Where'd Nitrates go?

[straick]

I'm doing a fishless cycle on a 10 gallon tank with an AquaClear 20 filter without the carbon in it. Thursday night, I took my readings, and they were ammonia at .25(dosed back up to 4), nitrite 2.0, and nitrate 40. I also threw in some flake fish food that I pulverized to a powder to keep some ammonia going over the weekend. Just got home tonight, and my ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, and somehow my nitrate is down to 0. The pH is 8.0 and the temp is 76F. I did the nitrate test twice thinking I somehow made a mistake, and it cam out the same both time. There are no signs of algae, and no live plants in the tank.
What happened to the nitrates? I thought that without plants the only way to remove them is to do a PWC.
Thanks in advance.

 

[fort384]

yes, your assumptions about exporting nitrate are correct.

Either this current reading is false, or the reading you took previously was false.

What test kit are you using, and how old is it? Are you using a liquid titration test, or a dip strip?

 

[eco23]

That is definitely odd. If you told me nitrIte had dropped to 0 but you had nitrAtes I'd be congratulating you on finishing your cycle. I'd bet a nickel you're using test strips. Without plants, the nitrAtes couldn't have disappeared.

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[straick]

I win your nickel eco23. I'm using an API Master Freshwater kit. The test kit isn't even a month old yet. I Dosed it back up on the ammonia, and am going to test everything in another 30 minutes or so, see what happens.

 

[Crepe]

Did you shake the bottles and test tube well? Also, how deep is your substrate? What filter media are you using?

 

[straick]

I shake the bottles and testtubes everytime, and for a count of five everytime. My substrate is gravel, about 1-2 inches deep, and my filter media is everything that came with the AquaClear that I'm running except the carbon. I'm saving that in case I ever do need it, but I don't want to rely on it for keeping the levels down.

 

[Deckape]

Hey aren't you supposed to share the nitrate tube after both part 1 and 2 for one minute, not 5 seconds. That is.what I bet my nickel on.

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[Crepe]

That's not long enough mate. You're going to shake bottle 2 of the nitrate test for 30 seconds and the tube with tank water, reagent 1 and reagent 2 mixed up for 1 whole minute. I know it's a pita but it's what makes the test workable. The solutes in the reagent 2 aren't very...soluble and need to be shaken. The reaction won't happen unless you shake all three components together.

It should come up as soon as you do it.

Here's a tip: the caps on the test tubes api makes aren't very water tight. Wrap it in a paper towel before you shake.

And at the above person, it's just bottle two and the test tube that needs shaking. I swear this is true: My parents almost made a big fuss when they walked in my room with my arms furiously going at it in my lap. I had to show them what I was doing before they'd get off my case. Mortifying then, hilarious now.

 

[eco23]

Hey aren't you supposed to share the nitrate tube after both part 1 and 2 for one minute, not 5 seconds. That is.what I bet my nickel on.

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You're right. It says to add solution #1, mix solution by inverting several times (aka...shaking). Then you shake solution #2 vigorously for 30 seconds, add and shake for one solid minute. That stuff doesn't like to mix, you've gotta really go at it.

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[Deckape]

We may get to 7000 posts before we know it fellas. Hope that helps

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[Deckape]

That's not long enough mate. You're going to shake bottle 2 of the nitrate test for 30 seconds and the tube with tank water, reagent 1 and reagent 2 mixed up for 1 whole minute. I know it's a pita but it's what makes the test workable. The solutes in the reagent 2 aren't very...soluble and need to be shaken. The reaction won't happen unless you shake all three components together.

It should come up as soon as you do it.

Here's a tip: the caps on the test tubes api makes aren't very water tight. Wrap it in a paper towel before you shake.

And at the above person, it's just bottle two and the test tube that needs shaking. I swear this is true: My parents almost made a big fuss when they walked in my room with my arms furiously going at it in my lap. I had to show them what I was doing before they'd get off my case. Mortifying then, hilarious now.

That is a gut buster! I can't sstooppp laughing

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[eco23]

If you read into it enough...I'm not sure you're talking about testing water at all. The test tube thing is starting to sound like a metaphor, lol.

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[Deckape]

Sure is! !!

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[eco23]

I have so many jokes...it's almost worthy of getting my post reported.

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[eco23]

Am I at least allowed to quote Michael Scott and say...that's what she said? That's not too far, right?

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[Deckape]

Not for me....let us know about the nitrates after a proper shake!

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[eco23]

Not for me....let us know about the nitrates after a proper shake!

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And after you test the water.

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[straick]

Still not as I high as I expected, but it found them. I must have misread the instructions. Nitrates are now at about 30ppm. Feel a bit stupid for misreading those instructions, but at least I learn from my mistakes.
For those caps, I didn't seem to have a problem with it sealing, I just kept the cap squeezed onto the test tube the whole time while shaking.

 

[WendiDell]

Here's a tip: the caps on the test tubes api makes aren't very water tight. Wrap it in a paper towel before you shake.

OMG!!! All this time I thought it was me. I thought I was doing something wrong that made the caps leak.
Thank you so much for that simple mention, eases my mind a great deal.

 

[eco23]

Still not as I high as I expected, but it found them. I must have misread the instructions. Nitrates are now at about 30ppm. Feel a bit stupid for misreading those instructions, but at least I learn from my mistakes.
For those caps, I didn't seem to have a problem with it sealing, I just kept the cap squeezed onto the test tube the whole time while shaking.

If your ammo and nitrItes have dropped to zero in that short of a period...cycle complete (possibly)! How long has it been going?

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