Water stat controversy

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Ok, i have been keeping fish for 2yrs now and used to think having a tank with ammonia=0 nitrate=0 and nitrite=0 was what you should aim for in tank keeping, but i have found it is not so and what you aim for depends on the maturity of your tank....
a. for a tank that has been mature for 8months what kind of water stats should i be aiming for or expect?
b. for a 2month matured tank what kinds of stats should i be expecting/aiming for?
c. And also what about a 4month matured tank?

Any info is much appreciated as i am beginning to become rather confused in all this; thanks for reading my thread

 

[juiceball1]

For a cycled tank the ammonia and nitrite should be zero (0). The nitrates should be kept as low as possible with weekly/bi-weekly water changes. I think it's recommended to keep nitrates below 40ppm. I don't know if it's possible to have nitrates = 0.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks for the info as i was beginning to become a little confused

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Tokis-Phoenix

I agree with what juiceball1 just said, but want to add something.

The idea is to do enough water changes to keep the nitrates down in the acceptable range. Sometimes this is more difficult than others. For example, my tap water has been coming out at 20 ppm, so it does not dilute the nitrates as well as water that comes from the tap at 0 nitrates. Sometimes it seems like I am constantly doing water changes, especially in my more heavily stocked tanks, just to keep the water decent for them.

So, if the goal of keeping very low nitrates seems harder to reach than it should be, do a water test to see what your tap water is like.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Cheers for the info again

 

[chris allsop]

I use ro water, mixed with tap water, my nitrate is about 40 ppm.

 

[SirMinion]

During summer, our tapwater is around 80ppm and peaked at 100ppm.
In the winter it's around 40ppm.
It makes water changes with tapwater almost pointless, infact in the Dragon puffer tank which is stuffed full of hornwort, the nitrates are lower before the water change!

 

[simonbrown403]

I had the same problem with nitrates in the tap water, thats why i bought a RO unit, last nitrate test was 5ppm.