Low95chevy

I'm cycling my tank as you all know but it seems that my nitrate level is getting real low its probably like at 10 maybe 5 and my ammonia is higher. nitrites are real close to 0 if there not already there what happens if my nitrates hit 0 before my ammonia does?

Dozey

Do you have nitrate reading?

Sorry... apparently I didn't read close enough.

Nitrate levels rarely hit zero.

What are your readings for ammonia nitrites and nitrates?

Low95chevy

oops sorry delete one thread please internet messed up on me while i was clicking submit new thread

Lucy

Hi, sorry, I merged the threads before I saw this post.

Low95chevy

nitrates are like at 10 nitrites are at 2.0 which is weird because yesterday they were extremely close to 0 and ammonia is like at 1.0

Low95chevy

ammonia has stayed in that same spot for so long! its like i cant get rid of it i do 50% Wc vacuum the gravel and i have had it like at .5 before and all of a sudden it boosted back to what it is now and hasn't gone down and now that i had the nitrites real low it looks like it boosted up too

Dozey

A reading of 5-10ppm of nitrate is nothing to be concerned about. A reading between 5 and 20ppm is your goal. Some tanks (planted) run at zero nitrates.

Nitrates are actually toxin to fish in high level so the suggested limit is 20ppm but there is certainly nothing wrong keeping that level far lower.

Low95chevy

alright well hopefully my nitrates don't go under 5 as far as the ammonia and the nitrites i don't know why its going up but water changes are suppose to eliminate it so I'm going to be paying close attention I'm about to do a 50% Wc so it should go down if it doesn't I'm not going to know what to do this is getting annoying every time i think I'm almost done its like it boost back up not making any sense to me should i test the water right after I'm done? or wait until tomorrow like i usually do. and should i start doing more than a 50% Wc? or maybe one 50% and then another 25%?

Toxic

All I can say is if you are using the API test kit, you need to make sure you are consistent with the amount of shaking you do on the nitrate bottle (#2) you need to shake it for at least 2 min. every time. Make sure you shake for the same amount of time each test.