No nitrate ?

[Adam GR]

Hi
Is it normal to have 0 nitrate? Im talking about 50g tank with huge messy Jack dempsey and few yellow labs. This tank is a marine tank converted to freshwater, 50g+ 12g sump (red see reefer 250) so all outlets pipes are on top and nothing sucks from bottom which results in a lot of mess between water changes (50% water change a week) and still - nitrate 0 ? Is that normal. As far as I know Nitrate usually hover around 20 - 40ppm and its not harmful to fishes.

 

[tlindsey]

Hi
Is it normal to have 0 nitrate? Im talking about 50g tank with huge messy Jack dempsey and few yellow labs. This tank is a marine tank converted to freshwater, 50g+ 12g sump (red see reefer 250) so all outlets pipes are on top and nothing sucks from bottom which results in a lot of mess between water changes (50% water change a week) and still - nitrate 0 ? Is that normal. As far as I know Nitrate usually hover around 20 - 40ppm and its not harmful to fishes.

View attachment 1415862

Did you shake the test bottles well for about a minute?

 

[Adam GR]

Did you shake the test bottles well for about a minute?

Yes, 30s after dose from bottle nr1 and 60s aftrer bottle nr2.

 

[Hendre]

How old is the test kit?

 

[Adam GR]

Ok sorry guys, mystery resolved. I just found out on YT that bottle nr2 should also be shaken for 40s before use. I did it and result looks like this now:

Is it 40ppm or more? According to api chart 40 and 80 looks quite similar.

 

[The Morning]

I would suggest you up your water change schedule. That is pretty dark.

 

[esoxlucius]

There's no real difference between the 10-20ppm of orange and the 40-80ppm of red. All I do now, rather than strain the hell out of my eyes, is aim for orange all the time. Anything near red is a no no, like your reading there. Time for a water change my friend.

And yes, in future shake the hell out of bottle no2. Bottle no2 crystallises when stood for a while.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Yup that is too high, If you are having trouble because of the detritus sitting on the bottom, sounds like not enough flow to carry the poo to the inlets. I'd recommend either extending the inlets to the bottom with some creative plumbing, or (easier) a small powerhead pointing to the bottom to keep water circulating up and into the filter

 

[Adam GR]

I will put in right on the bottom little filter aquael 500 just to collect dirt of the sand. Will see if that helps.

 

[Adam GR]

Yup that is too high, If you are having trouble because of the detritus sitting on the bottom, sounds like not enough flow to carry the poo to the inlets. I'd recommend either extending the inlets to the bottom with some creative plumbing, or (easier) a small powerhead pointing to the bottom to keep water circulating up and into the filter

I will also turn my sump pump to max setting, right now I had 2500l/h I will rise it to 3500l/h?