No Nitrate?

[zophie]

Hi,

I'm cycling my tank (fish less cycle), and I got my Nirite down to zero a few weeks ago- bet there is no Nitrate in my water! Sorry, i'm totally new to this- is this normal? So right now my water levels look like this:

Ammonia: Zero
Nitrite: Zero
Nitrate: Zero

A few weeks ago, the water was always changing, there was defintly something going on in there! Now it seems dead. Is this normal? Can I add my fish soon, or do I have a problem?

Thanks,

Zophie

 

[PDSimon]

Hi zophie. This doesn't sound normal at all as nitrates will appear if the nitrite is processed properly! Do you have plants or have you done any waterchanges? Sometimes nitrate tests can have bad results, what test kit do you use and did you follow the instructions properly? Sometimes you have to shake the bottle, and the test tube for long periods which is necessary as the bottle can crystalise inside so its best to give it a couple of bangs on something to loosen it up, then a good shake.

how much ammonia have you been dosing?

 

[arobinson1984]

As pdsimon said,

Which test kit you using? if you're using the API freshwater master kit then there is alot of faffing about to get accurate results with the nitrate test.


Andy

 

[Harlequins]

Whats your ph reading?

 

[zophie]

Okay, I have been using Nutrafin test kits, I have been following the instructions (I did the test 4 times, because I thought it was weird) , PDsimon is right, you do have to shake for about 30 seaconds, and I have been doing that. I did do a waterchange right before I did the test, but I checked a few hours later, and it was still zero.
And the last thing, my pH is a steady 7.0.

Well, thanks for the help!!

 

[Gvilleguy]

Following up on PDSimon's question - you have continued to dose new ammonia into the tank after the initial drop in levels, yes?

 

[zophie]

Following up on PDSimon's question - you have continued to dose new ammonia into the tank after the initial drop in levels, yes?

yes, exactly what you said. I just followed my instructions for fishless cycling, I tried to do it really carefully and well.