nitrate

[Lady G]

I can not get my nitrate in to the safe zone, do you think my test could be wrong? From what I understand if your nitrates are high you will have green algea and your fish will act stressed, well I have not seen any algea at all and my fish do not seem stressed to me, of course I'm not quite sure what a "stessed" fish looks like but they seem normal to me, they swim and eat and act just like they alway's have. Oh yeah I have been doing about a 30-50% water change every other day.

Thank you,
Gin

 

[Stefanie]

Did you ever test for Nitrates in your replacement water (tap, I assume)? If those are already high, I think there is not much you can do, other than buying bottled water... to check if your test kit is faulty, you could try to bring a sample to a fish store, and ask them to test for you... if they find the same numbers, it is really high, and your test kit is OK, but if it is different, you might have to buy a new test kit...

 

[Lady G]

I tested my water and my nitrate is at 20, but in my tank it has been testing at 40 and 80. My LFS said to use Tetra "Easy Balance", but I was told on here not to use it and just keep changing the water so that is what I did. (I hadn't tested my tap water at that point) Should I try using it, or do you think that since my fish do seem fine I should just keep doing what I am? I'm just slightly tired of changing the water so much.

 

[Holly9937]

What does the nitrate in your tank test at right after a water change? What do you have in the tank and what size is it? How much do you feed? If you are really doing water changes that often, it should be coming down, to at least close to what your tap is. The easy balance stuff is crap, I really wouldn't use it Someone else on this board tried to use it for a while and when they tested their nitrates they were over 160!!! You can't get around water changes. How long have you been doing this many, this frequently?

Nitrate is not harmful in itself, but long term exposure to high levels will be hard on the fish

 

[kveeti]

Just keep doing what you are doing right now. Obviously the nitrate reading out of the tap is a factor so keeping it at or under 40 could be your new goal, the 80 would definitely be too high. Reading your other thread, the overstocking (which you know about) is a contributing factor, so until you get that bigger tank you might be stuck with those water changes. They are a must if you are getting any ammonia or nitrIte readings.

It's better to reduce nitrates in ways other than by adding another chemical like the Easy Balance. What is your feeding schedule like? Feeding less is always an option, it is really hard to under-feed. Or feed every second day. Do you have live plants? If you don’t want to get into plants, floating plants are super easy and take care of themselves and are great at reducing nitrates.

 

[daveedka]

Obviously the nitrate reading out of the tap is a factor so keeping it at or under 40 could be your new goal,

This is a key statement. Nitrates themselves aren't largely harmful to fish below extreme levels. Nitrates are the compound we test for to determine pollutants in the tank. It is assumed if our nitrates are high or climbing that other pollutants are high or climbing as well. so if you start with 20 ppm from the tap and keep you tank at or below 40 ppm you are doing quite well. It can be assumed that all other pollutants are being kept in check.
If the tank is overcrowded, then you will have a constant battle as mentioned. Feeding was mentioned, and I would just add that virtually everyone overfeeds fish (even those of us with years of experience) I personally would reccomend one moderate feeding every 3 days. I know it sounds cruel and harsh. but your fish will be just fine, and the pollutant issues will be much easier to control. I have tanks that only get 1 or two feedings a week and the fish are quite healthy and colorful.
dave

 

[mooman]

I'd also like to add that the "test strip" nitrate tests are crap. My tanks all have around 10ppm nitrates and the test strips always read 20ppm or even 40ppm. Unless your results were from a test that had two bottles of reagent and took about five minute to do, then the results are suspect. Most lfs stores will do a liquid test IF you ask, otherwise alot of them just dip the stick and be done with it.

Agree with Dave. If you consider "clean" water to be under 40ppm, but your tap contains 20ppm, then what YOU should consider clean to be under 60ppm.

 

[Lady G]

I have been doing this amount of changes for a couple weeks now, there have been a few times it was 3 day's before I got it done. In the begining my nitrate AND nitrites were out of control now just my nitrates are high. I feed them in the mornings around 10a.m. or so and then again at night around 6-7p.m. I feed them a little flake food and 1-2 times a week freeze dried bloodworms with less flakes. As far as over stock, I found someone to take the irridesents and both the columbians did die, but since then my son (not listening to me) brought home 5 black skirt tetras, with the excuse well we lost 2 fish and you gave away 2 others and these aren.t very big. So anyway now I have the 3 bala, 2 neon guoarmie (still not sure what the spelling is for them), 1 rainbow shark, and 5 blk skirt tetra, with 1 algea eater all in a 30/g tank. As for plants I have 1 live plant I want to get more live, but the only place around here is wal-mart besides the LFS which I will not go to. I did find a place online to order them but the shipping was $27.00!!!! So I guess I will keep doing what I am doing and feed less and see what happens, I thought I was going to be able to have my bigger tank by now but....as life goes I had some unexpected cr*p come up.
Thanks AGAIN!!
Gin

 

[Lady G]

Oh while I was replying I had a couple new posts...sorry guys I wasn't ignoring you just must of been typing at the same time. So you think my water is ok then? I shouldn't worry so much about it then as long as I maintain the levels I have?

 

[daveedka]

In all honesty, while getting the tetra's probably wasn't a good thing overall, trading 5 black skirts for two irredescents and two columbians was an improvement in bio-load. Not to mention the long term issue with irredescents.
I didn't realize you were using test strips either. My opinion of dip strips for testing is far less kind than Mooman's. I bought some strips once and used them for a short while. I found test strips to be far less accurate than using a roulette wheel to determine your nitrate number. take a sample to your LFS and request a liquid test, then get a liquid test kit As soon as feasable. You may not have a problem at all if the only numbers you have to go by are from dip strips.

The feeding reduction will do more than most people realise. Excess food produce ammonia at an alarming rate IME, this contributes to nitrates faster than virtually anything else in your tank.
Dave