A matter of nitrate.

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andersp90

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 11, 2007
1,666
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Denmark
Hey all..

I found a little text on the web where a guy claims that his fw rays starts suffering at 5 ppm of nitrate and even die.. We all know thats bull****.. I make a 50% wather change at 10 ppm and i have never had any nitrate related problems.. But i have heard that problems may start showing at 40 ppm.. Would be good to hear your apenion..

Kind regards Anders..
 
i dont think that is true! I think that ou will not notice anything until it gets in the hight 100ppm. Mine ranges from 30-90 ppm most of the time. Mine eat like pigs and are growing fast! And starting to mature....yea!
 
andersp90;1493322; said:
Hey all..

I found a little text on the web where a guy claims that his fw rays starts suffering at 5 ppm of nitrate and even die.. We all know thats bull****.. I make a 50% wather change at 10 ppm and i have never had any nitrate related problems.. But i have heard that problems may start showing at 40 ppm.. Would be good to hear your apenion..

Kind regards Anders..
Click to expand...


thats crazy.. I have my tanks on a drip.. My nitrates are from 5 -10ppm very very low.. And my rays are doing amazing!
 
mine has gone as high as 200 ppm and I've had no problems....
 
I do not find nitrate values alone to be of that much value. What they can tell you is how 'old' your water is. Who knows what trace elements that the animals absorb from the water and could potentially be 'used up'. Also don't forget the effect that biological filtration has on water chemistry. If you are getting nitrate levels so high that you have to worry about nitrate toxicity this will probably be the least of your problems...
 
Here is my un-professional take on nitrates.

Nitrates alone will not kill your fish, especially on the short term. Nitrates need to build up in the animals system to do damage. Saying that I use nitrates much like amazongirl said, to test the 'age' of my water. When we do water changes we are not only removing nitrates, but also other containaments like hormones naturally expelled by the fish.

I use my nitrates like a 'clock' to figure out when I need to do a change. I try to keep less then 50ppm.

5ppm is rediculous. Mine comes out of the tap at 15-20ppm!
 
my rays have each been living in 20-40ppm water since they were put into my tanks each time i test it. and my first one has easily doubled in disc size since i got him (he was one TINY little ray at first, but the most active/best looking of the group)

so i would fair to say the guy is either full of crap, or his testing is WAAAAAAAAAY off base.
 
a nitrate level of 40 ppm or less is recommended for fresh water is what i under stand.
 
Lower is generally better but I have to agree that nitrate concentration is not the main problem. I use a TDS meter to more accuratly judge the condition of my water and the need for water changes.
 
I agree.. Nitrate is a good indicator of the waters age (though it depends on the quantity of food being consumed and so on...). But im still not sure if rays are more or less nitrate sensitive than "normal" fish. On praticafishkeeping.com a ray expert, Richard Hardwick, states the following:

"Some books suggest rays can tolerate NO3 levels of 100pm or above. Nonsense. In my experience, levels of just over 50ppm for long periods can be detrimental to the health of these fish, so regular maintenance is of paramount importance"

Its far from the 5 ppm.. But still.. What do you guys think..? :popcorn:
 
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