NITRATE

[zig]

Hiya

Ive been away the last couple of days travelling with my job and its only now that i have had a chance to read through this thread and i can see now i was clearly mistaken, i dont know where or how the figure of 40ppm stayed in my mind as a cut off point above which could be fatal to fish, but it did stay in my mind, and this is a mistake and misconception on my behalf, and im glad other people have have corrected me.

Im really sorry if mislead anyone it honestly wasnt my intention, any replys that i normally give are based on my experience or research or both, but the figure of 40ppm just stuck in my mind for some unknown reason, i found this thread half way down page 2 and could have just left it at that, but i hope you guys can accept that this was a genuine mistake on my behalf and i didnt want to mislead anyone and for this i am sorry.

The reference to extra filtration was to deal the overstocking to provide extra circulation and aeration as a result, and not to deal with the nitrates as i know this (for sure) isnt possible.

Anyway i just wanted to post this as i feel like an total idiot having dished out some really bad advice from a forum that i have gained so much good advice from, again sorry guys

 

[iggy01]

Im really sorry if mislead anyone it honestly wasnt my intention, any replys that i normally give are based on my experience or research or both,

I can vouch for that! Zig is usually a very competent poster. I've seen him give excellent advice to many people, particularly in the planted section. I think that's where the confusion came in. Nitrates of 40 mg/l is high for a planted tank.

 

[laurasmithuk]

tested tap water and nitrate satnds at ten. is my nitrate ok at 40 den?

 

[CFC]

It could be lower, up your maintainace to 25% water changes a gravel vac once a week and make sure to clean inside the juwel filter box regularly to remove sludge and muck which collects inside (crap design)

 

[jimbooo]

a small tip can go a long way:

when you next use your gravel vac before removing any water remove the heater, pump and filter from your Juwel tank. then put the vac in the empty filter box and start the syphon. this will suck out all the crud from your filter box.

then once thats clear do the tank as normal.

my tap water (in hertfordshire) is at about 30ppm, tank water never rises above 12.5ppm with weekly water changes and er a few plants...

PS: dont be too hard on Zig, prior to this thread i would have said precisely the same thing. plus at levels above 40ppm in a planted tank your amano shrimp would be belly up and algae taking over the whole thing (with the high lighting used in such setups).

 

[laurasmithuk]

) just tested water again at it has soared to 80!!!!! what can i do? really hoping i dont lose any fish!!!

 

[CFC]

Something in your tank is rotting and causing the nitrates to sky rocket, my first suspect would be the juwel filter as this was a major cause of nitrate and subsequently hair algea problems in my tanks before i removed the juwel filters. Remove all the media and hardware from the filter casing then stick your syphon into the casing and give it a good clean out until the water going into the bucket runs clear.
Also look for any uneaten food or a dead fish trapped beneath an ornament in the tank, remove everything and give the whole tank a really good vacume with a 50% water change. Also remove any plants that look like they might be dying and dispose of them.

I just read in another post of your that you are over stocked, in this case it would be best to do a 10% water change every day as well as everything else until you can rehome some of the fish.