0ppm after 7 days

[Guyb93]

For well over a year iv been battling no3 in small amounts usually around 20-40ppm after a 7 period , iv been really trying to eliminate the small factors which can contribute to what I call sleeper nitrate ( dirty filter , pockets of detritus , over feeding etc . Last week I added a peace Lilly to my tank to dot next to my monstera and also ordered some native European frogbit as well as clamping down on sand cleaning and glass cleaning and keeping a usual 50% water changes, I’m on day 6 of my usual 7 before a water change and my no3 is reading 0ppm , iv tested twice , both 0ppm .. I’m not convinced . API master test has always done the job but I don’t believe the problem is fixed and there isn’t enough biological filtration to warrant a 0ppm reading . Do I still do my usually water change tomorrow or re test Sunday ? Sounds bad but perfect water condition is new to me I’m always used to dealing with some no3 which I use as an indicator to change water or increase the percentage of water

 

[Slaphppy7]

I would stay on course with your regular weekly WC schedule

 

[Byron]

First thing, water changes must be regular (for most, once a week) and the volume should be substantial, 50-70% of the tank volume. Provided the parameters (here, meaning the GH, pH and temperature) of tank water and tap water are basically the same, there is no negative to doing water changes. This is the key to water chemistry stability. There are reasons for these water changes beyond anything (like nitrate) that we can test.

With respect to the nitrate readings. If nitrate is not present in the source water, but only occurs from within the biological system of the aquarium, it should be easy to keep it low, at or as close to zero as possible, with live aquatic plants (especially fast growers like floating plants), water changes, not overstocking, not overfeeding, removing organic matter, etc. Aquatic plants take up ammonia/ammonium and they do it faster than the nitrifying bacteria, so there should be far less ammonia/ammonium, which in turn means significantly less nitrite and nitrate in succession.

Depending upon the fish load and feeding, nitrate should remain low from water change to water change. But the regular substantial water change is a major factor and these need to continue regardless of nitrate readings.

 

[Guyb93]

First thing, water changes must be regular (for most, once a week) and the volume should be substantial, 50-70% of the tank volume. Provided the parameters (here, meaning the GH, pH and temperature) of tank water and tap water are basically the same, there is no negative to doing water changes. This is the key to water chemistry stability. There are reasons for these water changes beyond anything (like nitrate) that we can test.

With respect to the nitrate readings. If nitrate is not present in the source water, but only occurs from within the biological system of the aquarium, it should be easy to keep it low, at or as close to zero as possible, with live aquatic plants (especially fast growers like floating plants), water changes, not overstocking, not overfeeding, removing organic matter, etc. Aquatic plants take up ammonia/ammonium and they do it faster than the nitrifying bacteria, so there should be far less ammonia/ammonium, which in turn means significantly less nitrite and nitrate in succession.

Depending upon the fish load and feeding, nitrate should remain low from water change to water change. But the regular substantial water change is a major factor and these need to continue regardless of nitrate readings.

Honestly perfect water parameters aren’t a thing for me iv always had numbers of some sort so it’s virgin territory for me , I was under the illusion that plants need some sort of no3 to grow to potential ? Will I see plants gradually start to die as the lack of no3 to fertilise them , I will stick to my 50% weekly I think (something to do) but 50% of this tank is 250l 50g so possibility of a reduction? Maybe ? I did think about KH and the knock on effect to the ph , been a while since iv tested my kh but used to sit around 60ppm

 

[Byron]

Honestly perfect water parameters aren’t a thing for me iv always had numbers of some sort so it’s virgin territory for me , I was under the illusion that plants need some sort of no3 to grow to potential ? Will I see plants gradually start to die as the lack of no3 to fertilise them , I will stick to my 50% weekly I think (something to do) but 50% of this tank is 250l 50g so possibility of a reduction? Maybe ? I did think about KH and the knock on effect to the ph , been a while since iv tested my kh but used to sit around 60ppm

Nitrate is misunderstood a lot in this hobby. First and most importantly, it is detrimental to all fish. Keeping nitrates as low as possible is always better for the fish. Nitrate slowly weakens fish, depending upon the level, the species, and the exposure time. Long-term, all fish will be somewhat negatively affected by nitrate. This should not surprise anyone when we realize that nitrate in the habitat waters of every fish we keep in tropical aquaria is zero or so very low as to be considered zero from our perspective. The weakening effect of nitrate is now known to be responsible for some disease issues, like hole in the head in cichlids. There is no doubt that high nitrates are behind a lot of fish health problems. Clearly keeping nitrate very low is beneficial for fish.

As for aquatic plants, they do not need nitrate. Aquatic plants take up ammonia/ammonium as their preferred source of nitrogen, and they will only use nitrate if the ammonia/ammonium is insufficient (in balance with light and other nutrients). There is actually evidence that plants would turn to nitrite before nitrate. This is because with both nitrite and nitrate, the plants have to convert it back into ammonium to make full use of it, and this wastes energy so it is a last resort. In a balanced aquarium, that is low-tech or natural planted, there will always be sufficient ammonia/ammonium for the plants' needs. Fish respiration and the decomposition of organics provide ammonia/ammonium. Faster growing plants can take ammonia/ammonium up faster; this is why a good cover of floating plants is often termed an "ammonia sink."