so im attempting the fishless cycle in a planted tank all all seems to be going fairly well but ive started getting some odd numbers on my tests. ammonia is 0, i can dose it to 3ppm and 12 hours later its at 0. nitrite is down around 1ppm. nitrate on the other hand was around 20 so i did a 25% water change and now its at like 3ppm and hasnt moved in a few days. it seems odd to me the nitrates could stay so low. i know that bacteria is working on the nitrites as its slowly going down but it doesnt show up in the nitrate levels. also the dropping off of the nitrite levels seem to be taking forever. its been at 1ppm for like 5 or 6 days.
ive been wondering if mabye the plants have somthing to do with this. could they be using all the nitrates up and some of that ammonia? i have a 29 gal tank with 3 big hornworts, 2 small crypts, 3 bunches of bacopa, and a medium sized lotus. all are growing fairly rapidly and im worried if the nitrate levels stay low then the plants wont have a supply of nitrogen. im also leary of adding much fert as i recently got a outbreak of brown algae. mabye the algae is eating away at the nitrates.
ive been wondering if mabye the plants have somthing to do with this. could they be using all the nitrates up and some of that ammonia? i have a 29 gal tank with 3 big hornworts, 2 small crypts, 3 bunches of bacopa, and a medium sized lotus. all are growing fairly rapidly and im worried if the nitrate levels stay low then the plants wont have a supply of nitrogen. im also leary of adding much fert as i recently got a outbreak of brown algae. mabye the algae is eating away at the nitrates.
