How necessary to test for nitrates?

[brendainnj]

Hi all, I am currently in about week 2 or 3 of our first fishless cycle. We have had tanks before, but my husband always took care of them. He is not too keen on the idea of the fishless cycle, since he's anxious to get something in the tank! (plus it's something new)

So...we currently have a 46gal bowfront with a few plants in it. I've been adding Flourish excel (as per lfs) for the plants. One died already--can't remember name of it, except it was tall grassy type. The others seem to be holding up well. Pool sand for the substrate.

The ammonia levels seem to be consistently dropping over the past few days so today I did the first nitrite test. This was about a half hour after bumping the ammonia back up to 4ppm. The nitrite is currently @ .50. However, I don't have a nitrate test in my kit. It's a API Master kit from probably 10 years ago, and it doesn't contain the test for nitrate. To purchase just this test is $11, so it's kinda pricey for one test.

Is it necessary both now (during cycling) as well as for maintaining the tank?

Thanks!

 

[jwh0818]

Go on amazon or eBay and buy a new kit. Your kit is probably expired if its 10y.o. new full kits are 20$

 

[ScotJudd]

At the end of your cycling your nitrates will be very high and you need to know when you have diluted to well below 20 before adding fish. Then you need to know when to WC and dilute nitrate as part of your routine maintenance.
My view is that you need to monitor Temp, Ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, Kh and Gh as a basic starting platform.

 

[threnjen]

I wouldn't trust the kit if it's that old anyway. Like JWH it's only $20 or a full kit on Amazon. You absolutely need a nitrate test, but I wouldn't drop $11 on it as you really need the full kit.
I agree with ScotJud and would also add on the API GH/KH test which is only a few dollars.

 

[brendainnj]

Sorry, I'm a little dated...

Thank you...kind of a "duh" moment realizing that yeah, chemicals from 10 yrs. ago might be a little out of date. Ordered the new set from Amazon, should be here tomorrow! I think I will be taking over much of the tank care as my husband said it wasn't necessary to test for nitrates, that's why our kit doesn't have it. It does make me curious though--why didn't the kit have it? It is an API Master test kit.

Again, sorry for the dumb ?, if I know that I have hard water already, isn't that what the above mentioned test is for? (GH/KH).

 

[Delapool]

Probably nitrates weren't invented 10 years ago lol. Now I know all these extra chemicals and sleep much less soundly at night wondering if a shade of colour should be compared on a white or dark background