What did I do?

[NJmom2002]

I did a water change on Sunday in the 5 gal. THere was a little bit of ammonia in there. When I did the change I let the tank sit over night and I did a water test yesterday.. For some reason everything is at 0.

Ammonia=0
Nitrites=0
Nitrates=0

I used to have Nitrates and the last time I checked it was at 10. The only thing I did to the tank was add a piece of driftwood with java moss on it and I took out 2 artificial plants. Would that have affected the water somehow?

 

[cinlnk]

It appears to me that your tank has cycled? How long has this tank been setup, and what is your bioload?

 

[NJmom2002]

Tank has been set up since November. Right now it has 2 white clouds, 2 mystery snails and a african dwarf frog. Its a 5 gal tank..

 

[MissFishy]

That sounds great! When did you add the java fern? The java fern may be eating your nitrates, which is a good thing. All zeros are a good thing. Monitor your water over the next couple days just to make sure your tank doesn't swing into a mini-cycle. Also monitor the PH, the wood may change it.

 

[cinlnk]

Looks like that you are doing just fine...... Just like Fishy stated.. Keep up the W/C and maintenance and enjoy your little tank.

GREAT JOB!!!!*celebrate

 

[NJmom2002]

O ok thanks. I thought I did something wrong. lol I added the moss on Saturday. It looks nice in here but still trying to get ideas on how I really want it. Eventually I am going to take some of it out and put it into the 29 gal once I get it set up.. I figure it might help the tank cycle a little..

 

[Toam]

I've tied java moss to to driftwood using fish line, and I've also layed it on my gravel and covered it in gravel and let the moss grow out over it. Either way, Java moss in my experience and from what I've read takes 3 months or so to root onto an object, so have lot's of patience if your thinking of attaching it to any decor or your substrate.

 

[SANND]

I THere was a little bit of ammonia in there.

Live plants will use Nitrates as a food source, however, if your tank if cycled then you shouldn't have any ammonia at all. Did you test before or after you did the water change? And how much is a 'little' bit?

 

[NJmom2002]

I did the test before I did the water change. Before the change the ammonia was at .25 the nitrites were 0 and nitrates were 10. At this time the java moss was already in there for 3 days. After the water change everything was at 0.