Nitrate levels in planted tank

Is zero nitrate reading in planted tank okay? I have had zero readings consistently over the last 2 weeks. The tank is definitely cylced. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites for 2 months for the two months it has been set up (transferred all from my five year old 20gal tank).
If I have 0 nitrates does that mean I need to be adding more fertilzer? Currently have vals, bacopa, java moss, monte carlo and tiger lotus. All, but the tiger lotus were transferred from my 20 long when we built the new tank. Fertilizing 1x per week with ThriveS and plants in sand (vals/bacopa) have Thrive caps. Everything is looking good and requires little more than normal husbandry. One exception is my vals. They are doing well except every couple of days I have to pull out a couple stems that have 'melted' in the middle. I haven't done any research on this, but perhaps it is the low nitrates?

Readings today:

ammonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 0
pH - 6.6
gH - 9
kH - 6
TDS - 188

Consistent readings week to week. Seen TDS as high as 258.

Any advice is appreciated. Took the best picture I could of both the bunch of vals and a melted one.

Thank you.

 

Plants look good! Vals tend to melt whenever moved. So give them time they should grow back. Yes plants need ferts. Not just nitrate but many other things. A good all in one fert will work for you. I use seachem comprehensive.

 

Is zero nitrate reading in planted tank okay? I have had zero readings consistently over the last 2 weeks. The tank is definitely cylced. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites for 2 months for the two months it has been set up (transferred all from my five year old 20gal tank).
If I have 0 nitrates does that mean I need to be adding more fertilzer? Currently have vals, bacopa, java moss, monte carlo and tiger lotus. All, but the tiger lotus were transferred from my 20 long when we built the new tank. Fertilizing 1x per week with ThriveS and plants in sand (vals/bacopa) have Thrive caps. Everything is looking good and requires little more than normal husbandry. One exception is my vals. They are doing well except every couple of days I have to pull out a couple stems that have 'melted' in the middle. I haven't done any research on this, but perhaps it is the low nitrates?

Yeah chances are there is not enough nitrate. You can try feeding more or adding fertilizer, yeah.

 

Plants look good! Vals tend to melt whenever moved. So give them time they should grow back. Yes plants need ferts. Not just nitrate but many other things. A good all in one fert will work for you. I use seachem comprehensive.

Currently fertilizing 1x per week with Thrive S (have amano shrimp) - also have Thrive Caps in the sand; wondering if I need to do fertilize more often with such low nitrates.

 

In my opinion, if your plants have access to a nitrogen source in the substrate, then it's ok to have a zero nitrate reading in the water. This, though, is tricky to maintain, because you can't really measure what is available to the plants. And, it is hard to know how many root tabs to add and when. This difficulty is why many of us add liquid fertilizers. Adding liquid fertilizers lets us control exactly how much fertilizer we add and allows us to measure what's in the water. But, from what I can see, your plants look healthy. So, I say just keep doing what you're doing for now at least.

 

Showcase planted tanks are like supermodels for growing-up kids.

The reality is that in any planted tank, there are leaves turning yellow, melting, decomposing and growing. As long as the latter occurs and in good proportion to the ones that are having a hard time, I would not easily change anything.

Those supermodels are trimmed and liberated from bad looking leaves prior to a picture being taken.

Note that most often it is a nutrient other than nitrates that is lacking most (e.g. potassium).

Let leaves just decompose in your tank; your plants will thank you for it.

 

In my opinion, if your plants have access to a nitrogen source in the substrate, then it's ok to have a zero nitrate reading in the water. This, though, is tricky to maintain, because you can't really measure what is available to the plants. And, it is hard to know how many root tabs to add and when. This difficulty is why many of us add liquid fertilizers. Adding liquid fertilizers lets us control exactly how much fertilizer we add and allows us to measure what's in the water. But, from what I can see, your plants look healthy. So, I say just keep doing what you're doing for now at least.

Thank you. I may have failed to state that I do fertilize once a week in the water column. I use ThriveS (have shrimp) - 8 pumps as per their instructions - there is about 42 gallons of water in my tank. My question is then, should I dose more than once a week? I currently dose after my water change. Am thinking I will dose 2x weekly. That might also help me fight a some staghorn and BBA algae that I am fighting. From what you have stated, I think that increasing the dosage to 2x weekly would help.

