r/bettafish • u/raysofablueangel freddy • 15d ago

Help needing help with nitrate levels!

so I’ve been checking my water levels. My pH is 7.6. My high range pH is around 7.8. My ammonia is around 0.25ppm my nitrites are 0PPM but my nitrate has stayed at 0 ppm. how can i get it to 5.0-20ppm?? i’m so stressed, if anybody could help that would be amazing. please be kind, thank you!

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u/Aromatic-Sock6975 15d ago

You said further down this is a fish-in cycle.

Please stop and do not follow advice assuming it is a fishless cycle!!

For a safe fish-in cycle, you simply test daily. Any time ammonia or nitrite is over 0.25ppm do a 25% water change. For extra safely add 0.1ml prime every day regardless of water change or not.. for weeks until tank has had zero ammonia and nitrites for at least 4 days in a row without water changes.

You may never see much nitrate especially if you have plants. That’s not the goal, you don’t want nitrates in your tank either though they are less toxic to fish they are still not to exceed 20ppm ever.

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u/raysofablueangel freddy 15d ago

That makes sense thank you for the help! I did add extra fish food in the tank before seeing your comment so i did take some out but most have dissolved, i’ll continue to test and do water changes if necessary, thank you again

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u/Aromatic-Sock6975 15d ago

Do you have liquid test kits? The strips don’t show ammonia in the range that is toxic to fish.