Nitrite will not come down!

Alrighty! So this morning I tested my water parameters of my cycling soon to be 20 gallon long reef tank. It is a little over 2 weeks in its cycling process. This morning my ammonia was at 0, my nitrites were at 5, and my nitrates were at 150+. I posted this on 3reef earlier and fellow members told me that 5 nitrites will delay the cycle and that 150+ nitrates is ridiculous! They suggested doing a 5 gallon water change and rechecking a couple hours later.
I did my 5 gallon water change waited a good 4 hours then rechecked everything. My ammonia remained at 0, my nitrites remained at 5..., and my nitrates were at 20!! Thank God! Now here is my question. How in the world can I start to get my nitrites to start to come down? I really want my cycle to end so I can get my Clownfish!:-X I am heading to my State Baseball tournament next friday and will be back on tuesday. That is 11 days from now. By then will my nitrates be all of the way down? Should I do water changes? If so, how often? Please answer all of my questions if you can. Im tired of posting all of these questions and only getting an answer for 1.
Thanks!

 

are you using your tap water at your house or RO or distilled water?

i had that problem with my freshwater tank. i use home tap water with declorinator and one day did a WC and tested and my nitrites where sky high! it never changed ever. water change after water change. turns out my tap water it self was high in nitrites..... so i have to buy all my water from somewhere else. check your water source! see if what that tests out to be.

 

No, I do not think this is the problem. I am using tap water with conditioner, but I remember testing when I very first started the tank and my nitrites didn't show until a couple of days after my ammonia was high. So that can't be it.

 

As posted in previous threads, please be patient and let the tank cycle, 2 weeks is not enough time.

You can attempt to add some beneficial bacteria like Dr. Tim's One and Only or a product call Microbacter7.

On an earlier thread of yours there was a question regarding the accuracy of the nitrate value and the method of testing. I agree the value you posted is probably an error.

Please resist the urge to rush into stocking a 2 week old tank. It's a hobby not a race!

 

Alright I guess I will be patient. lol Should I still do water changes or no?

 

I would wait and retest tomorrow.

 

The only way to truly cycle a tank is to let it do it's thing. you will have to wait it out

 

so no water changes?

 

It can definitely be frustrating! I would definitely wait things out. LOL besides you got past the daunting part and that is the best part. Forget you have a tank other wise it will just eat at you! LOL

I would agree with the rest of the posts in this forum and that is to let your tank sit. Time is only an advantage to you and your fish! I did want to ask you something though. How did you cycle your tank? Did you introduce shrimp? Did you introduce a pure ammonia source? Also are you running a Live Rock with Sand base or Live rock only? How about sump? I mean i know this might seem like a lot to answer, but there is a lot to making a salt tank amazing! Its also a science but not an art, per sae. Just my $.02

 

Let it be.