patrick Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 So my Nitrate is now at zero. The highest I ever had was 15ppm and then it dropped to 10 and finally 5. It has been stable at 5 for about a month and a half but a couple of days ago it was non-detectable - 0. How can this be? It's not like I am complaining, it's great, but still.... I only have a few vallisneria and a couple of hornsworth in the tank. I know anaerobic bacteria takes care of nitrate but they require an oxygen free environment. I am thinking that maybe they have established in the Tufa rocks, just like they would in a SW tank? Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 How many fish do you have in what size tank? Hornwort is a super plant for eating up the nitrates. Maybe your nitrates are all being used by the hornwort and the vallisneria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 How many fish do you have in what size tank?Hornwort is a super plant for eating up the nitrates. Maybe your nitrates are all being used by the hornwort and the vallisneria. I only had 4 julies and 5 Xeno's. I added 13 small cyps yesterday though but what difference that makes wont be detectable yet for a while I guess. I only have about 4-5 small hornwort. The tank is 75 gallon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 How old is your nitrate tester? I read somewhere that a zero nitrate reading could be an indication that your test kit is past its prime. Just a thought... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 How old is your nitrate tester? I read somewhere that a zero nitrate reading could be an indication that your test kit is past its prime.Just a thought... Yes I thought of that as well. I have two kits, but this particular one is only a few weeks old. The other kit is a few months old and shows the same result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 With a small enough bio-load, a large enough tank, plants, and regular water changes, 0ppm is certainly attainable. I suspect that as your cyps mature you'll be back up to the 5-10 ppm range in due time, which is certainly a very healthy range for any tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 With a small enough bio-load, a large enough tank, plants, and regular water changes, 0ppm is certainly attainable.I suspect that as your cyps mature you'll be back up to the 5-10 ppm range in due time, which is certainly a very healthy range for any tank. Yes, the bio-load has been very low, and I am very picky with not feeding too much, and also do 10% water changes 1-2 times a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.