No Ammonia, Nitrite or Nitrate showing...

[queuetue]

Remember me? 29 gallon, heavily planted tank. Attempted fishless cycle, no ammonia showing, no nitrite, no nitrate to speak of. Introduced two platties, never showed any activity but a barely detectable amount of nitrate.

After 6 days with two plattys, I added a pearl gourami and three corys. Waited 24 hours, still 0/0/0 ... If I press myself, I can make beleive there is a barely perceptible amount of nitrate, but really there probably isn't.

Am I cycled? Is it the plants sinking the N, and soon they will be full, causing a spike of some sort? When do I do water changes - I thought they were based on nitrate buildup. Is this too many question for one post?

 

[Blueiz]

Sounds as tho you are going through a silent cycle and the plants are keeping your parameters at 0.

As far as water changes, nitrates can be used as a guide, however as you see in planted tanks if you use nitrates as a guide the plants will skeew it because they use nitrates. In this case you have to determine what maintenance schedule is good for your tank. By doing water changes you reset your tank so to speak by removing all the nasties and adding back in beneficials. I reccomend once a week, or once every other week for water changes. I wouldnt go more than 2 weeks in between.

 

[bushwhacker]

i'm with blueiz, once a week or every 2 weeks no more than that i do a 35 to 50% water change on my tanks

 

[jaylin]

Sounds as tho you are going through a silent cycle and the plants are keeping your parameters at 0.

As far as water changes, nitrates can be used as a guide, however as you see in planted tanks if you use nitrates as a guide the plants will skeew it because they use nitrates. In this case you have to determine what maintenance schedule is good for your tank. By doing water changes you reset your tank so to speak by removing all the nasties and adding back in beneficials. I reccomend once a week, or once every other week for water changes. I wouldnt go more than 2 weeks in between.

What she said. The plants will take care of most of the icky nitrogen products but they will also use up all the micronutirents in the water. These need to be replaced even if you're using ferts.

 

[jpappy789]

Yes, blueiz said it well. Just keep an eye on the params if you add any more fish.