I also read that tiger lotus gobble up nitrates and other nutrients and can starve other plants out, so increased feeding seems prudent.

Monte Carlo and tiger lotus planted in Controsoil.

Showcase planted tanks are like supermodels for growing-up kids.

The reality is that in any planted tank, there are leaves turning yellow, melting, decomposing and growing. As long as the latter occurs and in good proportion to the ones that are having a hard time, I would not easily change anything.

Those supermodels are trimmed and liberated from bad looking leaves prior to a picture being taken.

Note that most often it is a nutrient other than nitrates that is lacking most (e.g. potassium).

Let leaves just decompose in your tank; your plants will thank you for it.

This is literally the first time I have heard "Let your leaves just decompose in your tank...". I can see the benefits to that. Thank you.

 

i had a similar problem. I added some nseachem nitrogen and that seemed to help. Was worried when i saw 0ppm nitrates.

 

Thank you. I may have failed to state that I do fertilize once a week in the water column. I use ThriveS (have shrimp) - 8 pumps as per their instructions - there is about 42 gallons of water in my tank. My question is then, should I dose more than once a week? I currently dose after my water change. Am thinking I will dose 2x weekly.

I prefer to spread my dosing out so that I dose a little every day when I feed my fishes. I figure it helps keep things just a little more stable. So, 2X per week may be better than once per week. But, that being said, I don't know if it really makes that much of a difference. Your plants look happy to me, so I don't see any real need to change things up.

That might also help me fight a some staghorn and BBA algae that I am fighting. From what you have stated, I think that increasing the dosage to 2x weekly would help.

The only way increasing your fertilization would help would be if your plants are struggling with some type of deficiency. If they are, more fertilization would help them grow stronger and defend themselves better from algae. It's unlikely to hurt, so it's worth a try to see if it helps.

The other biggies for BBA and staghorn are a dirty tank, unstable CO2, and (I believe) unwanted stuff in your source water. So, for a start, keep the tank super clean and make sure your CO2 is stable (the latter is unlikely to be a problem in low-tech set ups). Regarding the unwanted stuff in your water, this is just a personal observation. But after I switched over to using RO water (my tap also had high TDS), I haven't seen any BBA since.

 

I prefer to spread my dosing out so that I dose a little every day when I feed my fishes. I figure it helps keep things just a little more stable. So, 2X per week may be better than once per week. But, that being said, I don't know if it really makes that much of a difference. Your plants look happy to me, so I don't see any real need to change things up.

The only way increasing your fertilization would help would be if your plants are struggling with some type of deficiency. If they are, more fertilization would help them grow stronger and defend themselves better from algae. It's unlikely to hurt, so it's worth a try to see if it helps.

The other biggies for BBA and staghorn are a dirty tank, unstable CO2, and (I believe) unwanted stuff in your source water. So, for a start, keep the tank super clean and make sure your CO2 is stable (the latter is unlikely to be a problem in low-tech set ups). Regarding the unwanted stuff in your water, this is just a personal observation. But after I switched over to using RO water (my tap also had high TDS), I haven't seen any BBA since.

I wish I was seeing the same results as you. I am using RO water, my water is super clean, my CO2 is stable, I do twice weekly water changes at about 20% each time. Still the BBA persists. About to add some horned nerites to see if they will help.

 

I wish I was seeing the same results as you. I am using RO water, my water is super clean, my CO2 is stable, I do twice weekly water changes at about 20% each time.

Curious: if you're using RO water, how do you have GH, KH, and TDS readings as high as you do? Are you remineralizing your water, or do you have some limestone or something in there? My RO water has GH, KH, and TDS at or near zero. As a result, I actually need to remineralize it a bit.

Still the BBA persists. About to add some horned nerites to see if they will help.

I've had Siamese Algae Eaters (SAEs) work wonders on this stuff, so they may be another option as well.

 

siamese algae eaters are agressive. they will eat your shrimps. plus they stop eating the algae when they grow bigger. i had BBA too and i use distilled water for water change. and add shrimp kh/gh+ cos was afraid lack of minerals might affect molting cos for a period i had ring of death on shrimp frequently. reduced water flow and reduce temp works for me in reducing the BBA. still present...but growing at a much slowly stage. and only in front of the area where the HOB filter water flows into the tank. mainly on the CO2 diffuser tube. other areas are ok. so i suspect the flow and CO2 got to do with it but its very mild now. so i just let it be.

