Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates

[bobbykurva]

I set my tank up about 3 weeks ago, and the cycle was proceeding without any problems. Then last weekend, I put in a couple of plants, (Bananna plant and onion plant). Well, my Nitrites plummeted over night (0 ppm), and the amminia is still reading about (.50 ppm) and Nitrates (5 ppm). Is this something I should be worried about?

[carpguy]

Plants prefer ammonia, don't use nitrite at all, and like nitrates. So I don't think its the plants. I'd re-test.

Are the Ammonia and Nitrates steady, rising, falling?

.5 ppm Ammonia can be dangerous. I'd try to keep it at least below .25 ppm with water changes. Do you know your water temp and pH?

Tank size?

Fishload?

[Karnaaj]

Do a 25% to 50% water change to get your ammonia down and keep monitoring. Don't worry about the nitrites showing up as zero.

[bobbykurva]

Plants prefer ammonia, don't use nitrite at all, and like nitrates. So I don't think its the plants. I'd re-test.

Are the Ammonia and Nitrates steady, rising, falling?

.5 ppm Ammonia can be dangerous. I'd try to keep it at least below .25 ppm with water changes. Do you know your water temp and pH?

Tank size?

Fishload?

I have a 29 gallon with 4 tiny zebra danios and 3 black tetras. Water @ 76-77 with PH 7.1 . Ammonia and Nitrates are steady. Nitrites just fell over night.

[oztun]

Nitrites 0 is great... .5ppm ammonia is just borderline, my guess is your tank hasn't finished a full cycle yet (since you said still reading i'm assuming it has never been < .5ppm). Nitrates 5ppm is ok, but of course you should do weekly water changes even though your plants will use some nitrates.

[bobbykurva]

Thanks for your help everyone. I will continue with the water changes and hope for the best.

[Faramir]

I imagine the plants have started sucking up the ammonia so there's less to convert to nitrite.