Safe Nitrate level?

C

cichlid_guy

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what is a safe nitrate level for a 75gal tank ?

What is the best thing to do if the level is high?
what makes a high nitrate level?

I have testers for the other things.

Ammona, Nitrites, High PH, Hardness, PH, carbonite hardness
what is carbonite hardness? should i be testing with that in a freshwater tank?

scottie
 
Nitrates are one of the final end products of the nitrification cycle that occurs in your tank. They are poisonous to fish in high levels so you need to change tank water to reduce the levels. I bought a Nitrate tester some time ago and use it quite regularly. The other tests, ammonia, Nitrites, hardness, I only do every month or so. The main thing is if you are doing regular weekly water changes, including siphoning off any solid waste, and cleaning your filter media you shouldn't have any issues with sick fish. The Nitrate test gives me an indication of how much water to change. I have had some high readings and changed up to 50% of the water with no effect on the fish. I test the water again and it is reduced quite significantly. I find that a Nitrate test is critical to do once the tank is cycled to help with my tank maintenance.
 
The same as the "safe" level for any other size tank.

Nitrate is not toxic in quite the same way that ammonia and nitrite are, to most fish. It is more a long term pollutant that seems to have negative effects on growth, breeding and general health.

Most people like to keep it below 40ppm, and get edgy if it exceeds 80.

It is the end result of the nitrogen cycle. It has to be removed by water changes, unless your tank is heavily planted in which case either it won't be produced very much, because the plants will take up the ammonia and nitrite before it can be formed, or because the plants will take up the nitrate. Either way, you win.

So - to get rid of nitrate, either use a planted sump (seriously advanced fishkeeping methinks), plant the tank, or do lots of water changes and thorough gravel vacuuming.
 
Your "carbonate hardness" is that "KH" you keep hearing about, or better yet, your "alkalinity." The alkalinity is a measure of how much acid your water system can absorb without registering the drop in pH you'd expect from acids. That's its "buffering."

In your (unplanted?) cichlid tanks, you'd want a stable pH that hovers just above 7.0-- unless you're keeping Rift Lake cichlids, on the one hand, or softwater cichlids on the other..
 
I've always heard that Nitrates themselves are not toxic to fish, but that we use nitrates as an idicator of other dangerous chemicals that it would be impractical and/or impossible to test for...............
So, with that in mind, do planted tanks really help?
 
So with that in mind do planted tanks really help.
Click to expand...
I ADD about 1/2 tsp. of KNO3 to my planted tank at least weekly which is devoured by the plants. If I didn't add it I'd get a Zero reading within a week. It is a necessary nutrient for them and their growth. I try to keep 5 - 10ppm in the tank all the time. And yes planted tanks REALLY help, IMO.
Len
 
Originally posted by GobyGuy5
I've always heard that Nitrates themselves are not toxic to fish, but that we use nitrates as an idicator of other dangerous chemicals that it would be impractical and/or impossible to test for...............
So, with that in mind, do planted tanks really help?
Click to expand...

Yes, because nitrate really is not good for fish. There are some for whom it is fatal - checkerboard cichlids and some Apistogramma are said to be very sensitive to nitrate.

It doesn't mean you don't have to do water changes in planted tanks, but it does mean that the nitrate levels are lower throughout rather than peaking just before water changes. It also means you can't use nitrate as a measure of when to change the water in a planted tank - you use the calendar, advice and your experience instead.
 
Myself, I am a big proponant of the plant solution.

I actually have to ADD nitrate to my heavily planted tanks to keep enough in there to keep the plants happy (I shoot for about 15 ppm or so)

Then again, I am becoming a planted tank junkie.
 
so let me ask this....nitrate readings vary on my two tanks, at the end of a week my lightly planted 10 gal puffer tank will be at 10ppm and my mod. planted 20 gal community will be at roughly 5 ppm. Not really high, but I still change out 25% every week to dilute the other things that build up in the water. Not to mention the puffers are little piggies. Should I maybe go to every other week with the 20 gallon to allow the N03 to build up a little more or just keep going on my sched.? thanks for any help!

steve
 
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