View Full Version : NO3 in fish-only tanks
mogurnda
08-13-2003, 11:23 AM
I was wondering what people's nitrate is in their fish-only tanks. Be honest, this is anonymous.
I find it perverse that the NO3 differs so much in my three main tanks. I try to keep NO3 at near zero in the reef, I have to constantly add NO3 to the plant tank, and I generally ignore it in the tank that only has a few low-light plants.
OrionGirl
08-13-2003, 11:38 AM
I supplement nitrates in my planted tanks--didn't use to need this, since the tank was packed with fish, but even then it only hovered around 5-10. The newt tank would climb the highest, but it gets more frequently water changes to keep their toxicity from killing off the fish.
Our SW setups seldom have nitrates present--the xenia suffer as a result.
For once the changes in our water supply have one beneficial side to them - we previously had a real 0 nitrate titer, but since the county took over and merged our system with one from the valley below us, we have 5-10 ppm nitrates in the source water. I don't have to add much anymore.
My FO tanks tend to have veggie filters attached, so nitrates don't build there either.
mogurnda
08-14-2003, 9:48 PM
Still curious.
aquariumfishguy
12-07-2004, 3:13 PM
Results are interestingly enough, scattered.
slipknottin
12-07-2004, 3:18 PM
near 0, the mbuna tanks have quite a think growth of algae.
mayreee
12-07-2004, 4:10 PM
Hmm..I went to place my vote in the poll and it says that I already voted in the poll....I know **** well that I didn't. Strange...
anyway, my nitrites are in the 5-10 range in my 55g cichlid tank.
Hmm it was an old post so maybe you did a while back and forgot about it.
cambro
12-07-2004, 5:59 PM
I got the same message, slappy. Maybe it's telling you not to vote again? My nitrate is 10-20 if I don't keep an eye on it during the week. I'm presently doing water changes to get it back to the 5-10 range.
daveedka
12-07-2004, 7:09 PM
In my Oscar tanks in the old days I kept it below 20 at all times. that was really a task. I would guess with my current feeding arrangement, I could keep this O tank in the 5-10 range without plants pretty easily. feeding habits seem to be the biggest factor, and filtration technique (ease of maintenance) is second In my mind. It has been a long time since I ran FO tanks. I have learned much since the days of 3 water changes a week.
dave
Being among the lazy, I'd rank those factors equally, or maybe put ease first... ;)
russjet
12-08-2004, 6:53 AM
my tank water is at about 30ppm although water from the tap is 40ppm possibly higher
i think my small algae population lowers it as does a nitrate remover
thinking plants maybe coming soon to help further reduce it
this may also be why the lfs says to change water fortnightly to monthly and only 25% as the nitrates in our area are high before adding to the tank
and all their tanks are planted too :confused: :confused: :confused:
Fishsmurf
12-08-2004, 7:42 AM
I battled like mad to keep my old Discus tank sub 20ppm, I just could not work out why with the huge amount of water changes I was doing that it remained at a fairly constant 10ppm. It was only after reading here and then when I checked the tap water and found it was 20ppm which I was then diluting with 50% RO that the answer become clear.
Ideally I'd like sub 10ppm in any FO tank....
I'll have to start adding some sort of nitrate. The local plant I use in the aquarium here keeps the nitrate at essentially zero all the time. Don't even know what the plant is, just that it grows in the local forest creeks and requires very little light or much of anything to survive and flourish...
JSchmidt
12-08-2004, 8:54 AM
Our water has 10-20 ppm nitrate out of the tap (depending on the season), so we don't even start at zero. I try to keep my nitrates below 20-30 ppm plus what comes out of the tap, but I have a couple heavily stocked mbuna tanks in which that's hard to maintain.
Jim
mogurnda
12-08-2004, 9:15 AM
It lives! The thread lives!
Happy to see some new responses.
qtaquaman
12-20-2004, 10:02 PM
It is interesting that only 40% of respondants could keep many apistos, discus, and sensitive Tanganyikans alive for the long term without problem. :(
fishman89
02-06-2005, 6:16 PM
my SW tank has nitrates of .25ppm its a fish only so I'm exactly frantic but planning on slowly reducing it. My freshwater tank has Nitrates of .5ppm
I'm on well water with rediculously high nitrates. The best I can do is take the water+fish waste and replace it with wasteless well water. RO or more accurately the cost is not a possibility for me right now. I just do the best I can and my fish seem to be OK.