no nitrates?

[Paulcm10]

so i haven't tested my tank in a while and i just now did.
everything is normal as usual except for nitrates.
is it a bad thing to have zero nitrates? what does it mean?

 

[Barakis]

so i haven't tested my tank in a while and i just now did.
everything is normal as usual except for nitrates.
is it a bad thing to have zero nitrates? what does it mean?

Yeah that's pretty bad to not even have a trace.

When was your last water change and what %?

What are your other levels?

 

[BBradbury]

No Nitrates

so i haven't tested my tank in a while and i just now did.
everything is normal as usual except for nitrates.
is it a bad thing to have zero nitrates? what does it mean?

Hello Paul...

You just need to get some plants into the tank. I would remove half the water in the tank and pot some aquatic plants. Get some small, 3 inch, plastic pots and put a little pea gravel in the bottom. Put in some miracle gro organic potting mixture, say an inch or two and put in the plant. Top off with more pea sized gravel and carefully lower the pot into the tank water.

Just make sure you have the right lighting for the plants. Put in several pots depending on the size of the tank. Just fill the tank with treated tap water.

The potting mixture should get you the nitrates you need.

Just a thought. I have a lot of potted plants in my tanks and the water chemistry is very stable.

B

 

[Barakis]

Hello Paul...

You just need to get some plants into the tank. I would remove half the water in the tank and pot some aquatic plants. Get some small, 3 inch, plastic pots and put a little pea gravel in the bottom. Put in some miracle gro organic potting mixture, say an inch or two and put in the plant. Top off with more pea sized gravel and carefully lower the pot into the tank water.

Just make sure you have the right lighting for the plants. Put in several pots depending on the size of the tank. Just fill the tank with treated tap water.

The potting mixture should get you the nitrates you need.

Just a thought. I have a lot of potted plants in my tanks and the water chemistry is very stable.

B

You don't want to increase nitrates, they are a bi product created by your bio system. No nitrates isn't an issue in itself, but is a symptom of a bigger issue, normally resulting in ammonia spikes.

 

[Paulcm10]

Yeah that's pretty bad to not even have a trace.

When was your last water change and what %?

What are your other levels?

um i did a water change the other day. it was a small one too cause my water started getting cloudy again.. =/
i only have RCS and MTS in there at the moment. i can't put any fish cause i still have some plants coming in. so theres not much hiding places.
my other levels are
ph 7.6 or 7.7
ammonia 0ppm
and nitrite 0ppm

 

[Paulcm10]

Hello Paul...

You just need to get some plants into the tank. I would remove half the water in the tank and pot some aquatic plants. Get some small, 3 inch, plastic pots and put a little pea gravel in the bottom. Put in some miracle gro organic potting mixture, say an inch or two and put in the plant. Top off with more pea sized gravel and carefully lower the pot into the tank water.

Just make sure you have the right lighting for the plants. Put in several pots depending on the size of the tank. Just fill the tank with treated tap water.

The potting mixture should get you the nitrates you need.

Just a thought. I have a lot of potted plants in my tanks and the water chemistry is very stable.

B

yeah i actually have some plants in there but i am still waiting on some to come in.
i have one small java fern, one big java fern, xmas moss, 2 anubias nana, and some microswords.

 

[Paulcm10]

You don't want to increase nitrates, they are a bi product created by your bio system. No nitrates isn't an issue in itself, but is a symptom of a bigger issue, normally resulting in ammonia spikes.

so what do i do?
to get my nitrates back up again?

 

[EriksFish315]

To have nitrates you need fish waste to be converted.

 

[Paulcm10]

To have nitrates you need fish waste to be converted.

yeah i figured that.. but how do i do that with just shrimp and MTS? cause if i put fish in there my shrimp might get eaten. lol

 

[Barakis]

yeah i figured that.. but how do i do that with just shrimp and MTS? cause if i put fish in there my shrimp might get eaten. lol

judging by the ammount of plants you have and the bioload of shrimp, might be normal for YOUR tank to only have trace of nitrate even 0, I don't think you have enough bioload to keep up a decent BB colony, hopefully someone else will come along to confirm.

perhaps consider getting a pleco of some sort, they can be fed on either the algae in your tank or algae wafers, and the smaller ones will only attack your shrimp if they fall ill or die. this might be enough to boost your bio load and maintain a decent cycle.

just a thought

 

[Paulcm10]

judging by the ammount of plants you have and the bioload of shrimp, might be normal for YOUR tank to only have trace of nitrate even 0, I don't think you have enough bioload to keep up a decent BB colony, hopefully someone else will come along to confirm.

perhaps consider getting a pleco of some sort, they can be fed on either the algae in your tank or algae wafers, and the smaller ones will only attack your shrimp if they fall ill or die. this might be enough to boost your bio load and maintain a decent cycle.

just a thought

That does sound like a good idea. I was thinking some ottos?
If so how many should I get for a 20g?

 

[Barakis]

That does sound like a good idea. I was thinking some ottos?
If so how many should I get for a 20g?

if i'm totally honest, i know nothing about ottos, but if i remember correctly groups of atleast 5 thrive.

this question needs someone elses input though

 

[Paulcm10]

Oh okay thank you for your advice!