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Ideal A•Ni•Na Range?
What is the ideal ppm range for ammonia (A), nitrite (Ni) and nitrate (Na)?
Just tested my Plan B system, which is cycling without fish, adding 5 ml of ammonia. Using an API test kit, the ammonia tested (at near 0 pm: yellow). The nitrite tested out at about 1 ppm (mg/L). Nitrate tested at around 40 ppm. (See photo below). It's obvious the biofilter is working. My transplanted Swiss Chard are thriving, as are the radishes grown from seed (my first test plants).
FYI... pH at 7.64 @ 61F water temp. (test tube on left).
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Eric Warwick on
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Funny thing just happened, I thought the Ni was Nickel and the Na was Sodium. I was a bit confused
--now the masters will answer your question. 
(another overuse of emotocon)
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Permalink Reply by Bill Moore on
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Yeah... it's confusing using my abbreviation, but it's how it keep track of the sequence of the cycle. The have nothing to do with the periodic table.
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Permalink Reply by TCLynx on
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Ideal range or appropriate range for the point you are in cycling are two different things.
Once cycled up you want to be able to have the ammonia and nitrite at 0 while you are feeding your fish the appropriate amount and the Nitrates can be anywhere from 0-high though ideally you want your nitrates to be somewhere between 0 and a readable range on the card just to make it easy (I personally can't read anything over about 30 accurately.) As long as the plants seem happy, a 0 nitrate reading would be fine, if you have 0 nitrates and your plants seem to be suffering nitrate deficiency then you may need more fish or a better fish food.
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