How long?
 

How long does it take for plants to use up nitrates in the tank? (It's a 10 gal., nitrates are at about 30) I just added them last night and the nitrates are still high.


So far, in the Comet tank, the plants are hanging in there. A few of the Anachris branches are floating around but most of them are still planted.
We'll see what tomorrow brings.

It all depends as to the speed of growth, which all depends on co2, and lighting available to the plants. But if its high, wisteria will just soak it up.
Even at lower light, I found wisteria to be a nitrate sponge

Thank you. I guess I better go get some then. My fish will be here Saturday. I need those nitrates DOWN.

Does anybody have any information on if Wisteria will work in a Comet tank, or will it get devoured?

I was pretty sure that Anacharis was enjoyed by goldfish as well, but I might be wrong, it's still too early in the morning for me.

In the 75 gal.: So far all the plants are okay. Some of the Anachris and 2 out of 3 of the Anubias were uprooted but I just replanted them. I bought some Wisteria and planted it. I hope this works.

In the 10 gal.: I found a hitch-hiker pond snail crawling around. I put him in the big tank instead. I don't want pond snails in my tropical tank. The Wisteria is too tall for the tank. Can I trim it down? If I plant the trimmed ends will they root and grow?

In both tanks: The nitrates have gone up a bit. They are around 40 or 80. It is tough to tell because the colors are so close.

The sight of one snail might mean that there were snail eggs present. Just hope that there weren't any (unlikely) or else you'll see snails in your tropical tank.

You can trim down the Wisteria and replant the trimmed ends, and they will grow.

Plants can take a little while (sometimes a few days, sometimes more than a week) to 'settle in' after being transplanted, pruned etc. During that time you probably won't see much of a reduction in N since they're not growing much. Once they're established, as SF said it depends on light, ferts and CO2. If you're 'pushing' your plants with high light, ferts and CO2 and the tank is densely planted, they'll soak up N so fast you'll need to supplement it.

I'm wondering if I have a defective test kit. The nitrates are still very high, but it reads the same for all three of my tanks. It is Aquarium Pharmaceuticals brand, and I heard that they are pretty reliable. I am following the directions. How should I get a second opinion? The only pet stores in my area are Petco and All Pets Club. Both have pretty lousy staff.

NO3 kits can be unreliable and do expire. I've got a kit that's never read anything but 5ppm since the day I got it.
Many LFSs will test your water if you take them a sample, and if you bought your kit recently and find it's expired/defective they may replace it for you. I use Nutrafin test kits - they come with expiry dates, the NO3 kit doesn't involve any shaking or crushing tablets and I've always found them reliable and easy to read.

Thank you,Blinky. I'll have to find a Nutrafin kit. In the mean time, I'll try to tie down somebody at the pet store to see if they can/will test my water for me.