Nitrate Levels Up To 40ppm In A Week.

[Gazpug]

Hello all,

I have fluval lab nitrate removing media in my cannister filter. In the space of a week my nitrates are up too 40ppm. I was wondering if this is ok. i think it is because the rule of thumb is to aim to keep ntrates below 40ppm. The nitrate remover only slows buid up slightly. I was just expecting it to be a little lower because of the media in the cannister.

The reason being i am going away shortly for 6 weeks and i am having to leave it in the hands of my partner to do the water changes. She isnt too experienced so i am having to leave her written instructions on how to do the changes. I was hoping to get her to do a water change every 2 weeks to cut down on her input with tank maint. I feed them twice daily so they are more active.

Any thoughts would be nice?

Regards

Gaz

 

[doresy]

Hi, have you tested your tap water (I have 40ppm nitrate straight from the tap so my level is never below that)

If you were to start feeding only once a day or even every other day then while you were away not only would the waste production go down it would encourage the fish to graze on the algae.

Also cut down on lighting times will make most of the fish less active.

This would help with the less frequent water changes

 

[Gazpug]

Hi, have you tested your tap water (I have 40ppm nitrate straight from the tap so my level is never below that)

If you were to start feeding only once a day or even every other day then while you were away not only would the waste production go down it would encourage the fish to graze on the algae.

Also cut down on lighting times will make most of the fish less active.

This would help with the less frequent water changes

That sounds good. I will do a test on my tap levels. Is feeding every other day sustainable for 6 weeks? Also i have plants in my tank. It isnt heavily planted but will cutting down on lighting times kill off my plants? I do have a moonlight set up with ultra bright led's to simulate night time.

Regards

Gaz

 

[doresy]

You could add Flourish Fertiliser once a week for the plants

 

[celaeno]

someone is massively overstocked..

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What kind of substrate do you have in the tank? Gravel can trap lots of waste in it, causing the nitrates to go up.

 

[Gazpug]

What kind of substrate do you have in the tank? Gravel can trap lots of waste in it, causing the nitrates to go up.

it is a pea gravel i am using. it isnt very fine though

 

[Ryan_R]

Lots of fish for sure.

I've been using Tetra's "Nitraban" in our 75 gallon. It's designed (I think!) for people who never change their water... though I've been using it with weekly water changes with no ill effects. It does a good job of locking up nitrates and phosphates, which keeps algae growth at bay. Might be worth a try... though I don't know how that will work with live plants.

As for filter media, if you're getting 40ppm/week, your nitrate media is either saturated or consumed.

Definitely try to see if you're over feeding. A good gravel vac every week is worth it.

-Ryan

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Gaz,

You have a lot of fish for a 300 litre tank and that in itself will cause nitrate to rise quickly, meaning more maintenance for you. How long has the tank been set up? Do you have any detectable ammonia or nitrite?

If your tank is wellestablished and you aren't detecting any ammonia or nitrite, that means your filtration is adequate to deal with your overstocking and it shouldn't cause you any problems.

However, the problems do start when, as your case is, you are going on holiday and can't get anyone who knows what they are doing to look after the tank, or if you have a power cut etc etc.

Contrary to popular belief, although nitrate is not desireable as such in our tanks, it's actually relatively safe. The latest scientific evidence shows that most fish will tolerate nitrate levels of up to 400ppm without negative effect, and some fish i believe up to around 1000ppm. Also, given that some people (say around the London area of the UK) consistently have between 40ppm and 80ppm of nitrate in their tap water, a level of 40ppm in your tank isn't really a worry in most situations.

How dangerous the nitrate is will depend heavily on the carbonate hardness (kH) of your water, as the acids resultant from the nitrogen cycle taking place in your filter drive pH down, and if pH falls below around 6, the beneficial bacteria will slow down considerably, and around pH 5.5 they will cease processing ammonia and nitrite altogether, leaving your tank effectively unfiltered. This is relatively uncommon in water with high kH as the carbonate hardness fights against the acids to hold the pH steady. On that basis, it is well worth checking the kH and pH of your water too to establish how much of a safety buffer you have.

May i ask why you are using a nitrate remover? In the vast majority of cases, this should be unnecessary and just an added expense to your hobby for virtually no benefit.

With regard to feeding, unless you have fry in the tank, twice per day is probably excessive. Your fish will be more than happy with one feeding per day, and this will cut your nitrate levels in half. Some people also choose one day of the week to miss out feeding altogether. It doesn't do the fish any harm, but goes a long way to promoting good water quality.