 

siamese algae eaters are agressive. they will eat your shrimps. plus they stop eating the algae when they grow bigger.

In defense of SAEs, I've been keeping them in almost all my larger tanks for about 20 years. I've kept them with shrimp (mostly Amano shrimp) without issue. I've never had any issues with aggression, and they have all continued to eat algae even when they get big.

 

Curious: if you're using RO water, how do you have GH, KH, and TDS readings as high as you do? Are you demineralizing your water, or do you have some limestone or something in there? My RO water has GH, KH, and TDS at or near zero. As a result, I actually need to demineralize it a bit.

I actually add a little bit of tap water (maybe a pint per 2 gal) in when I change the water. My tap runs at about 23 gh and 18 kh so I use that to remineralize the water from the RO system. I also have slate in my tank that leaches some minerals back into the water. Stopped testing TDS a while ago when my tester broke so can't say what it is today, but gh stays about 6 ad kh stays around 3.

i have heard of SAE, but I am not really interested in another type of fish in the tank. I have ember tetras who are just now coming out of their shells. They have hidden themselves for so long and are now swimming freely in schools so I don't want to upset that with a new addition. I figured snails wouldn't be such an intrusion to them.

Curious: if you're using RO water, how do you have GH, KH, and TDS readings as high as you do? Are you demineralizing your water, or do you have some limestone or something in there? My RO water has GH, KH, and TDS at or near zero. As a result, I actually need to demineralize it a bit.

siamese algae eaters are agressive. they will eat your shrimps. plus they stop eating the algae when they grow bigger. i had BBA too and i use distilled water for water change. and add shrimp kh/gh+ cos was afraid lack of minerals might affect molting cos for a period i had ring of death on shrimp frequently. reduced water flow and reduce temp works for me in reducing the BBA. still present...but growing at a much slowly stage. and only in front of the area where the HOB filter water flows into the tank. mainly on the CO2 diffuser tube. other areas are ok. so i suspect the flow and CO2 got to do with it but its very mild now. so i just let it be.

I've had Siamese Algae Eaters (SAEs) work wonders on this stuff, so they may be another option as well.

Thanks for the input. I do keep quite a flow going b/c my corys love to play in the current. I will experiment with that a little bit and see if that will not curb the BBA. Also will look into the lower spectrum of temps for all of my fish/inverts and see what I can come up with to help perhaps. I currently run @ 72 degrees, but on warm days when I forget to turn on the fan over the tank, the temp climbs to 74 degrees. I do have a population of bladder snails and mini ramshorn that feed my assassin snail, but they do not seem to make a dent in the BBA. Ugh...I hate this stuff.

 

I actually add a little bit of tap water (maybe a pint per 2 gal) in when I change the water. My tap runs at about 23 gh and 18 kh so I use that to remineralize the water from the RO system. I also have slate in my tank that leaches some minerals back into the water. Stopped testing TDS a while ago when my tester broke so can't say what it is today, but gh stays about 6 ad kh stays around 3.

That all sounds good to me. I doubt your water is part of the problem.

i have heard of SAE, but I am not really interested in another type of fish in the tank. I have ember tetras who are just now coming out of their shells. They have hidden themselves for so long and are now swimming freely in schools so I don't want to upset that with a new addition. I figured snails wouldn't be such an intrusion to them.

That makes sense. Plus adding more livestock isn't helpful if your tank is already full.

Thanks for the input. I do keep quite a flow going b/c my corys love to play in the current. I will experiment with that a little bit and see if that will not curb the BBA. Also will look into the lower spectrum of temps for all of my fish/inverts and see what I can come up with to help perhaps. I currently run @ 72 degrees, but on warm days when I forget to turn on the fan over the tank, the temp climbs to 74 degrees.

Honestly, 72°-74° is perfectly fine. I run my planted tanks at 72°. It's the elevated 80°+ tanks that seem to run into problems.

I do have a population of bladder snails and mini ramshorn that feed my assassin snail, but they do not seem to make a dent in the BBA.

Yeah, I've never seen these snails eat it either.

Ugh...I hate this stuff.

It is a pain.

 

Thanks for all your input!