nitrate creep.. you guys should read this

[Bderick67]

This is why 50% WCs make more sense. If your just blindly doing water changes, then most likely one of two things. Either your not doing enough to keep trates under control or your doing more work then required for the minimum.

 

[LukeOscar]

We do 50% weekly just because. Except for the 140g planted guppy tank. That gets 50% a month.


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[JK47]

so i do religious water changes on my tanks, as i know all of you do too. and i know if your like me you dont usually test your nitrates, and when you do say a 30% water change you feel pretty good about your water quality.. but i found that over time your nitrates can "creep" up even with weekly religious water changes. im not going to go in depth with math but when you do say a 30% water change and if your tap water has 0 nitrate it effectively cuts your nitrates by ~1/3.. if your like me you have a set amount of food you feed each day, which means a set amount of waste each week, producing a set amount of weekly nitrates. say your tank accumulates 30 ppm of nitrates per week and u do a 30% weekly water change.

week 1: start 0ppm end 30ppm 30%wc puts you at 21ppm

week2: start 21ppm end 51ppm 30%wc puts you at 36ppm

week3: start 36ppm end 66ppm 30%wc puts you at 46ppm

as you can see it can slowly creep up on you even if you do large water changes up to 50% like i do. you need to go through a "reset" period doing daily water changes to get it back down. i guess the moral of the story is to use your test kits. my nitrates were at 60ppm after a 50% water change yesterday thats how i figured this out.


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A 30% WC does not reduce nitrates by only 30%, it's more than that due to the net effect of the incoming water having no nitrates. I am not saying nitrate creep can't happen because it easily can. Just pointing out an update to the math provided.

 

[E.C.]

Well, I'm no scientist or whatsoever, but it seems that precise percentage and scheduled water change is good enough to make nitrates in control.
Just add what the people said before me, pro biotics, plants, control of food, filter maintenance, and siphoning/cleaning unwanted dirt/waste out of the tank.
Depends also on what stocks you guys have. For example LukeOscar got a guppy tank that is I presumed planted heavily well, the plants will do the trick.

 

[LukeOscar]

Well, I'm no scientist or whatsoever, but it seems that precise percentage and scheduled water change is good enough to make nitrates in control.
Just add what the people said before me, pro biotics, plants, control of food, filter maintenance, and siphoning/cleaning unwanted dirt/waste out of the tank.
Depends also on what stocks you guys have. For example LukeOscar got a guppy tank that is I presumed planted heavily well, the plants will do the trick.

Also 140g and a fluval 404 is a bit much for 50-60 guppys


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[felixxx]

Good information I perform 50% weekly and haven't used my test kit since I tested my tap water at my old place. It was about 60ppm if I recall. Also I heard test kits degrade with time.

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[E.C.]

Good information I perform 50% weekly and haven't used my test kit since I tested my tap water at my old place. It was about 60ppm if I recall. Also I heard test kits degrade with time.

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sad but true. My ammonia test kit is wasted within 7 months...

 

[houie925]

A 30% WC does not reduce nitrates by only 30%, it's more than that due to the net effect of the incoming water having no nitrates. I am not saying nitrate creep can't happen because it easily can. Just pointing out an update to the math provided.

I disagree.
Using 100G and 100ppm nitrates for simplicity, 30% is removed leaving 70G of water with 100ppm nitrates then 30 gallons of water containing zero nitrates is added resulting in 100G of water with 70ppm nitrates, a 30% reduction.

 

[E.C.]

I disagree.
Using 100G and 100ppm nitrates for simplicity, 30% is removed leaving 70G of water with 100ppm nitrates then 30 gallons of water containing zero nitrates is added resulting in 100G of water with 70ppm nitrates, a 30% reduction.

You see variables in here are not constant so we can't say that in every 100g there's a 100ppm of nitrates my friend.

 

[Hydrocyanide]

This is a great post and i sure hope a majority of MFK'ers see this! its not the first time ive seen this type of water quality mathematics posted here. One was also done on using reverse osmosis water for tanks and adding minerals back into the water. Same thing happens and you can end up with too much! Great heads up!

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