Is It At All Possible...

[Killi]

To have 0 NitrAtes in a fully cycled tank??? (sorry I'm still a novice)

My tanks been running now for almost 6 weeks and the NitrIte spike went to 0 approx 1 month ago so I presume the tank has cycled although I have never had a NitrAte reading.

My water readings are (and have been for approx 1 month):
PH: 6.6
Ammonia: 0
NitrIte: 0
NitrAte: 0

Its only a 37.5L tank and has about 10 medium sized plants so I would say its quite well planted (which I am aware can have an effect), I do a 30% water change every 3-5 days as my bogwood is still leeching tanins and I have 0 NitrAtes in my tap water. I am currently using the API Master Test Kit for freshwater.

Should I be worried at all???
Thanks in advance

 

[Arimus]

Do you have any fish in the tank or any other means of introducing ammonia? If not the bacteria could have died off and not be producing any nitrites or nitrates...

 

[Killi]

Yes its now fully stocked

 

[tmack]

Hi. I'm not sure if it's possible or not, but I was getting the same results with the last API test kit I had, and contacted API about it. This link should take you to my post:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=180830

After I followed the directions from API concerning Bottle # 2 of the nitrAte solutions I was successful in getting a nitrAte reading.

Hope this works for you, as I'd expect you to have some nitrates.

 

[Killi]

Hi. I'm not sure if it's possible or not, but I was getting the same results with the last API test kit I had, and contacted API about it. This link should take you to my post:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=180830

After I followed the directions from API concerning Bottle # 2 of the nitrAte solutions I was successful in getting a nitrAte reading.

Hope this works for you, as I'd expect you to have some nitrates.

Thanks, thats quite helpful.
I'll definately give that a try when I get home

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes it's technically possible, but it's unlikely.

i had a 10g heavily planted with just 1 betta and tap water nitrates of 0 so my results always stayed at 0 for that tank. however that's very much the exception not the rule!

 

[Gankutsuou]

I'd say it'd be possible with a superb filter like ehime....

Or about a day after a water change with some good mechanical and chemical filtration.

 

[George Farmer]

If your tank has "fully cycled" and you are reading zero nitrate then your test kit is likely giving you false readings. Many nitrate kits are way off.

 

[geo7x]

I'd say it'd be possible with a superb filter like ehime....

how does that make sense??


Its highly unlikely to have o nitrAtes in a cycled tank, even most tapwater has some nitrAtes in it, although some people are lucky.

 

[eschaton]

My planted tanks vary from 0 to 10 in Nitrates - usually the amount is zero.

When you have plants in a tank, from what I understand, it basically shortcuts the cycle. Plants prefer to take up waste directly from ammonia, not nitrate. So they'll scoop up most of the ammonia before the bacterial population can. Depending on how heavily planted your tank is, this might mean your tank doesn't "cycle" at all.