Nitrate Reading

[Fintastic!]

Over the past few weeks my nitrate has been going from 20 to 40 and back to 20 again. I've checked twice this week and it's been 20. Current readings are ammonia 0, nitrate 20, ph 7.6, nitrite 0. Do you guys know what this means and is it harmful? It's a ten gal tank with 3 platys, one molly and 3 corys. The tank is 4-5 years old so well cycled. Thanks guys!

 

[Katch]

Any plants in the tank?

Either way nitrates at that level are not harmful to livestock.

 

[Spurry]

im a noob my self but i think 20 to 40 is fine it will go up and down with water changes
i normally get 20 for my nitrates as well but ive hit 0 last night dont no why im currently at

ammonia: 0
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 0
ph 7.5/7.6

my test kit recomend <50 nitrates but i here you can have more but best to keep it low with water changes

 

[Fintastic!]

Thanks for that guys. I have 3 fake plants and one real one. I have no idea what the real one is.

 

[Aqua Tom]

<>
my test kit recomend <50 nitrates but i here you can have more but best to keep it low with water changes

That is only an option in low Nitrate areas, My water comes out the tap at 80+ Nitrate .

I have stoped testing for Nitrate now as it is a hard test to get right & I find that people get fixated on it at the cost of the important stuff.

 

[Katch]

Planted tank owners dose their tanks to 80-100ppm nitrate and even more with no ill effects to stock.

 

[Overload]

<>
my test kit recomend <50 nitrates but i here you can have more but best to keep it low with water changes

That is only an option in low Nitrate areas, My water comes out the tap at 80+ Nitrate .

I have stoped testing for Nitrate now as it is a hard test to get right & I find that people get fixated on it at the cost of the important stuff.

You know the legal limit is 50ppm at the customers tap, might be worth having a word with your water supplier

 

[Spurry]

Any idea why mines dropped to zero

 

[Overload]

Any idea why mines dropped to zero

What test kit are you using?

With the API Master test kit (the one I use) the Nitrate test is very hard to get right so might just be a false reading, best bet run the test again

 

[Katch]

Any idea why mines dropped to zero

the tests are notoriously inaccurate.

if you don't shake the bottles as directed for the full amount of time and then shake the test as directed, you won't get a reading even close to accurate. Even if you do everything as intended the results are never very good.

 

[Aqua Tom]

<>
my test kit recomend <50 nitrates but i here you can have more but best to keep it low with water changes

That is only an option in low Nitrate areas, My water comes out the tap at 80+ Nitrate .

I have stoped testing for Nitrate now as it is a hard test to get right & I find that people get fixated on it at the cost of the important stuff.

You know the legal limit is 50ppm at the customers tap, might be worth having a word with your water supplier

As I said, it is a hard test to get right so I may be doing it wrong, Also I like high Nitrates (planted Tank).

 

[Spurry]

What test kit are you using?
best bet run the test again

Hi its a Nutrafin just tested it tonight go 5

the tests are notoriously inaccurate.

if you don't shake the bottles as directed for the full amount of time and then shake the test as directed, you won't get a reading even close to accurate. Even if you do everything as intended the results are never very good.

thanks just redone and made sure i shaked it right got 5

thanks