Tank cycling over a month but Nitrites not going down

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Hi everyone,

 

So my tank has been cycling for about a month and 2 weeks. Ammonia has been at 0 for the past 2 weeks but Nitrites have been constant at 2 ppm. It's a 40 gal with a 20 gal sump with all dead rock. Is it normal for it to take so long for nitrites to go down? Not sure if it's relevant but there's a brown/red deposit on the silicon seals that hold the baffles in the sump.

[seabass]

So what's the nitrate level? If you have nitrate, then bacteria is processing nitrite and it shouldn't be long before it's undetectable.

[GMay]

+1 What they said.

 

Also, it can take cosiderable time for the correct bacteria, to convert NO2 to NO3, to colinize a tank begun with dry rock. Did you add any of the starter bacteria products? Unless there is a founding population you must wait for mother nature to provide you the bacteria from the air or other additions to the tank.

 

Good Luck!