I have no nitrates?

[AdamHorton]

So it's been about two months I've had this 150G tank: the cycle is completed, since I have zero ammonia and nitrite levels for a while now. Here's the question I have, though:

I haven't done any significant water changes yet, and I still have a nitrate level of zero. It's unquestionably zero at this point since I know it isn't the test kit and it's a clear zero reading. I used to have a whole bunch of algae growing on the sand and I thought that might be taking care of the nitrates, but now there isn't much algae and I still get a zero reading. I have a lot of details in the link in my signature, I'm not sure which are relevant here. Is it bad that I have no nitrates, or should I be doing something?

 

[buddha_red]

having no nitrates is a good thing if your tank is properly stocked and the right size clean up crew is in there, along with proper feeding schedule, you may indeed have very little if any. But the tank is still new so i expect that to change as the tank matures. right now, just make sure to not become lax on water changes, and get a ro/di btw its worth it.

 

[AdamHorton]

OK I understand that I may not have significant nitrate readings now... I guess I'd like to know what could cause there to be no nitrates. I have read about macroalgae that can help, and I was planning on putting some in my refugium/sump when it was needed. Is there anything else that would get rid of nitrates?

 

[buddha_red]

Usually people have to use micro algae in their refugium to lower nitrates yes. Are you using any chemical media in your filtration systems?

 

[AdamHorton]

nope, I have a wet-dry filtration system with only mechanical and biological filtration, and 100 lbs of LR.

 

[austinsdad]

If you've got bio-balls in your wet/dry, you'll see nitrates someday. I'd replace them with rock rubble.

I agree, that if your fish load, feeding habits, and clean - up crew are in order you won't have nitrates I had a 155g and rarely had 5ppm nitrates. Mostly zero.

 

[AdamHorton]

I plan to replace the bio-balls with LR rubble as soon as I'm done adding LR to the tank... I'm starting a rubble collection with each batch I cure. Eventually I'd like to take the bio-tower completely out of the picture and have 200-250 pounds of LR in the display tank do the filtering work, but I don't know if that would get as good of water quality as I'm seeing now.

...My main goal is trying to keep what I have stable for a couple of months so I can start adding corals/invertibrates. I know no nitrates is a good thing I'm just trying to figure out what I'm doing right so I can keep doing more of it.

Thanks for your advice so far.

 

[Zer0]

Actually, having 200-250lbs of live rock in your 150 would be great as far as filtration goes. As long as you have a skimmer running, and you had that many lbs of rock, you would need no other forms of filtration. If i had a 150G tank that's what i would be aiming for as well. Enough rocks in there to keep the tank filtered. Sounds like you have a good plan though from what im hearing. I think you should go through with waiting a couple of months while your tank is stabalizing. Stability is always a plus.

 

[AdamHorton]

So I would *need* a protein skimmer if I had only LR for filtration?

I'll probably end up getting an RO/DI unit soon, but I was hoping to do this without a skimmer, I guess that would be my reason to get one?

 

[match55]

if u don't want a skimmer, get some red mangroves, they r pretty good at getting rid of nitrate, and some other unwant chemical in the water.
but you will have to buy some that already have roots to have imminently effect.
I got 6 and I m waiting for them to grow.
http://saltaquarium.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ/Ya&sdn=saltaquarium&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.athiel.com%2Flib10%2Fmangrove9.htm

link for how to start placing your mangroves

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

So let me get this straight... you cycled your tank, and saw an increase then decrease in ammonia, and an increase then decrease in nitrites... but you have never seen any nitrates show up?

If so, then the only thing I can think of is that your ammonia/nitrite levels never really got too high and the nitrates you have in your tank are not detectable using the test kit you have. API test kits first color change for nitrates happens at 10ppm. So if you're using that, and say have 5.0ppm nitrates, you probably won't see much - if any - of a color change. But it doesn't mean it isn't there. Other test kits have different sensitivities. For example, Salifert kits can read down to 0.1 ppm nitrates.

As long as you saw an increase/decrease in ammonia and nitrites, I wouldn't be too concerned about no measurable nitrates. You'll have plenty of time to get them!

 

[AdamHorton]

I cycled a 150G tank with just a few fish, so the levels wouldn't get too high. The highest ammonia level I saw was 0.5 ppm, and the highest nitrite level I saw was 0.1 ppm, but they are both back to zero now. I never once saw any nitrates during the whole time. My nitrate test kit says it will measure down to 2.5 ppm. I add fish slowly now to prevent a mini-cycle, but for a couple of weeks now the measurements have all been zero.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Well... a deep sand bed (dsb) will help reduce nitrates, but it takes a while for it to get up and running. Even if you have a dsb, in a new tank I wouldn't expect for it to really be doing much yet. With what you're saying, you do have nitrates... that's for sure! They just must be at a point where you can't measure them yet.

 

[austinsdad]

You still only have 50 lbs of rock in there? I'm not getting a warm and fuzzy about the respective increases of ammonia and nitrites you saw. The levels you reported seem very low to cycle a 150g tank with 50 lbs of rock and a few fish as you describe.

Decide if you're gonna keep all those damsels now. You need a lot more rock IMO, and doing so will make 'dem damsels hard to catch. OK, if you decide to leave them in there, and you got a lot more stocking of new fish to do still the damsels can wreak havoc to newcomers.

I haven't read anyting more than your "My Tanks" profile, but if it were me, I'd remove all the damsels, add about 80 to 100 lbs of rock and re-cycle the tank with uncured rock or the raw shrimp method.

But that's just me. I tend to do things with an eye towards trying to get some finality. Somehow, I feel you didn't create enuf ammonia and nitrite to be finished with the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate process.

 

[AdamHorton]

The 50 pounds of LR I started the tank with was cured. I added 50 more pounds this weekend after curing it in my garage, and the only thing I want to do for the next couple of months is add more LR until I have 200-250 pounds total.

I intentionally started the tank with small amounts of rock and fish so that those levels wouldn't get so high, and I understand that I risk having mini-cycles after adding more livestock. I don't plan to add many more fish, I want to focus on corals and just a few types of fish. I actually started a thread about that too:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f14/stocking-150g-reef-120425.html

Everybody says I should get rid of the damsels. I know they can be mean to new fish but I like damsels and the way they interact and I'd like to keep them. I've been able to get some fish acclimated to the tank even with the damsels and it's only a couple that have ever been a problem. I'm not afraid to take those ones back if they continue to be like that.

I started this thread because I was curious why I hadn't seen any nitrates yet, and it looks like I'll end up seeing them soon, even though I haven't seen them already...