Nitrates

[nike12301]

Just some background: I'm fish in cycling with two neon tetras right now. (I know fish in sucks. I know neons were a bad choice. And I know they need to live in a school. There's nothing I can do about that stuff now.)

I've never had nitrites or nitrates show up during my testing over the last couple weeks. Just varying levels of ammonia and I do water changes to get it back down. Yesterday my ammonia jumped up to near .5, so I did a 50% water change. I also added some Stress Zyme+ to try to kick start things a little. Today, 24 hours later, my Ammonia is just a little above 0, barely enough to get a good reading. I still have no nitrites. But my nitrates are starting to show up - somewhere in between 0 and 5 on the API test kit. Not quite all the way at 5, though.

I thought nitrates were supposed to show up last. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Should I do another water change?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi nike12301

Please don't beat yourself up about something that can't be changed. Many people get started this way and all will be OK in the long run.

I'm going to move your thread over to the New in the Hobby section. The members who post there will help you get through this.

 

[TigerIssey]

Have you tested the nitrate level in your tap water, some water supplies can already have nitrate in it.

 

[nike12301]

Have you tested the nitrate level in your tap water, some water supplies can already have nitrate in it.

Yes. No nitrates in the tap water.

 

[nike12301]

Just tested again today. Same thing as yesterday. No nitrites but ammonia and nitrates a little bit above zero.

Can anyone here give me any idea where this is a good thing or a bad thing? I always thought nitrites were supposed to come before nitrates.

 

[nike12301]

Anybody out there?

 

[OldMan47]

If you are holding your ammonia at almost nothing by doing water changes, the small amounts of nitrites and nitrates that you can barely detect are almost meaningless. Once the ammonia starts to take care of itself and you are not doing as many water changes, the nitrite and nitrate results will be more meaningful.