Where are my nitrates?

[Jchillin]

Two days ago, I tested my 75gal's parameters.

[acronym:2525a3c773="Ammonia"]NH3[/acronym:2525a3c773] = 0
[acronym:2525a3c773="Nitrite"]NO2[/acronym:2525a3c773] = 0
[acronym:2525a3c773="Nitrate"]NO3[/acronym:2525a3c773] = 10-20 [acronym:2525a3c773="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:2525a3c773]
[acronym:2525a3c773="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:2525a3c773] = 7.4

I tested today and I now have 5-10ppm. What happened to the nitrates? Are the plants really consuming it that rapidly? Should I pay no attention to this whatsoever? Should I start dosing trates?

thats odd

how many plants you got in there JC?

[Jchillin]

Quite a few...you can see them in my pics.

[An t-iasg]

Plants do consume nitrates very rapidly. I have a few small crypts and a clump of java moss in my 5 gallon betta tank. My parameters in this tank have been 0-0-0 for a long time. I do dose Seachem Nitrogen twice a week. I am going to try to increase my nitrogen dosing about 20% more a week (gradually) and see what that does. Having a better balance on the nitrates will (hopefully!) reduce my amount of nuisance algae.

I realize one betta doesn't produce nearly the amount of ammonia (converted eventually to nitrates) that your fish in your 75 gallon tank produce, but yes, [acronym:14126754fc="In My Experience"]IME[/acronym:14126754fc], nitrates are consumed very rapidly by live plants.

[kaaikop]

I'm far from an expert, but I would also think your nitrates are all taken by your
plants. My tank is 12 days old, needless to say no nitrites/nitrates yet, but even
ammonia is just starting to be barely detectable (after 12 days, and a population
of 36 fish) in other words, the more plants you have, the better for the fish!
It looks like your tank is going just perfect!

[jsoong]

With good light, it's amazing how much the plants will take up... My tank is fairly lightly planted, but even with 6 goldies, the [acronym:7cd3129a77="Nitrate"]NO3[/acronym:7cd3129a77] is undetectable. I've been adding KNO3 to bump up the [acronym:7cd3129a77="Nitrate"]NO3[/acronym:7cd3129a77], and recently have to double the dose to keep a level above 5.

Sometimes I wonder if I even have any biobugs ..... with the plants pulling out the [acronym:7cd3129a77="Ammonia"]NH3[/acronym:7cd3129a77] as fast as the fish is making it, what is the bacteria feeding on?