Still no nitrate in my upgraded tank!

[TheFragile]

It's been about 2 weeks now maybe? And my water tests are still all 0 which is so strange to me.

5 corydoras, 6 neon tetras, 5 colored skirt tetras in a 20 gallon that I upgraded from a cycled tank. I am running my old filter with my new filter at the same time.

Ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0, nitrates are 0. Ph is 6.8. I am ecstatic that I have no ammonia but it seems odd that everything is 0.


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[coralbandit]

You are shaking reagent bottles properly??

 

[TheFragile]

Oh yes. I even set a timer to make sure.

I just checked again and it looks like I finally have a nitrate reading. 5.0 ppm. Yay!


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[ScotJudd]

Glad you now have nitrates.
Is your tank heavily planted, they can sometimes take up the first nitrates produced and you only get a reading once the nitrate production exceeds the plant take up.
My tank is heavily planted and when I go away the fish are on minimal feeding. The nitrate reading when I return is often less than when I went away. Sure sign that I normally over feed.


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[TheFragile]

I only have 1 live plant in there. Plan on adding more though.


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