Nitrate crash?

kooter

kooter

AquaMan
Dec 14, 2003
701
13
18
Mission, BC
I just got over an ick treatment using salt, got rid of the ich, did a 40% water change every week for 3 weeks and now back to my regular 25% water change every week. Everything seems fine except my nitrates are now at 0? They are usually around 20ppm. I just checked parameters, they are 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, pH is 6.8, nitrate 0. My inhabitants and plants are in my link below. I also have a little "haze" to the water I haven't had before, not green, just a whitish haze.
My plants did get a little ragged during the salt bath, would they be using all the nitrates to get healthy again?

any help would be appreciated.

thx.
 
I get a whitish haze to my 20 gallon when I do a water change and add back in water that is a bit cooler than the tank water. Did you happen to just do a water change? Usually this fades for me overnight.
 
How old is your test kit?
 
My test kit is about 5yrs. old. I did add water but the cloudiness from the water usually dissappears within minutes. I add water probably every 2 days just to top up, then do a weekly 25% change. (No hood on the tank).
 
you're test kit is too old, get a new one with fresh chems...that's why you're getting 0's
 
Test kits have a shelf life of 1 year. Depending on the manufacturer, it's either 1 year from the day on the bottle/carton or the expiry date is printed right on it.

Regardless, your stuff is 4 years too old.

Roan
 
I should of mentioned that my test kit was 5 years, (yes I will replace it), but my nitrate test kit is only 2 months old. I was getting 20ppm 2 weeks ago, now 0ppm.?
 
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