0 Nitrates in planted tank?

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

I'm testing my water to see if I can do less water changes but my nitrates say 0. I'm using the API master test kit, I've tested twice shaking the bottle for a long time and hard just to make sure it works and it still says 0. I'm dosing tropica ferts every day, so I should be seeing nitrates I'm dosing that amount because I have fast growers (elodea, Limnophila sessiliflora and floating salvinia) and I have a low amount of co2 (1 bubble every 2 seconds) the tank is a 10 gallon and I'm doing 50% water change once a week. I want to do less water changes to make my life easier but I don't know if I can because I'm not sure if I really have 0 nitrates or if the test kit is broken. All my plants are doing amazing and have no deficiencies and my fish are healthy. Also I'm planning on switching over to the Nilocg thrive fertilizer because its more concentrated and I wouldn't have to dose as much.

Water parameters in case you where wondering: PH: 7.6, Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 0

[Katherine]

If your plants are using a lot it's possible. Can you pick up some test strips or take a water sample in to the store to have it tested?

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

On 4/30/2022 at 8:35 PM, Katherine said:

If your plants are using a lot it's possible. Can you pick up some test strips or take a water sample in to the store to have it tested?

Yeah I was thinking of getting the store to test it.

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 4/30/2022 at 4:11 PM, Jacob Hill said:

I'm testing my water to see if I can do less water changes but my nitrates say 0. I'm using the API master test kit, I've tested twice shaking the bottle for a long time and hard just to make sure it works and it still says 0. I'm dosing tropica ferts every day, so I should be seeing nitrates I'm dosing that amount because I have fast growers (elodea, Limnophila sessiliflora and floating salvinia) and I have a low amount of co2 (1 bubble every 2 seconds) the tank is a 10 gallon and I'm doing 50% water change once a week. I want to do less water changes to make my life easier but I don't know if I can because I'm not sure if I really have 0 nitrates or if the test kit is broken. All my plants are doing amazing and have no deficiencies and my fish are healthy. Also I'm planning on switching over to the Nilocg thrive fertilizer because its more concentrated and I wouldn't have to dose as much.

Water parameters in case you where wondering: PH: 7.6, Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 0

Which ferts? They have one that says no nitrogen or phosphates.

How many and what size fish? 50% a week is a pretty big water change if you only have a few small fish. Maybe between the plants and your water changes you keep the nitrates off the test chart. Could be as simple as that.

 

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

On 5/1/2022 at 12:28 AM, Wrencher_Scott said:

Which ferts? They have one that says no nitrogen or phosphates.

How many and what size fish? 50% a week is a pretty big water change if you only have a few small fish. Maybe between the plants and your water changes you keep the nitrates off the test chart. Could be as simple as that.

 

Its the green tropica one with nitrogen and phosphate. I have 8 white cloud minnow, a neon blue stiphodon goby and like 5 cherry shrimp. I’ll probably just get the store to test it just to be safe but that might be true.

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

Can I get some more reply’s on this topic cause I’m really trying to figure this out. 
thanks 🙂

[eatyourpeas]

It looks like you have more NO3 consumers than water producers. It is not unusual to see the NO3 at zero in a heavily planted/lightly stocked tank with such large water changes. All my tanks read zero, and I do not fertilize. A second test for sanity's sake won't hurt, though.

[AndreaW]

In my 10G planted Betta tank, I have a similar thing. My Nitrates are always extremely low or undetectable because I have a low bioload and the plants seem to absorb it quicker than it is produced.

I did an experiment when the tank was pretty new because I thought it was cycled but people (elsewhere) were telling me it was impossible to be cycled if there were no Nitrates. When I was doing a water change in my 46G community tank (which usually sits at 40ppm Nitrates), I poured a 2.5 gallons of nitrate-laden water into the 10G. The nitrates read 10ppm, and within 2 days was back down to nothing on the Nitrate test. 

Now, it didn't really prove anything as far as whether or not my tank was cycled, but it did prove that my plants were absorbing the Nitrates faster than they were being produced. I still haven't figured out how much ferts to dose to get the Nitrate numbers up where they should be, but I'm working on it. 

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 5/1/2022 at 5:13 PM, eatyourpeas said:

It looks like you have more NO3 consumers than water producers. It is not unusual to see the NO3 at zero in a heavily planted/lightly stocked tank with such large water changes. All my tanks read zero, and I do not fertilize. A second test for sanity's sake won't hurt, though.

Yes, that was my thinking, BUT, being that nitrates are added daily by way of fertilizer it seems odd no? 

@Jacob Hill  How about adding a drop of fertilizer to some water and test that?

Did you take a sample to the store?  

I have read that the Nitrate tests bottle can get clumped up inside causing it not to work. I guess it crystalizes or something, not sure. 

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

On 5/1/2022 at 8:26 PM, AndreaW said:

In my 10G planted Betta tank, I have a similar thing. My Nitrates are always extremely low or undetectable because I have a low bioload and the plants seem to absorb it quicker than it is produced.

I did an experiment when the tank was pretty new because I thought it was cycled but people (elsewhere) were telling me it was impossible to be cycled if there were no Nitrates. When I was doing a water change in my 46G community tank (which usually sits at 40ppm Nitrates), I poured a 2.5 gallons of nitrate-laden water into the 10G. The nitrates read 10ppm, and within 2 days was back down to nothing on the Nitrate test. 

Now, it didn't really prove anything as far as whether or not my tank was cycled, but it did prove that my plants were absorbing the Nitrates faster than they were being produced. I still haven't figured out how much ferts to dose to get the Nitrate numbers up where they should be, but I'm working on it. 

Good to know thanks