Nitrates always at 0

Hi there,

I did a fish in cycle with in my 29 gallon. It's been running for about 5 weeks.
My tank seemed cycled in about 2 weeks with my 2 danio and filter media from a friend.
Week 2: I added 2 more danio and parameters remained stable 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites.
Now it is week 5, I have 4 danio, some valnisneria and an Amazon sword. I'm planning on adding more fish this week but my readings have consistently been showing 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate.
It's been 6 says since I did a water change. I have been careful that my nitrate tests are accurate and I'm shaking the bottles for the correct amount of time. Why is my nitrate still zero? Is this bad? Do I even have enough plants to for my nitrate to be 0?


Thanks,
J

 

It doesn't look like your tank has cycled at all. What big of water changes are you doing? And how often? Have you seen the ammonia spike ever?

 

Actually, it's perfectly natural for a cycled tank to sit at 0 nitrates forever if it's heavily planted. Some species of aquatic plants will suck up nitrates like it's candy. It depends on what you have in there as well as your water chemistry. With that many fish there's no way you would see 0 ammonia for this long if it wasn't cycled. Do keep an eye on it though, your tank is not old enough to be considered "established" yet. You may very well still see a large ammonia or nitrite spike in the future

 

Also keep in mind that 4 danios will have a very small bioload. Enough to generate ammonia, but the nitrates produced from that amount of ammonia would probably get used by your plants right away. Keep doing what youre doing, stock slowly and keep an eye on it

 

With just 4 little fish there won't be a great deal of ammonia produced. It is very possible that your plants are cleaning up the small amount of nitrates being produced. Seeing no nitrate isn't a problem as long as your plants are healthy.

Add your future fish slowly and it is possible you will never see either ammonia or nitrites but should eventually start seeing some nitrates.

 

After I got the fish my ammonia reading were around .25 for the first week. I did water changes every day the first week. Then around week 2 it went to 0 and I did see nitrates. I did a large water change. Then I continued to see 0 ammonia and nitrate and I added the new fish.
I do a 30% water change each week. My Amazon sword has been growing. I'm seeing algae too.

 

Add your future fish slowly and it is possible you will never see either ammonia or nitrites but should eventually start seeing some nitrates

I plan on adding 2 more Danio on Tuesday.
When do you think I can add let's say a school of 6-8 tetra?

 

After I got the fish my ammonia reading were around .25 for the first week. I did water changes every day the first week. Then around week 2 it went to 0 and I did see nitrates. I did a large water change. Then I continued to see 0 ammonia and nitrate and I added the new fish.
I do a 30% water change each week. My Amazon sword has been growing. I'm seeing algae too.

Sounds like everything is going just fine then, you're good! Adding more plants will help with the algae. It's possible you're leaving your lights on for too long as well. Make sure your photoperiod doesn't exceed 8 hours until you have more plants in there and maybe add a mystery snail or something. EZ fix

 

I plan on adding 2 more Danio on Tuesday.
When do you think I can add let's say a school of 6-8 tetra?

Wait at least a week after your first school is added before starting to add another school and test every day. I recommend adding them slowly like you did with the danios

 

With just 4 little fish there won't be a great deal of ammonia produced. It is very possible that your plants are cleaning up the small amount of nitrates being produced. Seeing no nitrate isn't a problem as long as your plants are healthy.

Add your future fish slowly and it is possible you will never see either ammonia or nitrites but should eventually start seeing some nitrates.

I'm curious i have 4 fish in my 20g currently and also seeded but ammonia only went 0.25

 

Sounds like everything is going just fine then, you're good! Adding more plants will help with the algae. It's possible you're leaving your lights on for too long as well. Make sure your photoperiod doesn't exceed 8 hours until you have more plants in there and maybe add a mystery snail or something. EZ fix

Thanks. I'm planning on adding a nerite snail and some floating plants. I'm glad I seem to be on the right track.

 

I'm curious i have 4 fish in my 20g currently and also seeded but ammonia only went 0.25

That sounds perfectly normal especially with seeded media

 

Wait at least a week after your first school is added before starting to add another school and test every day. I recommend adding them slowly like you did with the danios

Thanks for the input... Trying to avoid the temptation to add too many at once

 

I plan on adding 2 more Danio on Tuesday.
When do you think I can add let's say a school of 6-8 tetra?

I would wait at least a week between additions. Just keep and eye on the parameters to make sure you don't get drastic spikes. You may see low ones but they can be controlled with water changes if they spike too high.

I'm curious i have 4 fish in my 20g currently and also seeded but ammonia only went 0.25

Each tank is different so what we see in one won't always be the same in another.

 

That sounds perfectly normal especially with seeded media

nitrites and nitrates have been at 0 with some cloudy water as i was explained it should soon past..I appreciate the reply.