Nirates??

Jhyromy

Jhyromy

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Im cycling my axolotl tank and my water parameters are how they should be, except the Nitrates stay as 0, how do I get the nitrates up? Could some thing be harming the cycle? What do I do
 
how are you cycling your tank?
 
I introduced ammonia into the tank thats pretty much it and have been changing a small amount of the water as well, right now all of my readings are as they should be but the nitrates won’t increase
 
to cycle a tank so that it is suitable for an axolotl you add enough ammonia per day to bring the ammonia level to 4ppm, once the tank/filter is able to remove 4ppm ammonia and nitrites 3 days in a row the tank is cycled, do not do a water change unless the nitrates are 110ppm or higher or the cycling has finished, if the ph drops to 7 use enough bicarbonate of soda to bring it up to 7.4-7.6, ensure adequate oxygenation, using a heater in the tank will help speed up cycling, make sure filter is large enough (2x tank size), use plenty of bio-media, bottled bacteria will help increase bacteria colony, if any water is added to the tank make sure it is dechlorinated before hand, do not use any dechlorinator/conditioner that lock/detox ammonia ie.. prime (dechlorinators that lock/detox ammonia can disrupt the cycling), use chemicals that dechlorinate only.
 
wolfen said:
to cycle a tank so that it is suitable for an axolotl you add enough ammonia per day to bring the ammonia level to 4ppm, once the tank/filter is able to remove 4ppm ammonia and nitrites 3 days in a row the tank is cycled, do not do a water change unless the nitrates are 110ppm or higher or the cycling has finished, if the ph drops to 7 use enough bicarbonate of soda to bring it up to 7.4-7.6, ensure adequate oxygenation, using a heater in the tank will help speed up cycling, make sure filter is large enough (2x tank size), use plenty of bio-media, bottled bacteria will help increase bacteria colony, if any water is added to the tank make sure it is dechlorinated before hand, do not use any dechlorinator/conditioner that lock/detox ammonia ie.. prime (dechlorinators that lock/detox ammonia can disrupt the cycling), use chemicals that dechlorinate only.
Click to expand...
Ah ok now I see what the problem is thank you
 
Jhyromy said:
Ah ok now I see what the problem is thank you
Click to expand...
My filter was able to remove the ammonia and nitrites 3 days but it still says theirs no nitrates
 
is ammonia being put into the tank, also how is it added?
 
will be quite messy to cycle with food as the ammonia needs to be at 4ppm per day which should produce approx 14ppm of nitrates, over 3 days this should be around 40ppm (these are approximate levels although 1ppm ammonia is 2.7ppm nitrite and 3.6ppm nitrate) which should definitely give a reading.
nitrates can be removed via plants, water changes, nitrate media, nitrate reactors, anoxic conditions (lack of oxygen causing bacteria to form which consume nitrates).
look into using ammonium chloride to cycle the tank (less messy, more accurate)
 
wolfen said:
will be quite messy to cycle with food as the ammonia needs to be at 4ppm per day which should produce approx 14ppm of nitrates, over 3 days this should be around 40ppm (these are approximate levels although 1ppm ammonia is 2.7ppm nitrite and 3.6ppm nitrate) which should definitely give a reading.
nitrates can be removed via plants, water changes, nitrate media, nitrate reactors, anoxic conditions (lack of oxygen causing bacteria to form which consume nitrates).
look into using ammonium chloride to cycle the tank (less messy, more accurate)
Click to expand...
Ok because so far im following this and am still not getting any readings
 
what media is in the filter, media like zeolite absorb ammonia and there are filter media which can reduce nitrates.
have you got adequate oxygenation, biological filtration requires oxygen but if there is only just sufficient amount dead zones can occur in the tank (places like under sand etc..) this can allow anaerobic bacteria to breed, anaerobic bacteria consumes nitrates (in nature this is fine but in an aquarium can cause a build up of nitrogen sulphide and other toxic gasses, they can also reduce nitrates back to nitrites and ammonia).
do you have any plants in the tank, plants will absorb nitrogen compounds.
how often are you doing water changes?
how exactly are you cycling the tank/filter?
it the tank lit, is there any algae growth?
 
wolfen said:
what media is in the filter, media like zeolite absorb ammonia and there are filter media which can reduce nitrates.
have you got adequate oxygenation, biological filtration requires oxygen but if there is only just sufficient amount dead zones can occur in the tank (places like under sand etc..) this can allow anaerobic bacteria to breed, anaerobic bacteria consumes nitrates (in nature this is fine but in an aquarium can cause a build up of nitrogen sulphide and other toxic gasses, they can also reduce nitrates back to nitrites and ammonia).
do you have any plants in the tank, plants will absorb nitrogen compounds.
how often are you doing water changes?
how exactly are you cycling the tank/filter?
it the tank lit, is there any algae growth?
Click to expand...
I do have enough oxygen for the tank and do not have any plants, im not sure how to check for anaerobic bacteria under my sand, I no longer change the water and theres no algae growth, the tank is not lit and I cycled by adding crushed food to the tank
 
