How long does it take the nitrite to lower the ammonia levels in an aquarium?

The Bacteria you are cultivating in your tank Drop the Nitrite to zero. The ammonia is just food for those bacteria. After the ammonia eating bacteria grow and eat the ammonia the waste they produce is Nitrite. Then another separate bacteria grows and eats the Nitrite and turns it into Nitrate. That's when you tank is done cycling when the Ammonia and Nitrite levels are at 0 And you have Nitrate present in the tank.

All the safe start is doing or not doing ( there is lots of debate in the fish world whether or not that stuff works) is adding bacteria to the tank to help establish a colony to eat the waste Products. Keep on adding the ammonia right until the day you are done cycling and keep testing for all three things. ( Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate) When you get to Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - 0 And Nitrate 20- 40 ppm then your tank is cycled. Do a water change and add fish. Good Luck

It takes about a week for each stage, so your looking at at least two weeks from this point.

I use to breed cichlids and you need to change the water, not just treat the water. do a partial water change every month (depending on population and size of tank) cichlids produce large amounts of ammonia compared to other fish, and I have never lost any fish from my method. I did a 3/4 water change every month refill, let temperature adjust to living conditions, then I treated the water and let trickle filter do the work of mixing the water treatment. Many fish are more sensitive to their environment than many cichlids however, so the species of fish is an important thing to add with your question. Another question i have is why do you have such a high ammonia level? It is very possible that you have overcrowded your tank. Also it is important to know what kind of species you have mixed together. Many species of fish don't mesh well with others due to habitat, alkaline needs or temperament. In my experience, if you have an ammonia problem after only a week you have overcrowded conditions, or you don't have the proper filtration. Best thing to do is get a book about the specific species you have from a pet store or the internet and find out how much space they need and what type of water they live in.

first of all nitrite doesn't lower the ammonia in a tank the bactria in the filter does that. safestart is made to put in a tank when you first set it up. it will need to run for a min of 2 weeks but could take up to 6 weeks plus. what you need to do is keep doin water tests every few days. what you will find is that the ammonia will go to 0 but the nitrite will go up, then it will start to drop and the nitrate will rise when this happens you will need to do water changes to remove the nitrate then ur ready for your fish. but remember dont add to many at one time because you can overload the filter and your fish will become ill and die.

hope this helps

Ok well my tank had a similar problem, and the way I fixed it was just doing water changes each day for a while, as well as adding some live rock, because that's a natural filter. But i guess that depends on your type of tank, mine was a salt water reef so live rock worked, but it obviously wouldn't work in a fresh water if that's what you have. :) hopefully this was helpful. Good luck!

it can take months for your filter to become established, best thing to do is regular water changes. if your ammonia is over 0.025mg/l then you need to be doing a 25%-50% water change a week and add a bacteria to boost your filter. also when cleaning your filter do it in the old tank water! most stores will give u advice and test your water for free so jus go to them and they will be able to give u good advice hopefully but if it is only a trace of ammonia it should clear within a couple of weeks!

if you haven't treated the water with water conditioner and have a filter with some sort of bio material in it than the answer is never. if you have those then it can take up to eight weeks depending on the ammonia level to begin with, what you are using to cycle the tank and the temp of the water.

Normally it takes a month and change, but you are behind the curve as the nitrite should show up the 2nd week, and nitrates at the 4th week,

http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

PS- Safe start and the like are mostly useless.