No Nitrates Yet?

[creoguy]

I've got a 20 gallon high freshwater tank that's been up and running since 1/5/08 and has had fish since 1/7/08. I did a complete water change and swapped out the gravel on 1/23/08 and dosed the tank with Bio-Spira. Added more fish on the 26th. I got a very minor spike of Ammonia (0.25) and Nitrite (0.1) for the first couple days but nothing since the 1/26/08. I have yet to see any Nitrates on my API tests. Any idea why I haven't see this yet?

I treating my tap water with Prime and haven't done any PWC since 1/23/08 when I added the Bio-Spira.

Stocking List:
6 - Cardinal Tetra's
6 - Panda Cory's

Tank Spec's:
Temp - 77˚
PH - 7.0
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.0
Nitrate - 0.0

[jm1212]

is the tank planted?

[creoguy]

Just a few plastic ones. Here's a pix before I added the Panda Cory's...

http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/1198/img1277ch5.jpg

[Mgamer20o0]

if your doing the test right maybe the frequent wc's are keeping at a non readable level.

[creoguy]

As far as I can tell I'm doing it correctly.

Fill tube to mark, add 10 drops of solution #1, shake tube to mix, shake solution #2 for 30 seconds, add ten drops of solution #2, shake tube for 1 min and let sit for 5 minutes...

I'll run a sample down to the LFS tomorrow after work and see what they get. Want to get my Bolivian Rams but I'm not gonna risk them by stocking the tank to quick! Wasn't sure if Prime would be effecting the reading with it "detoxifying the nitrates"

[Rbishop]

Doesn't sound exactly correct to me. Are you shaking up the bottles of test solution prior to their use?

[livingword26]

The API instruction card shows to shake the #2 bottle for 30 seconds. If you do not shake the bottles up well for this test, you will not get accurate results.

[Coler]

^ yup...30 sec at least on bottle 2 before adding, then 1 min at least on the solution, then wait 5 min for results.

[creoguy]

So it sounds like I'm doing it correctly so it may be that they haven't gotten to a readable level yet. I'll just continue to keep and eye on it and see if they show up.