Trouble raising nitrate level

[Suohhen]

The nitrate level on my tank is below .1ppm. I have been dosing the equivalent of 1 ppm sodium nitrate for a few days and every morning I test its back around 0. I tested minutes after dosing and read around 1ppm and I even dosed to my water change bucket and got 1ppm. So I am pretty certain my dosing and test kit is working but it is always scary dosing something and not seeing a change. So my question is whether this seems normal for a 120 gal system and whether I should consider dosing more than 1ppm.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just dose more. Consumption of 1 ppm per day is not especially high.

Double that for a while and see what happens. Double again if need be.

 

[esse]

I got one of those hanna lr nitrate test kits when I started to dose. The test is kind of long, but it has been helpful to get a more granular view of what's happening with the dose/feeding. I'd agree that the tank is probably consuming it faster than you're adding it now