ammonia, nitrite, nitrate readings

[babyduke]

according to the tests, my ammonia reads 0 ppm. nitrite 0 ppm but nitrate is at 15 ppm. is this ok?

 

[SarahBravo]

Yep, that's cool. How big is your tank, how long has it been set up, and are there any fish in it yet?

The really poisonous ones are Ammonia and nitrIte - these should be at 0 unless you're cycling the tank. NitrAte is okay at anything up to around 25ppm (some people say 50, but I reckon it's better safe than sorry).

HTH

Sarah

Edit: PS the only way to get nitrAtes out your tank is to put in some live plants, and to do frequent water changes.

 

[rdd1952]

I assume this is a new tank and those reading are perfect provided your tank has cycled. If you have not cycled, they would change drastically as soon as you add fish. Read the pinned thread on fishless cycling in he begginers forum.

 

[babyduke]

Thanks. My tank is a fairly new setup. Initially, I added fish a bit too early and had some trouble keeping ammonia down but I added [/I]BioSpira which took care of the problem instantly. It's a 55G brackish tank and I have F8 puffers & 2 green spotted puffers, all of which are doing great. I do 10% water change every week and test the water about twice a week.