0 nitrates but had 5

[doubleshot00]

I reset my wifes fluval 13.5 in her office with a large aquascape a guy gave me. The rick has coraline algae all over it. It had 5 ppm nitrates last weekend before i added a shrimp, possum wrasse and goby all very small fish. (All of the inhabitants were in a so called QT tank until i added them in the fluval. It was daily WC and i was over it for the last three weeks. So please dont flame me for adding the fish at once)

I used ammonia and turbo start to cycle. Zero ammonia was detected 2 weeks ago. So its been dormant for about 2.5 weeks until adding fish

Today i test everything and get
0 ppm nitrates
.04 phos
8.4 ph
1.025 salinity

Any idea how nitrates plummet so quickly?

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Nitrates are really not a big deal. Especially 5 ppm. The ammonia and nitrites are what you should be looking at and getting past before you ad fish. I still bet you’re good because of wc and the turbo start.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Any coral, algae, or water changes?
Those are main ways to drop nitrates.

 

[doubleshot00]

I haven’t done a thing to the tank other than add the fish. No WC

no noticeable algae and no coral. Just fish, shrimp and snails

 

[Dan_P]

I reset my wifes fluval 13.5 in her office with a large aquascape a guy gave me. The rick has coraline algae all over it. It had 5 ppm nitrates last weekend before i added a shrimp, possum wrasse and goby all very small fish. (All of the inhabitants were in a so called QT tank until i added them in the fluval. It was daily WC and i was over it for the last three weeks. So please dont flame me for adding the fish at once)

I used ammonia and turbo start to cycle. Zero ammonia was detected 2 weeks ago. So its been dormant for about 2.5 weeks until adding fish

Today i test everything and get
0 ppm nitrates
.04 phos
8.4 ph
1.025 salinity

Any idea how nitrates plummet so quickly?

A well lit tank with algae, even the microscopic kind, can easily strip a tank of nitra…

 

[doubleshot00]

A well lit tank with algae, even the microscopic kind, can easily strip a tank of nitra…

Lights been off.

 

[Dan_P]

Lights been off.

My next guess is that your nitrate measurement was biased high because of the presence of nitrite. The nitrite is what disappeared quickly, not nitrate.

 

[Sharkbait19]

If you don’t have corals atm, I wouldn’t even be worried about no nitrate. That’s practically the goal in fish only systems.