Nitrate

[Fake_widow]

Hi all.
i have a nitrate reading somewhere between 40 and 80. Too high??
I havent had any troubles with this before it normally stays around 20. I have a few large river rocks i just put in couple weeks ago and i havent done a gravel clean since. What to do?? thanks guys.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

that is a little high but don't panic.

high nitrates are usually due to not enough tank maintenance. how often are you doing water changes and how much water do yuo change each time? are you cleaning the gravel each time you do a water change?

 

[Fake_widow]

Thanks for the reply wiggle. I do maybe a third once every couple weeks. and yeah i clean the gravel as well as i can then too. I know i should be tending to them alot more than i do. But its hard to find the time. How do you suggest i lower the levels?? Tankyou

 

[karin15]

you should do a 30% water change every week at least, what kind of filtration dose your tank have, how many gallons dose it hold?, and what is the fish stock?

all 4 factors will afect your nitrate levels

 

[Miss Wiggle]

regular water changes and cleaning is really the best way. if you do 20% water changes every day for the next 3/4 days they'll come back down. just keep going until the nitrate level gets under 40ppm.

i understand it can be hard to find the time for tank maintenance, we all lead busy lives, but I think you should seriously consider your responsibility to these fish. If you take on the responsibility to have pets then you are responsible for they're life and health. If you are unable to care for them properly you really shouldn't have them at all. I think you should think carefully about the time you dedicate to your tank, if you really can't spare half an hr every week to do basic maintenance then you should consider re-homing the fish to someone who has the time to look after them properly.

I don't mean to sound harsh, I know it can be difficult, we've just closed down 1 of our tanks as we had too many and it was taking too much time to look after them so they're health was suffering as a result. It broke my heart to part with some of those fish but unfortunately I didn't really have any other choice, I couldn't continue to keep them and not look after them properly, my conscience wouldn't allow it.

 

[karin15]

wise words.

 

[themissingelf]

30% every couple of weeks should be OK, although I agree, weekly water changes are better still.

If your Nitrates are high with 30% every two week water changes, then I suspect your filter is having to deal with too much waste.

It's more important to clear as much of the mulm, rotting leaves, etc when doing a change, therefore, once every couple of weeks done thoroughly, is better than weekly being too much of a chore and therefore done badly.

Also... how much do you feed? (i.e. think about waste that you may be adding to the tank too).

Finally... how high is the Nitrate in your tap water?