero as expected. Along with the Ammonia going down, the Nitrites went up: To 1.0 (Purple – using an API test-tube test kit) where they remained for 3 weeks. I used 2 lbs salt per 100 gallons to prevent brown blood disease, the fish are active, eating and seemingly happy. 5 weeks ago the purple (1.0) Nitrites became BLUE (.25 to .50 on the API card) where they have remained for the last 5 weeks. No Change at all. Every 3rd time I test, I test the tap water as a control and it is truly 0 (turquoise) and I ALSO test the Nitrates and they remain 0 as well