Nitrates at 0

[ambrosia04]

Hi! I was just wondering, should I do something about my nitrates being at 0?
I use Tropica Specialised Nutrition (I do one pump on monday, one pump on wednesday and 1 pump on Friday).
I have a 105L (27 gallon) tank planted with hornwort, windelov java fern, java fern, anubias nana, marsilea hirsuta, Cryptocoryne beckettii and a lot of frogbit, red root floaters and salvinia minima (and a bit of duckweed) (I plan on removing a lot of floaters, leaving like a 20% of the current ones.

I have 12 boraras merah, 7 gastrodermus nanus, 13 neocaridinas, 3 amano shrimp, 3 horned nerites and loads of bladders and ramshorns. I plan on adding in a month 3 honey rasboras (1 male 2 females).

Is the nitrate being at 0 ok for the plants? Should I dose more fert? I recently got a better light two and now I have two (one 18W 8000°K Aquael Leddy and a 7W 7000ºK Aquael).

 

[seangee]

Don't try to over think it. If the plants are healthy (and they look like they are) don't mess with what you are doing.

 

[JCinPA]

The plants look gorgeous!

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. Interesting you have no traces of nitrate in your tank water. That's hard to believe really, since even a very small fish releasing waste into the tank should dissolve and create nitrogen.

10

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The reason for the 0 is the plants use the nitrate because one cannot add ammonia for them. Actually they wan ammonium and the microorganisms want the ammonia. When the plants use ammonia they do not create nitrite and thus no nitrate either, But if they need to feed and if there is nitrate available.

I have used Torpica ferts since it was master Grow and I bought it in the multi-liter jugs, I have both kinds today and do not use the pum[p. I pour the ferts into the traditional bottles and dose using the measurer on the bottle or else I have 1,3 and 5 ml pipettes. I only dose weekly after refilling after the water change and filter cleaning.

Even when I had a high light pressurized CO2 tanks I only dosed weekly. I also use Flourish Excel in planted tanks but dose only at the instructed amount. I mix it and the ferts in water and pur it into the tank during the later part of the refill.

All my planted tanks are jungles.

Here is how things basically work. Ammonia is created in a tank and most of it turns into ammonium. How much is in each form depends on pH for the most part but temperature also matters. It is possible to remove all of the total ammonia (ammonia + ammonium) in a tank by removing only ammonia or ammonium. As soon as the balance is broken it reforms.

Plants can use ammonium much faster then bacteria can use ammonia. It is possible to keep a tank cycled with only microorganisms and no plants what-so-ever. But no matter how many plants one might have, there will always be some amount of icrorganism even when the plants are doing most of the work.

When I ran my high tech tank I used to add potassium nitrate for the plants.

I just bought another 1500 ml of the Tropica Specialized Nutrition. Here is the ingredient list.

Nitrate, Ammonium, Phosphate and other nutrients required to insure healthy plant growth.

N 1.3%, PO 1%, K 1.0%, Mg 0.4%, S 0.9%, BO 0.004%, Cu 0.006%, Fe 0.07%, Mn 0.04%, Mo 0.002% Zn 0.002%

As a back-up to the above here is what is in SeaChem's Flourish Nitrogen:

Ingredients ​

Amounts per 1 g
Total Nitrogen (N)	1.5% Derived from: potassium nitrate, urea
Soluble Potash (K2O)	2%

Overview

Nitrogen is one of the main three macro nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium: NPK) required by plants and can often become the limiting factor to growth in a flourishing system. Flourish Nitrogen™ is a concentrated (15,000 mg/L) blend of nitrogen sources. It provides nitrogen in both the nitrate form and the plant–preferred ammonium form. However, no free ammonia is released because the ammonium in Flourish Nitrogen™ is complexed and unavailable until utilized by the plants. Ammonium becomes available after conversion of urea (carbamide). Flourish Nitrogen™ also provides nitrate for those plants that can readily utilize nitrate as well. For maximum benefit, use with Flourish Phosphorus™ and Flourish Potassium™. Flourish Nitrogen™ is safe for invertebrates such as shrimp.

​

 

[ambrosia04]

Hello. Interesting you have no traces of nitrate in your tank water. That's hard to believe really, since even a very small fish releasing waste into the tank should dissolve and create nitrogen.

10

Yeah ,that's why I was kinda put off haha, but maybe it's because I use test strips and not liquid ones? When I run out off the strips I'll buy some liquid ones for sure, but until then I'll make do with them

 

[seangee]

Yeah ,that's why I was kinda put off haha, but maybe it's because I use test strips and not liquid ones? When I run out off the strips I'll buy some liquid ones for sure, but until then I'll make do with them

Well you can - but tbh I wouldn't bother. With the plants you have I'm not surprised you see no (or very low) nitrates. I never test mine anymore because because I never saw nitrates when I did.