Perhaps the 0 nitrate reading is due to your plants using it up? If there are only a handful of fish compared to the amount of water, you might have a small concentration of nitrate that the plants are able to keep up with. On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 8:39 AM, Michael Staeb <mikeycpa@gmail.com> wrote: > >>> It sounds like everything is off to a great start in your tank. Since > you are not seeing any ammonia or nitrite your biological filtration is > already up and running for the number of fish that you started with. Well > done. You could probably add a couple more fish whenever you are ready. > > Initially that's what I was thinking, that I had seeded enough water > and used filter media that the cycle had already completed, but what > concerns me is that even the nitrate levels are reading 0. > > >>> The rise in pH is not related to nutrients. Unless you're feeding your > fish baking soda, or mummified jerky or something, it's probably coming from > your decorations or gravel. What type of substrate are you using? Any > decorations or driftwood? > > No baking soda or jerky, sorry! ;-) I am using a gravel substrate > with a mixed in clay component in the bottom layer designed to help > plant growth. I do have a number of plants (including two mosses) in > there and one large/one small piece of driftwood. I'm also using a > CO2 diffuser (not the fancy kind, just the inexpensive one that keeps > a "pool" of CO2 directly in contact with the surface of the water). > Might over doing the CO2 effect anything? > > >>> How is the health of your fish looking? Everyone active and eating? > Fins and gills moving normally? > > Everyone seems to be fine. They are all acting accordingly. Danios > are quite active. Fed them live brine shrimp for the first time last > night and boy was that a show! Otos are doing their thing. Plants > are growing quite well and appear healthy. > _______________________________________________ > GSAS-Member mailing list > GSAS-Member@thekrib.com > http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member > _______________________________________________ GSAS-Member mailing list GSAS-Member@thekrib.com http://lists.thekrib.com/mailman/listinfo/gsas-member