Nitrates
- Thread starter ggrowney
- Start date
Many ferts will add nitrogen, though not necessarily all. They may also add potassium or phosphorus. It will be clearly stated on the label.
Most people here recommend keeping a nitrate in the 10ppm range or lower, though 20ppm is still considered safe. You'll never have them to zero if you have fish in there. At these levels, the nitrates are essentially harmless. OTOH, you should change some of the water on regular basis regardless of how low the nitrates are, as other solids will accumulate as well.
Most people here recommend keeping a nitrate in the 10ppm range or lower, though 20ppm is still considered safe. You'll never have them to zero if you have fish in there. At these levels, the nitrates are essentially harmless. OTOH, you should change some of the water on regular basis regardless of how low the nitrates are, as other solids will accumulate as well.
Did you test for nitrates at your tap..heck, mine are btwn 10-20 at the tap..I introuduced plants in my tanks to help manage the nitrates..
so far everything is green and the nitrates hover around thew 10-20 mark on my tanks.
I change a minimum 25% per week on two of my tanks the others get 20% 3xweek
so far everything is green and the nitrates hover around thew 10-20 mark on my tanks.
I change a minimum 25% per week on two of my tanks the others get 20% 3xweek
ggrowney said:
That fert will add nitrogen. It may or may not appear as official nitrates--it depends on what form the nitrogen is in the bottle and how quickly the plants take it up. Vascular plants can take up nitrogen in any form in the aquarium.
Plants will take up any form of Nitrogen except Nitrites. Nitrites are toxic to plants as well as your fish and are pretty much useless. Aquatic plants are designed to primarely use Nitrates while algae prefer ammonia. At ammonia concentrations below 2 ppm, plants will actively transport Nitrates into their cells. At levels above 2 ppm, the plants will utilize ammonia for nitrogen. Algae on the other hand will flourish with any level of ammonia and prefer it over nitrates (simply because it takes less energy to convert NH3 to NH2 (amino group of an amino acid).