Is It Normal To Have No Nitrates At All

[balajake]

I do 40% a week WC, run 2 1200 lph internal filters ( 1 is a bio) i don't have a single live plant in my aquarium.

Ammonia 0
nitrites 0
nitrates 0

my tank is well established and if anything im a little overstocked at the moment as i had some water issues with my other tank so had to put some fish back in my big tank for a while. i use the API freshwater master kit. my last water change was last thursday and i tested tonight. my tank tests like this everytime i test so its a stable reading.

is this normal and ok ? i have mainly NW cichlids.

oops meant to post this in tropical discussion (please move mods)

 

[Livewire88]

Did you make sure you bashed the hell out of Bottle 2 of the NitrAte test solution??

If you dont shake/bash it up enough it tends to give a faulse reading

 

[balajake]

Did you make sure you bashed the hell out of Bottle 2 of the NitrAte test solution??

If you dont shake/bash it up enough it tends to give a faulse reading

i didn't bash hell out of it but i always shake abit the bottle before i test.

 

[Livewire88]

lol, I was going a bit over the top saying to bash the hell of it! sorry.

But go and do the test again and this time hit the bottle #2 on a hard surface (table or simmilar) to make sure the solution is mixed up well becuase the improtant part settles to the bottom and is quite stubborn to set loose to mix with the rest (a common issue with the API NitrAte test), then post back with the result

 

[balajake]

ive just tested again after bashing hell out of it. i'd say its at 2ppm/3ppm

is that ok ?

 

[Livewire88]

ive just tested again after bashing hell out of it. i'd say its at 2ppm/3ppm

is that ok ?

2-3ppm is a very low level of NitrAte so nothing at all to worry about

 

[Fishy friend2]

I thought that a good level would be more like 5 ppm of nitrAte

 

[balajake]

i thought it strange since i have no live plants.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Well, your ammonia and nitrites are 0 so I guess everything is okay, maybe shake the bottle really hard then test nitrates again and see the results

 

[balajake]

thanks for the advice

 

[Fishy friend2]

Your welcome, I'm glad to help out