New to planted tanks & have a question!

[Mokomon]

I have a 55 gal, pretty heavily planted, cycled tank.
I've always had a nitrate reading anywhere from 5-15 until yesterday when my reading was 0.

Could someone enlighten me as to why it's suddenly 0, and how I should proceed please?

BTW, I have 96 watts, no CO2, or ferts other than fish poop :)

[Mokomon]

Oops!

I forgot to add this pic taken not too long ago :)

[Mokomon]

Nobody? :(

[rich311k]

Take the test again. Nitrate tests can be a pain. If it is 0 then you need to add ferts, 0 nitrates will lead to cyano and other algae.

[Mokomon]

Yay!
Thanks Rich!

[fishorama]

Nice tank! Is this the tank with the crazy growing water lettuce? Lots of growth can use lots of nitrate.

I sometimes get 0 nitrates in a tank & it's prone to cyano. I don't use ferts consistantly :o but have some NPK tabs (& iron/micros tabs) that help the forgetful. I'm thinking I may try dry ferts (or just stump remover for KNO3) at a low dose rate.