Question about cycling

[Fishlover1N]

So I have a 7.5 gallon tank that I set up about a month ago. 2 days ago I put in 1 pea puffer to do a fish in cycle as the tank wasn't cycled. But when I tested the water today the results were this: ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0 Nitrate : 5.0 Is this normal?

 

[mbsqw1d]

It is odd. Either your test kit hasn't worked properly, or I wonder if the shop added some stress coat to the bag which has also turned the ammonia to nitrate for a while (it wears off). Have you done any more tests since?

 

[Fishlover1N]

It couldn't of been the stress coat because I poured the fish into a net so none of the shop water could of got into my tank. I do have a mini test kit that tests ammonia and nitrite should I test the water with that?

 

[mbsqw1d]

It couldn't of been the stress coat because I poured the fish into a net so none of the shop water could of got into my tank. I do have a mini test kit that tests ammonia and nitrite should I test the water with that?

Yeh try the kit, what have you used already?

 

[Fishlover1N]

Yeh try the kit, what have you used already?

I used api freshwater master test kit. So I just tested it with the other kit and it says: ammonia: 0 or 0.1 nitrite: 0 nitrate: 0

 

[mbsqw1d]

I used api freshwater master test kit. So I just tested it with the other kit and it says: ammonia: 0 or 0.1 nitrite: 0 nitrate: 0

Did you shake the reagent bottles up real good? Do you have any live plants or algae in the tank?

 

[Fishlover1N]

Did you shake the reagent bottles up real good? Do you have any live plants or algae in the tank?

I shook the nitrate bottles quite well but maybe not enough. Yes there are quite a few of live plants in there and a tiny bit of algae on the glass

 

[Essjay]

That's probably the answer. Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and they turn it into protein rather than nitrite. With just one puffer and a lot of plants, you shouldn't see any ammonia or nitrite or nitrate above tap level.

 

[Fishlover1N]

That's probably the answer. Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and they turn it into protein rather than nitrite. With just one puffer and a lot of plants, you shouldn't see any ammonia or nitrite or nitrate above tap level.

Why do you think the nitrate showed up as 0 on one test and 5 on the other?

 

[CarissaT]

Why do you think the nitrate showed up as 0 on one test and 5 on the other?

Tests for nitrate can be inaccurate. Especially if the third bottle isn’t shaken up a whole lot. I would test your tap water with both and see what it says. If it’s 0 on both for tap water and 5 on one of them for your tank, thats going to be the right reading.

 

[Essjay]

Nitrate is notoriously difficult to make an affordable tester for. I would put the difference down to the ballpark-only nature of our nitrate testers. It is impossible to say which of your testers is the more accurate.
One of my sons used to work for a water testing company and he was highly amused by our home testers for nitrate. It is very hard to get an accurate result with them - he used extremely expensive lab equipment.

As a matter of idle curiosity, have you tried testing your tap water with both testers? If the one which reads 5 ppm in tank water also reads 5 ppm in tap water, there is no nitrate being made in the tank.

 

[Essjay]

Tests for nitrate can be inaccurate. Especially if the third bottle isn’t shaken up a whole lot.

I forgot to mention that.
Most nitrate testers have 2 or sometimes 3 bottles and the instructions will say to shake one of the bottles before adding drops to the tube, then to shake the tube immediately after adding the drops before starting the timed period. One of the reagents isn't really soluble and it settles out on the bottom of the bottle; the shaking it to distribute it evenly throughout the liquid in the bottle and test tube. Not shaking it enough gives inaccurate results.
Some testers have powder reagents instead of liquid for this bottle, and the tube needs to be shaken well after adding the powder.