gimmethatfish
Aquarium Advice Activist
I'm just curious. Anyone know how heavily planted a tank has to be to have 0 nitrates? I thought it was like SUPER heavily. I tested this morning and got 0/0/0. I haven't done a water change since Monday.
I haven't gotten a nitrate reading on my work desktop tank in a month. It is a cycled, filtered 4 gallon tank with 1 betta and 2 nerite snails. I do 50% water changes twice a week (which I know might be excessive, but I'm paranoid about any smell in the tank because it's in an open cubicle at work). I have 1 large moss ball, 4 tallish stalks of moneywort, 1 floating stalk of hornwort, and a medium sized anubias. I wouldn't consider it heavily planted - although the moss ball is easily 3 inches in diameter. Maybe that's it?
I'm using the API freshwater test. It's actually a brand new kit that I have had about a week, and I have shaken the living snot out of that #2 bottle for nitrate tests, so I think it's accurate. I haven't really gotten any ammonia or nitrite readings since I set up the tank (all the filter media and gravel was from a well established tank), but I have gotten low levels of nitrate until lately. Just curious what everyone else has observed about nitrates.
I haven't gotten a nitrate reading on my work desktop tank in a month. It is a cycled, filtered 4 gallon tank with 1 betta and 2 nerite snails. I do 50% water changes twice a week (which I know might be excessive, but I'm paranoid about any smell in the tank because it's in an open cubicle at work). I have 1 large moss ball, 4 tallish stalks of moneywort, 1 floating stalk of hornwort, and a medium sized anubias. I wouldn't consider it heavily planted - although the moss ball is easily 3 inches in diameter. Maybe that's it?
I'm using the API freshwater test. It's actually a brand new kit that I have had about a week, and I have shaken the living snot out of that #2 bottle for nitrate tests, so I think it's accurate. I haven't really gotten any ammonia or nitrite readings since I set up the tank (all the filter media and gravel was from a well established tank), but I have gotten low levels of nitrate until lately. Just curious what everyone else has observed about nitrates.