Nitrate test results

[BowMaster]

Just a quick one here guys. I've been testing my nitrates regularily, but they always come up as 0 ppm. Is this possible, my tank is pretty heavily bioloaded so I find this weird. I've always got this result, I started testing a week into my tank cycling and every couple weeks since I added my fish. It's been almost 5 months now.

Lyle

[WrittenLyric]

What kind of test are you using? Also how old is the test itself?

Sometimes if they're too old they can give false readings. Also dip tests are often very inaccurate.

[BowMaster]

It's an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit #LR1800. I just bought it a little over 4 months ago, but it. I don't know how long it was on the shelf for. I have no reason to expect it was very old. At any rate, it doesn't have an expiry date or anything to that effect on it. What do you mean by "dip test" this one, I have to take a test tub of water from the tank and add two kinds of solution, etc.

Lyle

[plah831]

yeah, you're using a liquid test. "Liquid" refers to the liquid drop reagants. Dip or strip tests are those dry strips of paper that you dip into the water for a second. I hate those. They're hard to read and inaccurate, ugh.

I also tend to think your test may be old or otherwise defective. A reading of 0 ppm doesn't make sense at all.

[Needeles]

Well it could happen but it would depend on a few things. Usally it is hard to get the NitrAte all the way to 0.

Do you have any live plants in the tank?
If you have live plants, what kind do you have?
How big is the tank?
How many fish do you have and what kind in the tank?
How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
How often do you do substrate cleaning?
How often do you clean your filter Media?
What kind of filter(s) do you have?

Let us know this stuff and we can go from there. AC test kits are usally pretty good. If you look on the bottles you will see a lot number, this is also the date the product was made. Look at the numbers and see when it was made.

[BowMaster]

Yes, I have plants. I would say mid to heavily planted. Don't know all the different species. If it is important, than I can look them up.
Here is the rest.
72g
CO2 injected
RedSea Reactor 500 diffuser
Coralife, 260 watt Power compact, w/ 4 X 6700K Bulbs
Cascade 1200, 150g, 315gph, Canister filter
5ml of Seachem Flourish Excel daily
Saechem Flourite substrate
5-10% water change weekly w/ Seachem Prime
Substrate vac weekly
Add 5ml Seachem Stability with any livestock changes or large water changes.

Initial cycling done with Prime and Stability. Cycled in about 9 days.

Fish:
6 Columbian Tetra's
5 Diamond Tetra's
8 Rummynose Tetra's
14 Cardinal Tetra's
4 Torpedo Barbs
8 Octoscinclus
2 Dwarf (Pea) Puffers
3 Zebra Snails
20 Amano Shrimp

4 Columbian Tetra babies Just released to the community :)

Some of my fish/snails/shrimp are not yet full grown. However I don't count my sanils/ shrimp into my length calculation. So, you would think that I should have a higher nitrate count though.

My fish seem to be quite happy, no signs of stress or disease.

Lyle

[plah831]

ohhh, yes, that would explain the 0 nitrate reading. I didn't know you had so many plants! Congrats, though, that means they're doing their job. It sounds like you need to start dosing fertilizers. If you have CO2 going and provided you have enough light (how much do you have?), then your plants are photosynthesizing like the dickens. They need more macronutrients: nitrogen (in the form of nitrate usually), potassium, phosphorus; and micronutrients (Iron, other metals). Flourish makes the entire line of ferts you will need.

What size is the tank? And what kind of lighting do you have again?

[BowMaster]

I have a 72g, about 18" to the substrate with a 260 watt power compact with 4, 6700k bulbs.

Lyle

[plah831]

oh yeah, that's a lot of light so combined with the CO2 and Excel, your plants are hungry for more "food". At that size of tank, you probably want to go with dry fertilizers, as the Flourish liquid line will end up being too expensive. Check out this thread
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12585
Gregwatson.com is a great place to get one's dry ferts I've heard. You're going to need PNK (the macros) and micros, too.

Your plants will thank you! Are they exhibiting any signs of nutrient deficiencies, like yellow or curled leaves, slow growth?

[JimZi]

In case you haven't, make sure you sample, add drops and let it sit for 5 minutes. I've found that it takes a few minutes for the color to show the Nitrates. At first I thought I had no Nitrates.