Test your tap water for nitrate first of all, then cut back feeding and do a good gravel vac, and see how things progress. If nitrate is still climbing rapidly after that, it is likely purely because your tank is just plain overstocked, and depending on how much of an issue the extra maintenance requirement is for you, you may wish to consider re-homing some fish.

It would be good if you could post up readings for ammonia, nitrite, pH and kH out of interest.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Cheers

BTT

P.S. Whic part of Scotland are you in, mate? I'm in East Lothian, about 10 miles east of Edinburgh.

 

[Gazpug]

Hi Gaz,

You have a lot of fish for a 300 litre tank and that in itself will cause nitrate to rise quickly, meaning more maintenance for you. How long has the tank been set up? Do you have any detectable ammonia or nitrite?

If your tank is wellestablished and you aren't detecting any ammonia or nitrite, that means your filtration is adequate to deal with your overstocking and it shouldn't cause you any problems.

However, the problems do start when, as your case is, you are going on holiday and can't get anyone who knows what they are doing to look after the tank, or if you have a power cut etc etc.

Contrary to popular belief, although nitrate is not desireable as such in our tanks, it's actually relatively safe. The latest scientific evidence shows that most fish will tolerate nitrate levels of up to 400ppm without negative effect, and some fish i believe up to around 1000ppm. Also, given that some people (say around the London area of the UK) consistently have between 40ppm and 80ppm of nitrate in their tap water, a level of 40ppm in your tank isn't really a worry in most situations.

How dangerous the nitrate is will depend heavily on the carbonate hardness (kH) of your water, as the acids resultant from the nitrogen cycle taking place in your filter drive pH down, and if pH falls below around 6, the beneficial bacteria will slow down considerably, and around pH 5.5 they will cease processing ammonia and nitrite altogether, leaving your tank effectively unfiltered. This is relatively uncommon in water with high kH as the carbonate hardness fights against the acids to hold the pH steady. On that basis, it is well worth checking the kH and pH of your water too to establish how much of a safety buffer you have.

May i ask why you are using a nitrate remover? In the vast majority of cases, this should be unnecessary and just an added expense to your hobby for virtually no benefit.

With regard to feeding, unless you have fry in the tank, twice per day is probably excessive. Your fish will be more than happy with one feeding per day, and this will cut your nitrate levels in half. Some people also choose one day of the week to miss out feeding altogether. It doesn't do the fish any harm, but goes a long way to promoting good water quality.

Test your tap water for nitrate first of all, then cut back feeding and do a good gravel vac, and see how things progress. If nitrate is still climbing rapidly after that, it is likely purely because your tank is just plain overstocked, and depending on how much of an issue the extra maintenance requirement is for you, you may wish to consider re-homing some fish.

It would be good if you could post up readings for ammonia, nitrite, pH and kH out of interest.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Cheers

BTT

P.S. Whic part of Scotland are you in, mate? I'm in East Lothian, about 10 miles east of Edinburgh.

Well i will start by saying i live in Kinloss north of the highlands. It is not far from Elgin (25 mins to the right of Inverness). Nice to have someone who resides in scotland buddy.

My ammonia and nitrIte levels are all 0ppm And my PH is 7. I have reasently moved the tank but that was a few weeks ago. I kept my filter cycled by placing it in a 70 ltr bin with the fish while i moved the tank. It went really well and it was done in 6/7 hours. I think that the tank may still have to settle into its new home. but it must be close it has been a few weeks now.

I dont know what the KH is because i dont have a test kit for it. As you say mabe cutting down on feeding mabe the way to go. I am just concerned that reducing the feeding to once a day will affect the smaller fish in the tank cos they only have small bellys lol. I am to get an additional filter next month too for dual redundancy for when i go away. Mabe it is time to change a filter pad too i have had them in sice last September. I do clean he pads out in tank water once every few weeks and add fine filter media weekly. I have noticed i have loads of snails in my filter whit is annoying. none in my tank though cos the clowns eat em lol.

Any ideas from this write up and i would be really greatfull.

Regards

Gaz

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the snails are another indication of overfeeding, definatley cut back to once a day, and in answer to your earlier question yes feeding every other day is sustainable for 6 weeks.

 

[andywg]

Feeding every other day is more than sustainable. I haven't fed my FW more often than every other day for a couple of years or more. More often it is every third day.