Where Did All The Nitrate Go?

[lizjamie]

I have been trying to cycle my tank for a few months now.

I had got to the stage where 5 ml of ammonia in my 58 litre tank was going down in a few days, but the nitrite was taking ages and never was reaching 0 before I was putting in more ammonia to make sure none of that bacteria died. There was also white filmy stuff floating on the top of the tank. Obviously the nitrate was throught the roof as so much ammonia had been processed, but I thought I would just do awater change soon and that would be fine. I thought everything was on track and going ok, I just had to wait a while longer.

I am doing exams just now so forgot to check the tank for a couple of days. I came back to it, and all 3 readings were 0! This would make sense for the ammonia and nitrite, the bacteria must have eaten it all, but where did all the nitrates go?

I have added some more ammonia and am waiting to see what happens, but what has gone on here? I thought you had to waterchange to get rid of nitrate. Am I going to have to start from square 1??

Thanks.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Nitrates are sort of a end product of the nitrite and ammonia process, tanks that have 0 nitrates are either cycling or have a lot of healthy plants to take them up- i wouldn't worry too much about the disapearance of the nitrates if your tank is cycling, in my experience of cycling tanks they should re-appear in levels of some sort once the cycle is complete .

 

[mark.w.jones]

You say you missed a few days. If you miss adding ammonia and checking for even 24 hours it can really mess things up. You must add new ammonia every time your level drops down to 0 - 1ppm. You say you are adding 5ml of ammonia. Are you sure that's not too much / too little. Non of the info. on fishless cycling says add 5ml of ammonia. You are supposed to raise the amount to 5ppm each time then wait. The amount of ammonia you add to reach 5ppm varies depending on how much water is in your tank and how strong your ammonia solution is. Some members Ive read only added a few drops in a 50gallon tank whereas I had to add 30 drops per day in my 10 gallon tank. As far as the nitrate reading is concerned im not sure. As you said even if your tank has finished cycling you should have high nitrate reading before you so your big water change.

Are you using a liquid water test solution rather than a card strip one?

I would re test. It shouldnt take anywhere near 2 months to cycle a 58 litre tank either. My 45 litre took 3 weeks from start to finish.
ps dont worry about how scummy your tank looks during cycling. Most will look like crap at some point until you finish and do your big water change.

 

[lizjamie]

I was adding 5ml as that is what is needed to take it up to about 5ppm.

I am using the master test kit bottles to test.

I am just worried about the nitrate end product, as I used to have loads, and now it all seems to have disappeared, and I have no plants, no fish, no anything in the tank, and have not done a water change. It just seems a bit mysterious from everything I have read.

It is only taking so long because I put in far too much ammonia at the beginning and then diluted it lots to get it back on track. It did look v good until a few days ago with ammonia dropping quickly, 5ppm nitrite and huge nitrate. I can see missing a few days would mean that everything would be eaten, so ammonia and nitrite would go back to zero, and the bacteria would all die, but then that should produce nitrate, and that is all gone too!!

This really does mess with your head.