Cannot raise nitrates

[Sanchezfishco]

I have a 110 gallon for my Lents and I love to have live plants for them to swim though. For the last 4 months I cannot get my plants to grow and they are dying. At first I was very confused because I recently moved and my previous water composition was extremely easy to keep plants alive but in my new house the water has absolutely nothing in the water. The house has a whole house rhino filters which I love for keeping fish but it is terrible for aquatic plant. I have dumped so much aquarium coop fertilizer and seachem nitrogen in the water but still cannot get the api nitrate measure to show any trace of nitrates. I have aquarium soil, running CO2, have medium light and fx6 filter. Can anybody give me suggestions on how to raise the nitrates?

[CT_]

Make sure your shaking the heck out of the nitrate test bottles.  I think its bottle 2 that REQUIRES 30s of shaking.  I shake them both good but you can check the instructions to make sure which one needs the shaking.

Also, just to make sure your kit works:  add some nitrate to a glass of water and test that. 

 

 

[Will Billy]

If your testing is accurate, given that the nitrate test for api is the most likely to have an error (i would double check with a test strip) The easiest and cheapest way is overfeed your fish every 3rd feeding, (just a bit, dont get crazy with it tho). The main thing i would caution on that method is you could end up with ammonia spikes and nitrite spikes, both of which your beneficial bacteria and plants will consume. But try to keep it within reasonable levels until your bacteria and plants have enough time to consume them for the safety of your fish. The safest, but a bit more expensive method is to purchase a bottle of seachem nitrogen. It has 1.5% nitrogen more than most other fertilizers and skips past the ammonia and nitrite spikes. Before doing any of those things i would still recommend double checking your test. Ask a local pet store if they can test your water, and compare. Or try the test strips. @CT_ is correct, read the instructions on the nitrate test carefully, it is the most common for error if you dont shake it just right. 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Will Billy
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[Maggie]

7 hours ago, CT_ said:

Make sure your shaking the heck out of the nitrate test bottles.  I think its bottle 2 that REQUIRES 30s of shaking.  I shake them both good but you can check the instructions to make sure which one needs the shaking.

Also, just to make sure your kit works:  add some nitrate to a glass of water and test that. 

 

 

Yes on the shaking of the second bottle. You can see how it comes out clear if you don't shake, but a bit cloudy and thicker after you shake. Also once added, the test tube must be shaken for a full minute. I've heard there are mini paint shaking machines (for craft use) that work for this purpose, for anyone who has trouble shaking bottles that long. I'm almost there - had a real bad complete radial wrist fracture in 2019 and that shaking motion is hard sometimes.