Water Changes Removing Nitrates

gaz gun man · May 31, 2008

hey

quick question, would a water change (provided you changed enough water) remove the nitrAte build up straight away?

or would have have to wait; say, for the new water to mix properly with the tank water for an accurate reading?

I changed 17% of my water today, 10% yesterday and my nitrAtes are between 20-50 mg/l on my nutrafin liquid test kit.

Tank is cycled, ammonia and nitrItes are both at 0, PH is 7. tap water contains 10mg/l nitrAtes.

125L tank with 9 zebra danios, 10 swordtail tetras, 2 pearl gourami and 6 sterbai cories. plastic planted.

I have another heater and an API test kit on their way to me, so I can get a second opinion on my parameters and I plan to use the heater to equalise the tap water before adding it to the tank.

Would you reccomend another water change today?

I added the danios and the gourami on Thursday.

minxfishy · May 31, 2008

So long as your ammonia and nitrites are at 0, I wouldnt be too concerned about the nitrates, particularly as you have some in your tap water also.

I dont use the nutrafin test kit, but between 20 - 50 doesnt sound too bad to me. Just keep an eye on the ammonia and Nitrites providing they stay t 0, then a 30% water change once a week should be sufficient to keep the nitrates at reasonable levels.

rdd1952 · May 31, 2008

Nitrate is removed immediately with water changes. Since you have some in your tap water, you won't ever be able to get them really low but anything under 100 ppm will be fine. Some people in the UK have 40 to 80 ppm in their tap water. It takes a really high level before it starts to be harmful to the fish. As already mentioned, a weekly water change of 15 to 25 perccent will keep them in good shape.

gaz gun man · May 31, 2008

ok, cheers guys

I was alittle worried as I put down a danio yesterday with swim bladder disease, I read that poor water might have caused it, so I wanted to check my levels were ok.

incase it was due to flake food, I didnt feed them yesterday and they have had alittle bit today and that'll do them.

Also I was worried I might be mini cycling and the ammo and nitrites were being eaten by the filter, just leaving me with the nitrates.

forgot to add, unfortunately I dropped one of the danios on the carpet when I was transferring them to the net from the LFS water, I got him in the tank, but I think he might have been the one with swim bladder probs

minxfishy · May 31, 2008

Danios are fine with flake food.

If you were experiencing a mini cycle you would show traces of ammonia and nitrites, the nitrates are the end of the cycling process and its normal for them to rise, specially towards the need for a water change. But your levels are fine, so dont worry. :good:

Edit: Yup the floor incident may well be the cause, probably damaged his swim bladder. When I trf from net to tank or vice versa, I use something to just cover the net slightly so they cant jump or fall!