When I last had my little hex tank set up, once it was settled down my three main parameter readings were 0,0 and 0, always. Ammonia and nitrite are obviously expected to be 0 at all times, but so was my nitrate. Why? Simply because I had a good dollop of surface salvinia, along with some algae in this tank and it mopped up my nitrates nicely.
I took that tank down some months ago, but on 1st April I set it back up. I did a fishless cycle and didn't use any existing media at all. All I added was a small amount of fish food, maybe every other day to kick start the cycle.
It worked very well. Ammonia showed up to 2ppm, then nitrite started, up to about 2ppm. As they both subsided you would usually then get a slow rise in nitrate, but obviously I didn't, because my salvinia made sure of that.
Currently, as of today, my three readings are, as expected, 0,0 and 0, see below. Basically my tank is cycled on day 27 from when I started it!
Now my conundrum....
I read that plants much prefer ammonia to nitrate. Apparently it's easier for them to absorb? So.....why did I ever have an ammonia show in the first place? Surely the Salvinia would have absorbed the ammonia as soon as my decaying fish food started releasing it?
Instead, my salvinia didn't touch the ammonia, or subsequent nitrite, but mopped up the end nitrate in quick order.
This leads me to believe that maybe not all plants do prefer ammonia after all, but are extremely effective at processing nitrate instead.
Can you shed some light on this please neutrino , duanes .
I took that tank down some months ago, but on 1st April I set it back up. I did a fishless cycle and didn't use any existing media at all. All I added was a small amount of fish food, maybe every other day to kick start the cycle.
It worked very well. Ammonia showed up to 2ppm, then nitrite started, up to about 2ppm. As they both subsided you would usually then get a slow rise in nitrate, but obviously I didn't, because my salvinia made sure of that.
Currently, as of today, my three readings are, as expected, 0,0 and 0, see below. Basically my tank is cycled on day 27 from when I started it!
Now my conundrum....
I read that plants much prefer ammonia to nitrate. Apparently it's easier for them to absorb? So.....why did I ever have an ammonia show in the first place? Surely the Salvinia would have absorbed the ammonia as soon as my decaying fish food started releasing it?
Instead, my salvinia didn't touch the ammonia, or subsequent nitrite, but mopped up the end nitrate in quick order.
This leads me to believe that maybe not all plants do prefer ammonia after all, but are extremely effective at processing nitrate instead.
Can you shed some light on this please neutrino , duanes .