Riddle me this

Tank 4 months old now, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates... never seen any of the 3... ever. Tank is stocked with a blue damsel, a percula, and a yellow tang. Also recent addition of a LTA. Where are my nitrates going and why? There is no way that a tank with this kind of stock would not be producing ammonia, so the cycle has definitely completed ages ago.:-/

 

thats not normal,but not unheard of either.

 

Get yourself another testing kit just to be sure or take some water down your local lfs and get it checked there, they normally do it for free...

 

Great point, sometimes old or expired testing kits give you untrue readings.

 

the kit is only as old as the setup (4 months), and I've had it tested at the LFS a few times during the process just to make sure my tests are in check. Should I be worried about a sudden ammonia/nitrite/nitrate spike? Or is it likely that this groove I'm hanging in will last for a while?

 

Hey, just b/c you bought the testing kit at the same time as the tank, doesnt mean its not expired. Look for an expiration date. Just food for thought. Luna

 

how did you initially cycle? Did you use cured live rock?

 

If I missed it sorry.........

but what was the gallons on the tank again? If it is stocked with these in a 55G with 50 lbs of cured LR and a good skimmer and/or a fuge with macro, even with out and if the tank is large enough it should be able to handel that bioload no problem. What is your source water, using RO I hope?

AS for where is it going.......have you been doing water changes (manual removel)? It may be very low levels and algea is using them.

 

I initially cycled (if you can call it cycling with no actual cycle noted) using 65 #'s of live rock, and a yellow tail damsel. the tank is 75 gallons, and using a canister filter and a protein skimmer rated for a 125g. And yes, im using DI water.

Have yet to do a water change.. was really waiting for nitrates to start creeping up, but still none. Never saw an ammonia spike, a nitrite spike, and of course no nitrates. Have been using calc/alk supplements, as well as reef plus for trace elements. All water params are looking good otherwise and fish and coral seem healthy.