Just To Prove What A Pile Of Rubbish Juwel Nitrate Pads Are.

[Truck]

been doing a little experiment over the past week

i left a nitrate sponge in some tap water
and a nitrate sponge on some tank water

Tap water first

control:
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5ppm
PH 6 (universal indicator then tested with a low range kit)

after a day

ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 5ppm
PH 6.8

after a week

ammonia 1
nitrite 0
nitrate10
7.8

Tank water:
control

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
PH 6.4

after a day

ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 5ppm
PH 7

after a week

ammonia 1
nitrite 0.25
nitrate 10 ppm!!
PH 7.8

i was pretty shocked to see that they leech ammonia and nitrates into the water and raise the PH!

 

[rabbut]

Interesting....

 

[pippoodle]

never used nitrate pads are those the green ones you can buy i just got blue ones , noodles and floss in mine

 

[Truck]

yes, tbh ive never bothered with them i had two spare from a new tank so i thought id try it, ive replaced all the blue sponges with ceramic noodles,

 

[minxfishy]

Have you ever cut open a nitrAte sponge? I did the other day to make it fit in another tank just to use as padding more than anything, and there are little blue pill type things in them. Im assuming thats the nitrAte removal things then.

 

[Truck]

ill have a look

 

[WILDER]

Always said there a complete waste of money as there not proven they work.

 

[Truck]

i have too, and that proves it

should i contact juwel and ask them about there sweeping statement?

 

[WILDER]

Plus juwel say use black carbon all the time which you don't need only for removing meds.

 

[hollanda88]

Will the pads need a flow of water over them to work, just a though. As for leeching nitrates lol there counter productive

andrew

 

[Truck]

there was a small powerhead in each tub

 

[hollanda88]

there was a small powerhead in each tub

lol, then its conclusive nitrate pads are a waste of time and money. Also if they are recomending having carbon pads in at the same time wont these bind up the chemicals that are supposed to be binding up the nitrates from the tank lol

Do fluval make these, i've never come accross them

andrew

 

[Truck]

ill try the carbon ones too, to see what they do

 

[WILDER]

Fluval do carbon pads but not sure about nitrate pads.

 

[hollanda88]

ill try the carbon ones too, to see what they do

I know 'chemically' that carbon has the correct properties to bind up meds and is used in things such as water bottles for use in the army and stuff to help purify stagnant water. Although I don't know if the way these carbon pads are used in fish keeping works. How can you measure it?