No Ammonia No Nitrites No Nitrates

[shesacharmer]

I have a new tank which is 27 days old and a local fish store that never advised me about new tank syndrome when I purchased my gear (29 gallon tank) and 20 fish the same day! I was so happy I bought more fish the next day...you know where I'm going with this don't you?

Half the fish died the first week and more the second week. I've done tons of research and gotten the ammonia and nitrites to zero with partial water changes. Added Stability daily for two weeks, added a second filter, and an air pump but still have zero nitrates...tank still has 19 fish and live plants which are growing. 78 degrees. I can see brownish biologic on the leaves so it seems like something is happening...how do I encourage nitrates at this point?

 

[Mebbid]

The most likely thing is that you are doing the test improperly (assuming you have a liquid test kit. If this is the API liquid nitrate test kit then you need to add 10 drops of bottle #1 to the vial with 5ml of water. Shake the vial for 5 seconds, shake bottle 2 VIGOROUSLY for 30 straight seconds, add 10 drops of bottle 2 to the vial, shake the bottle VIGOROUSLY for a straight minute.

It needs to be done this way to properly mix the crystallized reagent to get the color you are supposed to have. Generally, if you don't do the test properly it will read at 0ppm.

 

[shesacharmer]

I set the timer to ensure adequate shaking time and this time I discovered you are absolutely correct! It turns out that the reading is actually much closer to 30 ppm than zero! Thank you for the swift response.

 

[Mebbid]

You're welcome! glad I could help

 

[jwh0818]

That would mean your tank is cycled then. Good job!!! I would do another test for nitrates just to be 100% positive

 

[Grumble69]

I started off with a planted tank (no fish at the time). The tank cycled very quick and my tests were 0-0-0 too. I slowly started adding fish so I wouldn't create a mini cycle. But they were small and didn't contribute much to the bioload at the time. And I was recently at 0-0-0 because the plants are taking up all the nitrates. I've added macro & micro fertilizer to my routine now.

So anyway, I just wanted mention that you could have 0s across the board (even with good shaking)--depending on how your plants are doing, number of fish, and whether you are fertilizing or not. High nitrates are obviously bad, but 0 is not good for the plants either.

 

[jwh0818]

I started off with a planted tank (no fish at the time). The tank cycled very quick and my tests were 0-0-0 too. I slowly started adding fish so I wouldn't create a mini cycle. But they were small and didn't contribute much to the bioload at the time. And I was recently at 0-0-0 because the plants are taking up all the nitrates. I've added macro & micro fertilizer to my routine now.

So anyway, I just wanted mention that you could have 0s across the board (even with good shaking)--depending on how your plants are doing, number of fish, and whether you are fertilizing or not. High nitrates are obviously bad, but 0 is not good for the plants either.

In order to achieve 0 nitrates in a planted tank, you would need more plants then what a tank could hold and yes plants utilize nitrates so I would definetly a an NO3 source.

 

[Mebbid]

In order to achieve 0 nitrates in a planted tank, you would need more plants then what a tank could hold and yes plants utilize nitrates so I would definetly a an NO3 source.

That's not necessarily true about hitting 0 nitrate in a planted tank. I have to continuously dose my nitrates to higher levels despite having an overstocked tank just to keep it from bottoming out. It took forever to get there but it isn't impossible.

 

[Grumble69]

I think it was because I had no fish and no ferts. I had a separate 10g tank that I was cycling and I was able to watch the progression of ammonia -> nitrites -> nitrates in it, ...which I'm glad because I was worried about testing error with those 0s.

 

[ScotJudd]

Zero nitrates doesn't sound likely but in my heavily planted tank with about 30 fish I never get a reading above 5, the plants must be utilising the nitrates.
Personally I would prefer to see a reading of some kind to prove the cycling is working.
Interesting thread though.

 

[PJFISH]

The most likely thing is that you are doing the test improperly (assuming you have a liquid test kit. If this is the API liquid nitrate test kit then you need to add 10 drops of bottle #1 to the vial with 5ml of water. Shake the vial for 5 seconds, shake bottle 2 VIGOROUSLY for 30 straight seconds, add 10 drops of bottle 2 to the vial, shake the bottle VIGOROUSLY for a straight minute.



It needs to be done this way to properly mix the crystallized reagent to get the color you are supposed to have. Generally, if you don't do the test properly it will read at 0ppm.

Thanks for that advice! I'd always get zero readings, just retested now and got a reading in the 5 range, it's kinda hard to tell the difference between the shades of orange! It was lighter orange anyway! Is that safe?

 

[ScotJudd]

It can be difficult to tell the difference between the orange shades. It can depend on light direction etc. it poss take it out side and put the test tube against the white strip in the test card.
In any case - any light to mid orange is good. You can easily see if it is edging towards the red end of orange or worse!

 

[PJFISH]

It can be difficult to tell the difference between the orange shades. It can depend on light direction etc. it poss take it out side and put the test tube against the white strip in the test card.
In any case - any light to mid orange is good. You can easily see if it is edging towards the red end of orange or worse!

That's what I thought, thanks for the help!