How long after WC for accurate nitrate reading?

[spwd]

Hi guys just wondering how long to leave my tank after a water change to get an accurate nitrate or any other reading or doesnt it make much difference?
I normally do it the day after but was just wondering?

Steve

 

[thepede]

once the new water has mixed with the tank water you will be able to test in the same way you do it for ammonia/nitrites...you don't wait a day to test for those when you get a spike as fish might die by then. So pretty much by the time you put your water changing stuff away, go ahead and test. If that doesn't satisfy you, check it the next day TOO.

 

[kdrun76]

For nitrates ... 30 min.

If you have a cycled tank and you used dechlorinated tap water, I would wait 24 hours to test for ammonia. On an uncycled, tank 30 min.

 

[congofeet]

nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle, so I am not too sure why testing for it right after would be important. I would test for nitrate before your water change to see if you should be changing your water more frequently, but other than that I do not think there is much to gain from testing it soon after. You should, at some point, test your tap water for its nitrate so you know what your baseline should be.

 

[nfored]

I always tested for nitrate after 1 hour from water change. This way the water has had time to cycle through the filter a couple times.

 

[vfc]

If you are using a dechlor (e.g., Prime), you would need to wait ~ 24hrs for an accurate reading on nitrate and ammonia.

 

[spwd]

Obviously i would check before a wc i just wanted to know so i could make a comparison to the reading before and after to see how much difference a wc made to the reading,but was unsure how long i had to wait,i thought about an hour so the water had been through the filter,everything else is fine,thanks for the replies.

And i do know a bigger or smaller wc will read differently before anyone says that.


Cheers steve