Nitrates?

[ssharp1]

I'm right at a month into cycling my 28 gallon empty tank, and I've found myself somewhat baffled by the current state of the water. I'm using an API test kit, and I watched the ammonia spike and subside as the nitrites began to climb, and the nitrites were extremely high for about a week or so, and I expected the nitrates to begin appearing as the nitrites began being consumed. I have no plants, nor have I used any bottled bacteria or cycling agent in the tank, but the nitrites have fallen to virtually nil *and* I'm seeing virtually no nitrates, either. How can this be? It's my understanding that in the natural scheme of things, the nitrites are converted to nitrates, and they can't simply disappear. I've repeated the tests every three days for the past nine days, and I'm seeing that the NH3, NO2, and NO3 levels are so minuscule, we may as well call them 0, for the purpose of conversation. Any ideas how this could be?
Thanks for any info.

 

[blur411]

I had the exact same issue, only with a fish in cycle. I found out I wasn't using the nitrate test correctly. You literally have the bang the crap out of that stuff, not just lightly shake it before using it. Shake it hard, and for a bit. Try again, and see if you have any!

 

[The Taffy Apple]

+1 to what blur said... a good little tip is to find a hard surface (i use the kitchen table covered with a thick book), tune into your favourite radio station/c.d album, then 'drum' along to a song for a few minutes with BOTH NitrAte bottles.... sounds daft, but it works..!!!

Terry.

 

[4seasons]

You could be reading an off the chart color that is close to 0 on the nitrite test as well. It is more of a grey color when the nitrites are up around 20ppm+ Looks closer to the blue 0ppm color than anything else.

 

[ssharp1]

Thanks, all, for the advice. I must admit that it wouldn't have occurred to me that I'd have to beat the NO3 test into submission. Also, I'll have a closer look at the color, as 4Season suggests. The NO3 should be horrendously high, given the NO2 level 2 weeks ago. Thanks again.

 

[4seasons]

Just found a pic of my off the chart nitrite color.

That is somewhere around 30ppm nitrite.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Is it? That looks more like 0-0.25ppm NitrIte to me

Terry.

 

[Yanks15]

Is it? That looks more like 0-0.25ppm NitrIte to me

Terry.

Agreed

 

[manofish123]

Another good way to mix the bottle is to beat the number 1 bottle against the number 2 bottle BOTTOM. This is where the stuff seems to settle and beating the heck outa the bottoms of both together does the trick. Dont forget to swirl the number 1 after adding and before adding the number 2.

 

[4seasons]

Is it? That looks more like 0-0.25ppm NitrIte to me

Terry.

Yep that is the point. If your nitrites get high enough the API kit will turn that grey color that I posted. After I got that reading I did a 90% water change and then retested and got a 2-5ppm reading. I am sure that that was way over 20ppm nitrite when I took that test because of how much ammonia I had ran thru at the time and still had only a small increase in nitrate.

 

[Yanks15]

Is it? That looks more like 0-0.25ppm NitrIte to me

Terry.

Yep that is the point. If your nitrites get high enough the API kit will turn that grey color that I posted. After I got that reading I did a 90% water change and then retested and got a 2-5ppm reading. I am sure that that was way over 20ppm nitrite when I took that test because of how much ammonia I had ran thru at the time and still had only a small increase in nitrate.

Thanks for the info. I would have thought the color would be something not close to an identifiable color on the chart. I have done plenty of tests that don't match the card exactly and assume the test falls in between the closest matches. Love learning something new

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Is it? That looks more like 0-0.25ppm NitrIte to me

Terry.

Yep that is the point. If your nitrites get high enough the API kit will turn that grey color that I posted. After I got that reading I did a 90% water change and then retested and got a 2-5ppm reading. I am sure that that was way over 20ppm nitrite when I took that test because of how much ammonia I had ran thru at the time and still had only a small increase in nitrate.

I had heard of stupidly high NitrItes could give false readings.. but i never knew that is the colour it would go, so i agree that it is always great to learn something new here

Terry.

 

[ssharp1]

Is it? That looks more like 0-0.25ppm NitrIte to me

Terry.

Yep that is the point. If your nitrites get high enough the API kit will turn that grey color that I posted. After I got that reading I did a 90% water change and then retested and got a 2-5ppm reading. I am sure that that was way over 20ppm nitrite when I took that test because of how much ammonia I had ran thru at the time and still had only a small increase in nitrate.

Yes, that's precisely the situation I was in. I *knew* that the nitrites *had* to go somewhere, but the kit reading seemed to indicate that they'd merely vanished and that the nitrates were negligible. Being the "doubting thomas" that I am, I realized that, while the test kits are invaluable tools, common sense must enter into it, as well. I followed the suggestions here about resorting to violence with the agitation of the solutions, and I got a bit higher reading (about .5 ppm) but it has since dropped. Thank you all, again, for your help and input. Now, it's about time (finally!) to start shopping for fish. So, keep an eye out for a post about stocking suggestions, on the appropriate forum, of course.