Where The Smeg Have My Nitrates Gone?

[Jcartwright]

On the 1st of April i checked the levels on my tank they were as follows Ammonia 2ppm, Nitrite 2ppm and Nitrate between 10 and 20ppm.
In the past few days the Nitrates have dropped to 5ppm.
I checked ammonia this afternoon (about 14:20) it was at .25ppm so i topped up to 4-5ppm. At about 17:45 i checked again and it had dropped to .50ppm, Nitrite is at 2ppm and Nitrate 5ppm.

Does this sound OK? I haven't done a water change, untreated tap water hasn't got into the tank (other than the tiny drops that left in the bottom of the test tubes after rinsing them out) so Where have the Nitrates gone? and Will they come back?

 

[bymauldin]

What kind of test kit are you using?

 

[Jcartwright]

API master kit

 

[cheesy feet]

Are you trying to cycle a tank?
On the 1st of April i checked the levels on my tank they were as follows Ammonia 2ppm, Nitrite 2ppm and Nitrate between 10 and 20ppm.
In the past few days the Nitrates have dropped to 5ppm.
I checked ammonia this afternoon (about 14:20) it was at .25ppm so i topped up to 4-5ppm. At about 17:45 i checked again and it had dropped to .50ppm, Nitrite is at 2ppm and Nitrate 5ppm.
The nitrogen cycle goes from Ammonia (deadly to fish),Nitrite (no quite as deadly ,but still deadly ) to nitrate (can kill in high levels).

 

[rdd1952]

Nitrates should not go down on their own. The only way to lower nitrates is via water changes or possibly with some of the nitrate removing filter media such as zeolite or nitro-zorb. Although I like API test kits, their nitrate kits can be inaccurate. They don't go out of date but bottle #2 can clump up in the bottom (the reason you have to shake it for 30 seconds before using). It's quite possible that the first test you did was incorrect because bottle #2 was still clumped a little but the second time you got the material properly shaken since you had already loosened it the previous time

 

[Jcartwright]

I'm adding Ammonia each time it gets to 0ppm and now the Nitrites are coming down so hopefully the tank will be cycled soon but the test kit is only showing 5ppm Nitrates still.

 

[rdd1952]

I'd say your nitrate test kit is definitely faulty unless you're running the filter media to remove nitrate. Even a heavily planted tank won't use nitrate that fast.

 

[Jcartwright]

I haven't touched the filter since i checked all the bits are there when i bought the tank. My tank is a second hand Jewel Rio 180. I pulled the media out to check against the instructions to make sure it was there and in the order to what it says and that's it i haven't touched it since and that was 4-5 week ago.
If the filter is getting rid of the Nitrates is that a problem because the Ammonia is going and the Nitrites are starting to go down.

 

[Jcartwright]

Is there another test kit i try to test the Nitrates? Because it seems to be getting close to the end of the cycle (It's taking a few hours for the Ammonia to reach 0ppm and The Nitrites are now on .5ppm but there is still no Nitrate spike, it still reads 5ppm) or can i just wait for the Nitrites to reach 0ppm, do a water change then add fish?