I bought a new 19 litre tank just over 3 weeks ago.
Did all the usual stuff, washed the gravel thoroughly before putting it in, dechlorinated my tap water and dosed with ammonia to 3ppm.
The following day a fellow fish keeping friend gave me a squeeze from her filter sponge, I began to see results very quickly within a few days, with my nitrites and nitrates climbing (nitrites went to 3-4ppm, nitrates at approx 20ppm). As the ammonia dropped, I topped it up with a tiny amount to return it to 3ppm, continuing to seed with the bottled bacteria (I know many think they aren't much use, but I had the bottle in and thought I might as well use it!). .
Then it stalled for getting on for two weeks now. But I noticed something odd last night when testing the water. The nitrites and nitrates had vanished. I have no live plants to use nitrates. And no obvious algae. I am also pretty confident in my test kit as I was getting the same result consistently for days.
I did also observe a small bacterial bloom over the last week (water went slightly milky) which vanished yesterday
So, after 3 weeks my levels are currently:
pH 7.8
Ammonia 3ppm
Nitrite 0-0.25ppm (having been 3ppm a few days ago)
Nitrate 0-5ppm (having been 10-20ppm a few days ago)
No live plants, temp set at 27 degrees C.
I am using the API test kit for everything, and also have the JBL nitrate test kit.
How can the nitrite and nitrate vanish?! (I have also double checked the nitrates on several occasions with a JBL kit alongside the API test kit)
Did all the usual stuff, washed the gravel thoroughly before putting it in, dechlorinated my tap water and dosed with ammonia to 3ppm.
The following day a fellow fish keeping friend gave me a squeeze from her filter sponge, I began to see results very quickly within a few days, with my nitrites and nitrates climbing (nitrites went to 3-4ppm, nitrates at approx 20ppm). As the ammonia dropped, I topped it up with a tiny amount to return it to 3ppm, continuing to seed with the bottled bacteria (I know many think they aren't much use, but I had the bottle in and thought I might as well use it!). .
Then it stalled for getting on for two weeks now. But I noticed something odd last night when testing the water. The nitrites and nitrates had vanished. I have no live plants to use nitrates. And no obvious algae. I am also pretty confident in my test kit as I was getting the same result consistently for days.
I did also observe a small bacterial bloom over the last week (water went slightly milky) which vanished yesterday
So, after 3 weeks my levels are currently:
pH 7.8
Ammonia 3ppm
Nitrite 0-0.25ppm (having been 3ppm a few days ago)
Nitrate 0-5ppm (having been 10-20ppm a few days ago)
No live plants, temp set at 27 degrees C.
I am using the API test kit for everything, and also have the JBL nitrate test kit.
How can the nitrite and nitrate vanish?! (I have also double checked the nitrates on several occasions with a JBL kit alongside the API test kit)