View Full Version : Nitrate and Nitrite acceptable levels.
Hi, I was wondering what the levels of nitrate and nitrite for a cycling tank should be. As of current Nitrate is somewhere between 0ppm and 5ppm (its lighter then the colour of the 5ppm mark) and Nitrite is 0ppm. I'm just wishing to make sure that this sounds about right. Thanks.
guppies
10-31-2003, 12:26 AM
well, i don't think you have to worry if it is between 0 - 5 ppm.
i also purchase the test kit myself. but make sure you setup a time schedule to test the water. which is very important.
example i have a 25 gals tank with 15 guppies in it, i didn't do a test for 2 -3 weeks because i assume the water is good....lol
one day i did a test, my god the nitrite was so high the color is purple. i was luck enough to safe most of my fishes. just lost a couple.
Hope this help.
Locust
10-31-2003, 2:57 AM
Your tank is cycled when your ammonia and nitrite levels are at 0. Nitrate needs to be removed through water changes.
Quagaar
10-31-2003, 5:53 AM
I am assuming you are cycling this tank with fish in? If so them you want to keep your nitrite as low as possible. A good figure to aim for is .25 ppm as this isnt to stressfull for the fish, but is still supllying food for the nitrifying bacteria to produce. Nitrates are your end of the cycle. You remove these by water changes and weekly maintenace. If the tank is immature and still cycling you wont see a lot of nitrate, but on a mature tank with a high fish load, you could potentially get high nitrate levels as teh ammonia is converted to nitrite and then to nitrate. Ideally in a cycled tank the levels should be Ammonia Zero, Nitrite Zero and Nitrite less than 20ppm. If you have a large stock of fish, you may have to do 2 water changes a week to maintain these figures, thats why ideally you should alwayts make sure you tank is light to moderate stocked.
If my assumption is wrong and you are fishless some of this is wrong, please tell me and I'll supply the information for fishless if needed.
I be doing a fishless cycle, thought it was best to do it this way for my second tank.
anonapersona
10-31-2003, 7:45 AM
We are assuming that the cycling has been going on for awhile, it is possible to fill a tank up with water and have 0 nitrites and 5 ppm nitrates, for example.
If you seeded the filter and tank with bacteria from the old tank, by squeezing filter gunk into the tank and filter, then you may never see nitrite or ammonia readings, so be careful with the fishless cycling. It is possible that the tank is ready for fish almost instantly.
Ok my ammonia levels are 0 and I seeded the tank by using a powerhead and some gravel from an existing tank. It seemed to do the trick.