High Nitrate

[hydro4892]

I will do around 50% changes once a week now. I was just worried about the temp. difference in water when I put the new water in without letting it sit for 15 mins in a gallon bag.

 

[Bderick67]

don't use chemicals.... Don't waste your money, just change the water... God what are you sales people now? wtf

Maybe think about a little research before spewing, what's wrong with finding out if this stuff works or not. I personally would not substitute anything for water changes in a freshwater tank, but if thsi stuff can help I sure as hell would use it before leaving my tank on a two week vacation.

Some people also don't have mommy and daddy paying the water bill or buying spoilded kids $6000 tanks, so WTF would you know about wasting or saving money?

 

[ward1066]

I will do around 50% changes once a week now. I was just worried about the temp. difference in water when I put the new water in without letting it sit for 15 mins in a gallon bag.

my tap is a lot colder than my tank So I add a little hot from the faucet to equalize it as best I can and add it to the tank with a hose.

 

[TheCanuck]

Maybe think about a little research before spewing, what's wrong with finding out if this stuff works or not. I personally would not substitute anything for water changes in a freshwater tank, but if thsi stuff can help I sure as hell would use it before leaving my tank on a two week vacation.

Some people also don't have mommy and daddy paying the water bill or buying spoilded kids $6000 tanks, so WTF would you know about wasting or saving money?

maybe because i paid for that tank, and i know how to save money. Thats how i have the tanks i do. You can be jealous and wine about my mommy and daddy all you want. It doesn't matter cause i still have the things i do, don't I?

My comment was made because your using this person with little knowledge as your test dummy for a product review. Get off your butt and your minimum pay and get it yourself. Its not our fault you don't make as much money as us....


IF it can help, and YOU can use it on YOUR tank, thats fine. Otherwise the problem has been solved and your doing what you do best, just imputing ignorant comments, and trolling.

 

[Toby_H]

This site can really dissappoint me sometimes...


40 ppm nitrate is not out of control, it's simply time to do a water change... It's good that you are taking a closer look at things but don't overreact as overreacting often causes problems bigger than the original.


Matching the termperature should be quite easy. In time you will be able to feel the new water with your finger and know if it's within a couple of degrees of the tank water, which is all you need. Until then you may want to use an aquarium thermometer to guage the temperatures...


You will also want to compare the tank's PH to the tap/faucet's PH. If the PH is different between the two you will either need to A) Do small frequent water changes, or B) add buffers to the new water to match the tank water...

So you know, organic waste produced by our fish is acidic in nature and will thus lower PH. So it is not uncommon for the PH of an aquarium that was filled from the tap to drop over the course of time.


There is a lot of good information in this thread, I'm sorry that so much of it is hidden in the squabbling...

 

[DREAM-faw]

Theres so much good info in here

 

[tableau]

You should not pass from 10% a week directly to 50% a week. Make a progressive transition .

In my experience, fish really benefit from clean water, so there is nothing like too many water changes. What creates a problem for fish is rapid changes in the water quality. If your fish are used to a 20% wc weekly and you do a 75% one week, they will probably freak out. However, fish could easily adapt themselves to these changes if they are progressive : two weeks at 20%; two weeks at 25%; two weeks at 30% ... two weeks at 75%. When adapted, they clearly benefit from the clean water (low nitrates, hormones, polluants); live longer, grow faster and bigger, more colorful...

It is the same principle when you add new fish in a tank that has a 30 ppm nitrates level : the old fish seem fine since they are used to it (progressive increase of nitrates level) while the new ones are stressed and may get sick.

This scientific study even found that fish could get used to ammonia. Here is the abstract :

"An automatic flow-through dosing apparatus was used to determine the effect on Tilapia aurea of acute and chronic exposure to un-ionized ammonia. For fish not exposed to ammonia prior to acute testing, the 48-hour median lethal concentration (LC50) was 2.40 mg/liter un-ionized ammonia. After fish were exposed to sublethal concentrations of un-ionized ammonia (0.43-0.53 mg/liter) for 35 days, concentrations as high as 3.4 mg/liter caused no mortalities within 48 hours. Histopathological changes occurred in the gills of fish given both nonlethal and acute doses of ammonia. Capillary congestion, hemorrhaging, and telangiectasis were common symptoms of gill abnormalities".

Source :
Acclimation to Ammonia by Tilapia aurea

BARRY D. REDNER and ROBERT R. STICKNEY Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843

 

[BODYDUB]

i would treat the tank with prime for a full week every day, that should help alot, why dont u try to feed ur fish a bit less to for a bit

Prime will only hide the problem temporarily.....

It does actually. Read the bottle. But I'd rather just do some WC's then go chemical to reduce nitrates.

Using a chemical to treat nitrates is the wrong idea......


Water changes are the only sure way to reduce nitrates. Just like most other people have said, do a 50% w/c weekly..........

 

[packer43064]

Prime will only hide the problem temporarily.....

Using a chemical to treat nitrates is the wrong idea......


Water changes are the only sure way to reduce nitrates. Just like most other people have said, do a 50% w/c weekly..........

It does actually. Read the bottle. But I'd rather just do some WC's then go chemical to reduce nitrates.

I totally agree with WC's then using Prime or any other chemical. Thanks for making me repeat myself.

OP good luck. Do some WC's and all will be fine.

 

[mhansen76]

Thanks to all for the good info! I was searching for some wisdom on water changes. My nitrates are stable at 20ppm for the last week...while the ammonia which was fine for the last week has risen...(but I just added 5 4'' rbps and 4 live plants 2 days ago). Is this normal? i just did a 30% wc just now so......