How is it possible that my snail tank has consistently produced no ammonia in weeks?

[mgudyka]

I think I have had this second and smaller tank running for four weeks now. I have many snails in this tank. I think I have only seen two empty shells. I have lots (and I mean lots) bladder snails (mostly babies but plenty of adults), I think one ramshorn, and three nerites. How is it possible to have absolutely no trace of ammonia in my water? There doesn't appear to be any nitrites either. There is plenty of algae to go around and I have sprinkled a little food in the tank here and there. I have plants in there too. 

What gives?

[Chiclid addict]

10 minutes ago, mgudyka said:

I think I have had this second and smaller tank running for four weeks now. I have many snails in this tank. I think I have only seen two empty shells. I have lots (and I mean lots) bladder snails (mostly babies but plenty of adults), I think one ramshorn, and three nerites. How is it possible to have absolutely no trace of ammonia in my water? There doesn't appear to be any nitrites either. There is plenty of algae to go around and I have sprinkled a little food in the tank here and there. I have plants in there too. 

What gives?

Bad test kit?

[mgudyka]

5 minutes ago, Angelfishlover said:

Bad test kit?

Can it go bad out of the blue despite definitely working without issue like two weeks ago?

[Schwack]

More likely the bio load from the snails is so tiny that any no2/no3 generated from their waste is quickly absorbed by the plants in the tank. You're probably good to add a fish or two, but I'd test every second day and feed lightly for a week to let things catch up to the stark increase in bio load.

[Eric R]

My guess would be the same as @Schwack. You could feed more heavily for a week first to help feed and produce more bacteria before adding fish. Just vacuum/clean and water change the tank before you do. It's hard to say just based on the test results whether it's more likely that the ammonia is getting converted to nitrite and the nitrate and then used by plants or if the plants are just using ammonia or nitrite. Probably a bit of both, so you may not have a lot of ammonia or nitrite converting bacteria.

 

 

 

 

[gardenman]

I can assure you the snails are producing ammonia. It's just being used up before it registers on your test kit. That's what you want. 

[mgudyka]

Thank you @Schwack @ererer and @gardenman ! I have tested three times in the last week with the same results. I am planning to get two lil pea puffers. Hooray.

[GardenStateGoldfish]

snails have a really small bio load, The algae is likely keeping up with the waste production. 

[Patrick_G]

It’s amazing how a planted tank can assist the cycling process. I have several small planted tanks with shrimp that have never shown any ammonia or nitrites. 

 

[kammaroon]

Diana Walstad says vast majority of aquatic plants have preference to uptake nitrogen from ammonia over nitrate. So, plants would remove some of the ammonia directly from the nitrogen cycle. Whether plants have preference of nitrite over nitrate is not so conclusive.