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I started my 2.5 gallon no filter Opae Ula tank late 2022. I used distilled water and added salt to a salinity of 1.010 and added bacteria and some fish food. After a month of nothing happening I realised my starter bacteria might have been old and I put in some I freshly bought. Nitrite spike happened early January and now 2 months later nitrites were still of the charts. Suffered a bacterial bloom so temporarily I put in a filter. Did my first water change a week ago but nitrites are still higher than 1 mg/liter. Nitrates are around 20mg/liter. Algae are forming and the wait drives me up the wall.

Do I continue waiting for Godot or do I remove all the water and fill it freshly so NO2 and NO3 will be present in trace amounts and put in shrimp immediately? They should have a low bioload so a spike in ammonia or nitrite will not happen quickly (but eventually?). Could I get away with this while testing weekly and changing water when necessary?

I would let the tank sit now and monitor it, once you get Nitrites to 0 do a huge water change and remove the algae if you want to.