I know using crushed food is used when cycling a tank for fish (very old school) but isn't very practical with axolotls due to levels needing to be measured, because food has to break down before producing ammonia so getting the amount required to produce enough ammonia is hit and miss (food doesn't break down at the same rate, there is also the risk of introducing mold into the tank)
I don't think you would be able to successfully cycle an axolotl tank using the fish food method.
grey/black areas in sand as well as pink areas can be a sign of anaerobic bacteria forming.
 
I
wolfen said:
what media is in the filter, media like zeolite absorb ammonia and there are filter media which can reduce nitrates.
have you got adequate oxygenation, biological filtration requires oxygen but if there is only just sufficient amount dead zones can occur in the tank (places like under sand etc..) this can allow anaerobic bacteria to breed, anaerobic bacteria consumes nitrates (in nature this is fine but in an aquarium can cause a build up of nitrogen sulphide and other toxic gasses, they can also reduce nitrates back to nitrites and ammonia).
do you have any plants in the tank, plants will absorb nitrogen compounds.
how often are you doing water changes?
how exactly are you cycling the tank/filter?
it the tank lit, is there any algae growth?
Click to expand...
wolfen said:
I know using crushed food is used when cycling a tank for fish (very old school) but isn't very practical with axolotls due to levels needing to be measured, because food has to break down before producing ammonia so getting the amount required to produce enough ammonia is hit and miss (food doesn't break down at the same rate, there is also the risk of introducing mold into the tank)
I don't think you would be able to successfully cycle an axolotl tank using the fish food method.
grey/black areas in sand as well as pink areas can be a sign of anaerobic bacteria forming.
Click to expand...
I see thank you, I used to have those weird sand areas but they’re gone, what else can I do for the ammonia and will it help my nitrates boost
 
most people tend to use ammonium chloride (dr tims being the most popular) as it is easy to control dosage.
once the tank starts cycling properly the nitrates will start to rise, do not do a water change unless the nitrates are 110ppm or higher, do not change more than 50% at a time, always dechlorinate the water before adding, only use a dechlorinator not a conditioner are any chemicals that lock/detox ammonia etc..
 
wolfen said:
most people tend to use ammonium chloride (dr tims being the most popular) as it is easy to control dosage.
once the tank starts cycling properly the nitrates will start to rise, do not do a water change unless the nitrates are 110ppm or higher, do not change more than 50% at a time, always dechlorinate the water before adding, only use a dechlorinator not a conditioner are any chemicals that lock/detox ammonia etc..
Click to expand...
Ok I will get some today hopefully it works
 
wolfen said:
most people tend to use ammonium chloride (dr tims being the most popular) as it is easy to control dosage.
once the tank starts cycling properly the nitrates will start to rise, do not do a water change unless the nitrates are 110ppm or higher, do not change more than 50% at a time, always dechlorinate the water before adding, only use a dechlorinator not a conditioner are any chemicals that lock/detox ammonia etc..
Click to expand...
I added in the dr tims ammonium chloride I did the instructions correctly
Jhyromy said:
Ok I will get some today hopefully it works
Click to expand...
ok so I used the ammonium choloride about 2 days ago and im not sure what to think abt the results, my ammonia ia at 0.25 ppm, my nitrite went all the way down to 5.0ppm and my nitrate went up to 20ppm
 
whilst cycling the ammonia needs to be added daily (this is to simulate waste produced by an adult axolotl, around 4ppm) until both ammonia and nitrites are zero three days in a row the tank is still cycling, ensure good ph (7.4-7.6) and that there is enough biological filtration.
nitrite reducing is a good sign as is the increase in nitrates (whilst cycling only do a water change if the nitrate are 110ppm or higher, no more than 50%, always dechlorinate water before adding to tank)
if the ammonia level is higher than 4ppm don't top up (if below top up to 4ppm) make sure ph is good and temperature is good (during cycling increasing the temperature will cause the ammonia consuming/converting bacteria to increase faster speeding the cycling up, it also speeds up the breakdown of ammonium), if the nitrites are high but aren't decreasing ensure there is sufficient bio media and adequate oxygenation (increased temperature will cause the nitrite consuming/converting bacteria to increase faster speeding the cycling up)
 
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