Nitrate Dissapeared Before Big Water Change!

[14gtr14]

i have been cycling my tank around 3 weeks now and i have seen nitrite go through the roof. My nitrate has been at around 15ppm and my ammonia dissapears in around a day.

one thing though is that now my nitrite is at 0ppm and ammonia is 0ppm 12-24 hours after adding, but for some reason my nitrates have fallen to 0ppm! i thought you only got rid of this with a water change??

one reason that i could think of for this is that i recently changed my filtrate in my eheim to carbon. will the carbon be removing the nitrate? if so, am i ready for my 75-90% water change?

if you could help it would be great!

 

[14gtr14]

anyone??

 

[14gtr14]

if anyone has a clue please please help! it would be great!!

 

[andywg]

From my experience, the most likely cause is a dodgy nitrate test reading. I haev very little faith in the tests.

 

[dwarfgourami]

From my experience, the most likely cause is a dodgy nitrate test reading. I haev very little faith in the tests.

My theory is that they have all simultaneously found their way back to Planet Nitrate through a black hole that has opened suddenly. How can you otherwise explain that my nitrates towards the end of the fishless cycle were right up at the high end of the API master test kit on Thursday and had dropped to almost nothing on Friday. I had been adding ammonia as per usual, the nitrites finally went down between Thursday and Friday- but so did the nitrates. Do you think the kit would have gone off that suddenly?

 

[14gtr14]

this is exactly what happened to me! i added ammonia as usual and nitrites/ammonia fell and also my nitrate fell pretty quickly? could it be the plants or the filter??

 

[dwarfgourami]

this is exactly what happened to me! i added ammonia as usual and nitrites/ammonia fell and also my nitrate fell pretty quickly? could it be the plants or the filter??

Not the plants in my case- I haven't even put in my order with Greenline yet!

I have assumed that as the nitrites hve definitely spiked and fallen, that the tank is cycled, so two bristlenoses have gone in today.