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Brand new tank, 40L, 11 Neon Tetra, not cycled .. added Nitrico

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stuhyde

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Starting a new post for people thinking about Nitrico.
Brand new tank and kit running for a few days.
Bought 11 neon tetras (was 10 but got an extra one) and 6 plants yesterday.
The goop arrived also and got it in all the filter mechanisms.
Fish not fed yesterday but gave a small amount today of the Hikari micro pellets about an hour ago (pre soaked in tank water).
Seems I judged the amount right as it was pretty much all gone in 2-3 mins.
7.6ph/0/0/0
 
Last edited:
stuhyde said:
Starting a new post for people thinking about Nitrico.
Brand new tank and kit running for a few days.
Bought 11 neon tetras (was 10 but got an extra one) and 6 plants yesterday.
The goop arrived also and got it in all the filter mechanisms.
Fish not fed yesterday but gave a small amount today of the Hikari micro pellets about an hour ago (pre soaked in tank water).
Seems I judged the amount right as it was pretty much all gone in 2-3 mins.
7.6ph/0/0/0
Click to expand...
Let us know ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels a few minutes before your first water exchange. I’m curious to see if these numbers remain zero.
 
8 days in and 0/0/0

I'm thinking now that the Nitrico did its job as advertised and any Nitrates are being consumed by the plants.
I'll give it another week and do a small water change to replenish the minerals in the water, but for now, this looks like a super low maintenance tank.
 

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If the plants are doing there job they'll take up ammonia leaving none to be converted to nitrate. If plants take up nitrate, they need to convert it into ammonia internally to use it. So it takes less energy for them to take up ammonia directly and only use nitrate if there isn't enough ammonia. That's the concept behind plant cycling.
 
Found the quote I was looking for


Byron said:
This is another debatable point, plants using or not using nitrate.

Most aquarium plants prefer ammonia/ammonium, and will ignore nitrate if the ammonia/ammonium is in balance with all other nutrients and the light. They will not switch to nitrate (or nitrite) under normal circumstances (low-tech, natural method planted tank) because chances are the light and other nutrients (esp carbon here) will not be sufficient. And it takes plants about 24 hours to change gears. And, when they do, they have to then spend considerable energy changing the nitrate back into ammonium so they can use it. So, it is not surprising that they tend to ignore nitrate. [In high-tech systems it is very different.]

Diana Walstad goes into all this is great detail in her book Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, citing numerous scientific studies.

Also, there is denitrification. Bacteria that use nitrate to create oxygen. And, there is the change from nitrate to nitrogen gas that then escapes back into the atmosphere at the surface.
Click to expand...
 
stuhyde said:
8 days in and 0/0/0

I'm thinking now that the Nitrico did its job as advertised and any Nitrates are being consumed by the plants.
I'll give it another week and do a small water change to replenish the minerals in the water, but for now, this looks like a super low maintenance tank.
Click to expand...

Three weeks and three months, are my initial "break in" lapses...

Where it starts to show it's real tendencies.

Report back, I love that stuff !
 
Essjay said:
Found the quote I was looking for
Click to expand...


The magic of it is, it happens.

The exchange of nitrate to nitrogen gas is done by anaerobic bacteria as I could understand. And they can appear during a fishless cycle because the multiplying bacteria also use lots of oxygen and leaves place for them to occur in less "ventilated" area.

it's like containing a bush fire, it crawls under your feet as you try to extinguish it.
 
stuhyde said:
8 days in and 0/0/0

I'm thinking now that the Nitrico did its job as advertised and any Nitrates are being consumed by the plants.
I'll give it another week and do a small water change to replenish the minerals in the water, but for now, this looks like a super low maintenance tank.
Click to expand...
Wow, it certainly looks like the nitrico is working great! I got to get some!
 
Update:
Tested the levels tonight and still 0/0/0 .... Nitrates *may* be at 5 if that. Slight algae on the glass at front probably due to the light being on 6-8hrs a day. Plant growth is definitely there, fish happy.
Noticed some brown stuff on the leaves, but that just wiped off. Did a 25% tonight just to clear up the bits, filter not touched at all.
Have noticed that the PH increased to around 8 hence the water change, no concerns though really, although I do know Neons prefer slightly more acidic water.
 

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