Bio-spira?

[andywg]

the nitrate is not what im worried about, his ammonia is over 1ppm and nitrite is over 3. thats what im worried about.

Then why write that nitrates must never go above 40ppm?

 

[grimmy]

after my water change my nitrite went down to 2ppm ammonia 0ppm

 

[afishdude]

the nitrate is not what im worried about, his ammonia is over 1ppm and nitrite is over 3. thats what im worried about.

Then why write that nitrates must never go above 40ppm?

because thats what i go by, and many others. and thats what i have read to be true. theres always going to be people that disagree with me, and thats fine. im just telling grimmy some basics.

i wouldn't be surprised if grimmy lets his nitrates go to 100 now because of what you are saying. and that would be bad.

 

[grimmy]

the nitrate is not what im worried about, his ammonia is over 1ppm and nitrite is over 3. thats what im worried about.

Then why write that nitrates must never go above 40ppm?

because thats what i go by, and many others. and thats what i have read to be true. theres always going to be people that disagree with me, and thats fine. im just telling grimmy some basics.

i wouldn't be surprised if grimmy lets his nitrates go to 100 now because of what you are saying. and that would be bad.

no i wont

 

[Musho3210]

its not the nitrates that are bad, its more of the DOC's that can lead to a rise and not be good for a fish. I think it has been proven that nitrate levels up to 100ppm isnt dangerous the fish but, its still not good..... Its always a good practice to keep low nitrates.

 

[grimmy]

ill try

 

[andywg]

i wouldn't be surprised if grimmy lets his nitrates go to 100 now because of what you are saying. and that would be bad.

Why would it be bad to have nitrates at a level which even sensitive fish are fine at?

Perhaps you should read this post by Tom Barr about levels of nitrates in planted aquaria and the effects of nitrates on fish. Of particular interest are the below points:

Pierce et al 1993 suggested for marine fish:
"Previous studies have indicated that long term exposure to nitrate-N levels above 100 mg/L may be detrimental to fish(440ppm). This study was undertaken to assess the acute toxicity of nitrate to five species of marine fish, while efforts were taken to reduce the nitrate concentration in the recirculating systems."

Marco 1999, suggests that warm water species have a suggested range of "recommended levels of nitrate for warm-water fishes (90 mg N-NO3-/L)"

That's N as NO3, so 4.4X 90 = ~400ppm NO3.

So instead of 40ppm being bad, or even 100, it would appear the science is looking at closer to 400ppm (my previous 100ppm is a misinterpretation on my part of Pierce et al 1993).