Nitrates too low?

[Lila]

Hi!

I have been searching for hours and haven't found an answer to my question.

I have a 2 month old 10g betta tank, (1 month fishless cycle, 1 month with fish), and so far my ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are doing well -- too well.


I have not done a water change in 3 weeks, and my nitrate is still at 0.

The nitrate almost looks green in person..

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0?
PH: 7.9-8


I have one amazon sword - my only live plant. It was also like this before the plant was added.

Temp is 79-80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Recently, I have had a diatom spike on my driftwood for about 2 weeks without changes (I had one when I set up the tank, it went away but now it's back and relentless)


No big algae blooms besides little brown dots on my plant, I realize it looks like the dots are part of the plant but they are growing off of it -- looks like a form of algae, at first they were white.

The plant itself isn't doing so well but I'm picking up some flourish today to fix that (Someone at my aquarium store said flourish excel would work the same at providing nutrients, after some research clearly they were wrong)


My betta is fine, but they are non-stop glass surfing which is worrying (not flaring, just frantically moving back and forth on all sides of my tank)

What do you think the issue is, and how can I resolve it?

[Andy Sager]

If you are using the API liquid test, you have to really shake up the reagents to get an accurate reading. If you have been doing that, take a sample of your water to a local shop to have them test it to confirm your tests are accurate.

[Colin_T]

If you only have 1 small fish in a tank and it doesn't get a lot of food, the sword plant could be using any ammonia produced and keeping nitrite and nitrate down.

[Lila]

Sounds good, I'll go check at a store tomorrow because I literally shake it for multiple minutes lol

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by Lila

Sounds good, I'll go check at a store tomorrow because I literally shake it for multiple minutes lol

The nitrate test reagents are the only part of the API test kit I have issues with. They have been known to go bad before their expiration date and you really need to shake the crap out of them to make sure anything that came out of solution went back into solution. :^s Other than that, it's rated as one of the best test kits for the home aquarist.

[Caliban07]

All of those leaves will turn yellow, then brown, then melt away. The plant should start sprouting new leaves right at the base when you start with the fertiliser. They will look very different to and all of this is completely normal so if you see the sword leaves die it’s because the sword plant needs to grow leaves that are adapted to be underwater.

[JJenna]

An additional thing to be aware of when comparing your test kit vials to the chart is the lighting you are reading it in. The colors on the chart can be all over the place depending on the light. How many times have people wondered if the ammonia test is 0 or .25? Or for nitrates whether the color in the vial is 20 or 40 ppm? For me, the best light is sunlight with it at my back and holding the vial and chart in the shadow of my body. Otherwise, bright enough light that shines through the tube and onto the color chart.

[Joe_D]

Also for a more accurate reading, hold the vial about a 1/4 inch or so off the card

[Lila]

Just an update to anyone reading:

Diatoms went away, the dots on the plant and the log was detritus -- went away after a gravel vac. I also purchased some phosphate removing filter media because my high levels of phosphate and silicate had been what was causing the diatom blooms.

The nitrate surely is still at 0.. even with extra tests from the fish store, also what was causing the yellow leaves (nitrate deficieny)

I've heard that easy green fertilizer works great at raising nitrates so I ordered that to try it

Betta seems better and all in all everything was a quick fix!

[Andy Sager]

Originally Posted by Lila

Just an update to anyone reading:

Diatoms went away, the dots on the plant and the log was detritus -- went away after a gravel vac. I also purchased some phosphate removing filter media because my high levels of phosphate and silicate had been what was causing the diatom blooms.

The nitrate surely is still at 0.. even with extra tests from the fish store, also what was causing the yellow leaves (nitrate deficieny)

I've heard that easy green fertilizer works great at raising nitrates so I ordered that to try it

Betta seems better and all in all everything was a quick fix!

[Aiken Drum]

Easy green has a decent amount of nitrogen in it in the form of nitrate. It also contains phosphate. Remember that phosphate is an essential plant nutrient too, so using phosphate removing filter media might cause a phosphate deficiency in your plants.

Diatoms is a normal thing in newly established tanks until available silicate from the substrate and surface of the glass gets used up. They normally go away after a couple of months with no intervention needed. You dont know if them clearing up had anything to do with you using the phosphate removing media or whether they would have cleared up anyway.