No nitrates in established tank?

[dvanv]

Is there anyone else out there who doesn't have any nitrate reading in their tanks?

 

[rich311k]

The only time this usually happens is if there are enough plants growing to soak up the nutrients. Otherwise it is a sign the tank has not cycled yet. How large of a bioload do you have? How large a tank?

 

[dvanv]

The tank (5.5 gal) has been up for a year with 4 dwarf platies. Two tennis ball size clumps of java moss. I use the API testing kit and even got in touch with API to find out if I could find out if the kit had expired and it has not. All was well and very healthy. 20% weekly water changes and a temp of 78.

 

[eah]

This is a bit unrelated (sorry) but it sounds like a really nice setup. Do you have any photos you can share?

 

[An t-iasg]

That is a lot of java moss! I have 5.5 gallon tanks with a betta in each one. My first plant in these tanks was a very small handful of java moss, and even though a betta does not produce a large bioload, I never had a nitrate reading. Java moss is a very good nitrate absorber.

 

[7Enigma]

It's definitely possible you have very little nitrAte in the tank. The moss will soak up the nitrAtes (you have quite a bit in there ), and the rest will be taken care of by the PWC's. Please just make sure you are REALLY shaking the #2 bottle for the duration the directions say. We've had several members have elevated nitrAte readings that due to improper procedure showed no nitrAtes on the test. I doubt this is your case, but I wanted to mention it for others that might be just getting started and have a similar issue without the low bioload and plants.

HTH