how high are too high of nitrates ??

[rob1984]

so i have a 72x19x24 (outside dimensions) fluval fx5 packed with bio balls in one basket, media substrate 2 coarse filters in another basket, and last basket has fluval charcoal, 3 small bags of fluval nitrate/phosphate remover (clearmax)

and i have 20ppm tap water, and 40ppm in my tank... i do 80% water changes which was told to bring it back to 50% weekly or bi weekly by the local fish store...
right now in the tank are 2 oscars one 10" or so, and other 7" or so, pleco 7", convict 4", cichasoma dimerus 6", tail spot ctenopoma 4", 2 yellow labs 4", bumblebee 4", 2 blue cobalts 3" and 4", red zebra 3", black ghost knife 8" .... i usually feed once a day, sometimes once in the morning and once around 5/6pm at night, as somedays the oscar become aggressive if they dont eat lol ...

should i worry ? or just leave it as is ? and what about adding a Phosban 550 Reactor full of either bio pellets or seachem nitrate remover... also my testing kit is a freshwater API tester kit, and i read somewere some test them in nitrate-nitrogen and ya have to divide by 4.4 .. do i have to do that or ?

 

[F1 VET]

50-60ppm is max imo.

Obviously these fish grow and so does the bio load, is say 60%/week is fine.




Go S. Vettel #1 rb8

 

[rob1984]

But if they are that high now how high are they going to be when the oscar are say like 12inchs or so ?

Will the BB grow to a larger amount with the fish growing and etc ? Or how do I create say a "army" of BB to take care of this ??

 

[F1 VET]

Bio load is what the bb can sustain with stock. More stock more waste more bb. All u can do its provide a lot of bio media, like api chem stars, fluval bio max etc. Just load as much as u can, ditch the nitrate and ammonia charcoal now, doesn't help and leaches waste back into column, all bio and mechanical in mine.

Go S. Vettel #1 rb8

 

[Inglorious]

I'd be concerned about the 20ppm in your tap water. If that's what your kit is showing then contact the city for their water quality report which shows what they say it it, and if you have a discrepancy than you should be able to get them to give you a container to give them a sample to test.

 

[rob1984]

Bio load is what the bb can sustain with stock. More stock more waste more bb. All u can do its provide a lot of bio media, like api chem stars, fluval bio max etc. Just load as much as u can, ditch the nitrate and ammonia charcoal now, doesn't help and leaches waste back into column, all bio and mechanical in mine.

Go S. Vettel #1 rb8

Ok, I'll have to keep the fluval carbon in it tho, as if I don't the water turn yellowish after a few days of water changes. But I can't take out the nitrate/phosphate remover (fuval clearmax) maybe an additional fx5 wouldn't be such a bad idea and pack it with bIo max and some carbon as well as I need it for mywater

 

[bbortko]

I'd replace the carbon and clearmax with seachem purigen. Next I'd get an ac110 and put pothos or other plants in it to control nitrate(search plant only filtration). Adding another fx5 will do nothing to solve your problems unless you're current bio capacity can't keep up with ammonia and nitrite. Nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle and additional filtration will not remedy the problem.

 

[rob1984]

what about setting up a reactor like a phosban 550 with seachem purigen nitrate remover running with one of my maxi jet 1200's ?

 

[rob1984]

I'd replace the carbon and clearmax with seachem purigen. Next I'd get an ac110 and put pothos or other plants in it to control nitrate(search plant only filtration). Adding another fx5 will do nothing to solve your problems unless you're current bio capacity can't keep up with ammonia and nitrite. Nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle and additional filtration will not remedy the problem.

well if i dont keep carbon in my filter my water turns off yellow or slightly coloured within a few days or so

 

[bbortko]

The purigen will keep your water clear.