# Day 5 of new tank - no ammonia but high nitrates.....



## [bt] (Mar 3, 2005)

Me again.

Today is the 5th full day of having my 8gal tank up and running.
I have been testing the water each day and recording the results. I have also added some plants and a few fish flakes.

My pH and KH levels were initially high (expected, my water supply is hard and chalky), but with some rainwater they have dropped nicely.

I am showing a complete 0 for both Nitrite and Ammonia, which I would have expected to have been rising by now.

However, I have a reading of 25mg/l of Nitrate (taken using a Tetratest stick). It seems like there's something wrong to me.

Anyone got any ideas?


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Yep, that's pretty weird.

I'm going to guess that some chemical you used while setting up the tank has affected the accuracy of your test strips, OR, your tapwater already has nitrate in it, OR, the dirt in the rootballs of the plants you added was highly fertilized and full of nitrate.

There are a few other obscure possibilities, but I'd say these three are your best bets.

With plants, it's entirely possible that you'll never see any ammonia, since the plants will absorb it very quickly. As such, you may never see nitrite, either. Furthermore, your nitrates will probably not get much higher than they are now. Of course, this all depends on how many plants you have and how well they're growing.

All in all, I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.


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## [bt] (Mar 3, 2005)

I think my water probably had a high level of nitrate anyway. I've been reading this level since I first put the water in.

I'm just going to let it cycle on its own and then take some readings before adding the fish at about 35 days.

Thanks for the advice!


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

nitrate can also be caused by rainwater... rainwater has a high nitrate content when there is static electricity involved (lightning)


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Your test readings sound pretty much like our tapwater. You aren't going to get anywhere without adding a source of ammonia. The fish flakes aren't doing it. 

If you really want to do a fishless cycle, then either toss in something that will decompose well, like a shrimp, or much better, a measured amount of ammonia. See the following article:
http://www.tropicalfishcentre.co.uk/Fishlesscycle.htm

Note: I haven't actually tried a fishless cycle. I've tried an ordinary cycle with fish (and lost fish while doing it because I didn't know what I was doing) or a cycle relying on a heavy plant load to protect the critters from ammonia while the bacteria are growing. But the fishless cycle method sounds like a very good way to get your tank started if you don't want to go down the heavily planted tank route.


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## [bt] (Mar 3, 2005)

I think I'll add the full whack of plants that I've got planned, perhaps some shrimp, then I'll wait.

It's day 7 now, should I be carrying out partial water changes?


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Since your test results sound pretty much like tapwater, doing partial water changes isn't going to accomplish anything... The idea of partial water changes is to dilute the concentrations of nasty chemicals. If you're doing a cycle with fish, you do frequent big partial water changes to reduce the amounts of ammonia and nitrite to levels where they won't kill your fish. At any rate, after your tank is cycled you'll be doing regular (about once every week or two) small water changes to keep nitrate from going too high.

Adding a bunch of plants and a dead shrimp is a good plan. That will get some ammonia going, and get your tank started cycling. If you add enough plants, and especailly lots of floating plants (like hortwort or duckweed), you don't really need to do the fishless cycling: the plants will absorb enough ammonia on their own to keep ammonia (and later nitrite) at levels that should be safe for your fish. 

Since you're in the UK, I recommend Greenline aquatic plants, http://www.aquaticplants.eu.com/
Their website isn't the most informative, but you can get info on the plants from http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php or
http://www.tropica.com/default.asp
The plants are really great, very healthy, and I usually get more of them than I ordered. (Example: order 3 Java Ferns, 6 arrive!)


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## [bt] (Mar 3, 2005)

Thanks for links MyraVan.

I've just written a journal for my new tank over onthe journals board and have now started to realise (as all my results fall together in my head) that the nitrates went shooting up when I added the rainwater.
Basically, there wasn't enough ammonia to get the cycle going and by adding the rainwater I've made the nitrates shoot up. 

I'd like to get my tank looking like this one:
http://glassaqua.tk/
I've got the plant names, it's just finding them.

Thanks again for the tips.


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## [bt] (Mar 3, 2005)

Dammit. I should read links before I type.

The Riccia Fluitans shown in the tank I like needs high light source and C02, neither which I intend to have, especially as I've read that neons prefer lower light sources and shady areas.


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Low tech tanks can look nice too. Check out
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x
click on El Natural, then on El Natural Gallery (you may have to register to do this...)
I should get some photos of my tank up on the Web. It's not really beautiful, but as a first attempt at a planted tank it's not too bad!


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

If you're going to plant this tank, its best to plant heavy from the start. This will help keep NH3,NO2, and NO3 down during the cycling process. With plants, depending on how heavy you plant, its possible, even somewhat common to see very little ammonia and nitrites. Ricca is not for the beginner plant owner as its very demanding and one of the hardest plants to keep submerged.


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## [bt] (Mar 3, 2005)

Thanks for the advice guys.

Having just spent a while looking at all the links I got from the link MyraVan posted, I'm now decided on how I want my tank to look.
I love the simple look and some of the pictures of the Amano tanks are amazing.

I've decided to plant relatively heavily, have a black background to match the black pebbles and use the greens of the plants and the blue and reds if the neons to be the highlight colours in the darkness.
I'll keep clear of the Ricca - don't want it floating around my tank!


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