Don't Understand How This Result Can Have Come About

[Benihana]

I know it is yet another question about cycling and for that I apologise but this is one I can't see answered anywhere else. We have been cycling for 3 weeks today. Since Wednesday Ammonia has been dropping from 5ppm to 0ppm in under 12 hours but our Nitrite is, as to be expected, off the chart. I measured Nitrate on Friday and had a reading of approx 60ppm. Yesterday it was down to about 15 and this morning it is roughly at 20 (Using the API master kit). How is this possible? Has our cycle stalled? I'm assuming not as the ammonia is still being cycled. No water changes have taken place so I guess my question is....where has the nitrate gone? Our tank is planted, but not particularly heavily (approx 10plants in a 96l tank). Any advice would be greatly appreciated, mainly to stop me worrying!

 

[Straydum]

well presence of nitrate means that nitrite is being processed. normally it wouldnt drop and you'd have to do a water change. my guess would be your plants. 10 plants i think should be enough to cause such a drop. or maybe a fellow friend or family member did a water change?

 

[Benihana]

well presence of nitrate means that nitrite is being processed. normally it wouldnt drop and you'd have to do a water change. my guess would be your plants. 10 plants i think should be enough to cause such a drop. or maybe a fellow friend or family member did a water change?

Thanks for that, I hoped that was the answer i'd get. I can safely say the drop isn't because my girlfriend has done a water change, there isn't 96l of water on the living room floor. lol!

 

[backtotropical]

This doesn't answer your question, but i would advise to concentrate on ammonia and nitrite for now. Forget nitrate until ammonia and nitrite are both 0, as this would avoid any confusion.

However, i agree, unless a water change has been performed, chances are your plants are using your nitrate.

 

[rdd1952]

I don't think the plants are the reason your nitrate has dropped. First, plants would actually prefer to use the ammonia in it's original state, before it is transformed. And second, even an extremely heavily planted tank would not use 45ppm of nitrate in a day. Are you sure you shook the bottles well? The second bottle can form lumps and if not shaken properly, the results will be inaccurate. My guess would be that the 60ppm reading is the one that was incorrect and that the nitrate is just beginning to climb.