Is it possible to have 0 nitrates

Michael Briggs. Just got my first master test kit got reading of 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate ph of 8. I banged shook the nitrate bottle a lot did this 4 days in a row and still get a reading of zero. I have three aponogeton plants in my tank could they be using all the nitrates my tank is about 4 months old. HI there and welcome Before we can answer your questions, we'll need to know more about the tank.

What size is it and what kind of fish are in there? I don't know much about those plants, but it's unlikely that, in a fully stocked tank, you'd have 0ppm nitrates with that level of planting, I should think. How did you cycle the tank? I suppose it is possible if the tank is large, very lightly stocked, and very lightly fed. However I too wouldn't expect 3 plants to handle all of the nitrates. I have several tanks that show 0 nitrates almost constantly but they are very heavily planted and I usually have to dose potassium nitrate to provide nitrates for the plants.

Are you using some kind of nitrate remover in your filtration? Good questions so far. One thing you might try, most fish stores will test your water for you. Take a sample in to a local shop and ask them to test it. Just suggest this to rule out the slI'm possibility that you got a bad batch of test reagents.

I had a similar thing happen in my tank when I first set it up. It turns out the issue was the Ammonia reading I was getting had a very slight tinge to it but I wasn't seeing it. Essentially, my tank had not completed the cycle.

After a couple of weeks of no nitrites or nitrates and poor guppies dying, my nitrites finally spiked. After another week or so they dropped off and my nitrates started to rise. I have a fairly heavily planted 55 with about 20 small fish in it and if I miss a weeks water change , my nitrates jump up to around ppm. How long have you had the tank running? How many fish in it? It's a 29 gallon tank with 4 platys 2 Molly 's 1 dwarf gourami and a rainbow shark.

I'm not using any nitrate remover and tank has had fish in it for four months. Hmm well I think you are lightly stocked, depending on the size of the shark, but not THAT lightly stocked. And the goby got in a bag of fish from my lfs. I didn't see it until was home now I can't catch it to get it back to the lfs. What is going on with the nitrates? Don't I need nitrates?

Global Moderator. Nitrates are not needed by the fish. It is the product of the cycling process, as ammonia becomes nitrite becomes nitrate. There can be multiple reasons for the nitrate not coming up Which is always possible. Cause 2 would be if you have a heavily planted tank and the plants are using the nitrogen in the tank faster than the fish are producing it. Those are the biggest two causes.

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The 2 months old should definitely have something in it. If not Nitrate, then nitrite. If not nitrite, then ammonia should be present. Consider that your test-kit might be defective, try another one. Bit of unasked-for advice: Betta would be a lot more happy, active and colorful in the 10 gal. Everything under 10 gal is extremely small, I would only approve it for shrimps or snails. Not even sure what's the point of a 3. Sign up to join this community.

The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why does my nitrate level always read 0? Ask Question. Asked 2 years, 8 months ago. Active 8 months ago. Viewed 10k times. I have the following tanks: 5 gallon, 2 months old - housed betta and shrimp 10 gallon, 2 weeks old - used established media to seed aquarium alongside cycle and beneficial bacteria 3.

Why do my nitrate readings always come out as 0? Why do my nitrates stay at 0? Improve this question.