ideal level of nitrate?

[packer43064]

Yup, fish are more tolerable that some people might know. Ive added fish to a tank before that wasnt even cycled yet and the fish lived.

Oh, everyone has done that, lol. We all get anxious. Who wants to wait a few weeks to let these weird little bacteria that we can't even see do change ammonia to nitrite then to nitrate. It's boring, lol. But a must if you are spending big bucks, like an arowana or what not.

 

[Oosh]

Back when I was a youngster in the whole keeping fish area(bout 2 years ago, lol) I once had my nitrates over 80ppm. The test kit was a deep blood red meaning 80ppm at least. I'm not proud of it or anything but my fish did live and were fine. Well fine enough to live, i'm really into fish keeping now so I change water weekly and it's never over 20ppm really.

j/k

It happens, I got behind in my changes, and was regularly in the 40-80ppm zone for a while there. I was more concerned about shocking my fish with large-scale water changes, and they did fine at those levels for weeks, until I could schedule in a regime of multiple smaller-changes within a shorter time-frame than usual.

 

[packer43064]

j/k

It happens, I got behind in my changes, and was regularly in the 40-80ppm zone for a while there. I was more concerned about shocking my fish with large-scale water changes, and they did fine at those levels for weeks, until I could schedule in a regime of multiple smaller-changes within a shorter time-frame than usual.

Yeah it happens. Noone is perfect. We do have lives we get behind at times. No worries.

 

[Toby_H]

It is often said "My nitrates went all the way up to XX and my fish were fine"... But are the fish 'fine'? As I described earlier, just because it doesn't kill your fish immediately, doesn't mean it isn't harming your fish and shaving time off it's lifespan...

Don't be so quick to assume...

 

[packer43064]

It is often said "My nitrates went all the way up to XX and my fish were fine"... But are the fish 'fine'? As I described earlier, just because it doesn't kill your fish immediately, doesn't mean it isn't harming your fish and shaving time off it's lifespan...

Don't be so quick to assume...

I'm not saying my fish were fine. just fine meaning they weren't like dead on the bottom of the tank fine, lol. yes I know that it will take time off of their lives and etc. But I said I had other issues to attend to and I was much younger in the fish career. So ya.

 

[cchhcc]

It is often said "My nitrates went all the way up to XX and my fish were fine"... But are the fish 'fine'? As I described earlier, just because it doesn't kill your fish immediately, doesn't mean it isn't harming your fish and shaving time off it's lifespan...

Don't be so quick to assume...

Agreed........ Many of the fish we keep should be living for a decade or more! How often does that happen in the hands of a less than experienced aquarist? The goal should be "thrive" not just "survive!"

I'm not directing this at your Packer, I know you didn't mean your comments in that manner. All of us have high nitrates from time to time!

 

[vfc]

I have four tanks of African Cichlids that all have nitrates level > 100PPMs before my weekly 50% water changes.

I am kind of stuck.

• I have very bad public water with nitrates between 10 and 15PPMs out of the tap.

• I have limited time to dedicate to this hobby, so changing more than 50% of 350G of water a week is not going to happen.

• I took the advice from forums like this three years ago and over stocked the cichlids to distribute the aggression level. Fortunately (or unfortunately) most all of the cichlids grew to full size (5 to 6")

• The cichlids are spawning on a regular basis, and unfortunately (or fortunately) some survive and are adding to the adult population

• The local fish store that I routinely would drop off cichlids to "thin the herd", is no longer accepting "used fish" because they are having a hard time selling what they have (recession effects).

So in my situation, the fish are doing okay in 100PPM+ nitrates. I hate to say it but if I hit 200PPMs and some die off, that may be the only way to reduce my nitrate level.

 

[Toby_H]

Packer - Oosh was actually the one who said something that made me remake my point, not you. It just irks me when people have a mishap and claim 'the fish were fine'. We all have mishaps, I can't blame anyone for that. I just hate that we assume it had no impact just because fish don't die from it.

vfc - I know how you feel in a way. I recently turned my garage into a fishroom and also have limited time to work on it. My solution was to set things up to account for my busy schedule (or lazy nature). I have over 1,000 gal of Cichlid infested water in my home, but almost every tank (or system) is lightly stocked. I have a few tanks that I've skilled water changes on for as much as a month and my nitrates still stayed under 50 ppm. Planning is everything

If I were in your shoes now, I definately wouldn't let things to continue winding out of control until deaths occur. As I've discuessed in this thread previously, not only will this be killing some of your fish, it will be shaving time off the lives of all your fish. I would step in and reduce your stock before that happens.

 

[BarroomHero]

I have four tanks of African Cichlids that all have nitrates level > 100PPMs before my weekly 50% water changes.

I am kind of stuck.

• I have very bad public water with nitrates between 10 and 15PPMs out of the tap.

• I have limited time to dedicate to this hobby, so changing more than 50% of 350G of water a week is not going to happen.

• I took the advice from forums like this three years ago and over stocked the cichlids to distribute the aggression level. Fortunately (or unfortunately) most all of the cichlids grew to full size (5 to 6")

• The cichlids are spawning on a regular basis, and unfortunately (or fortunately) some survive and are adding to the adult population

• The local fish store that I routinely would drop off cichlids to "thin the herd", is no longer accepting "used fish" because they are having a hard time selling what they have (recession effects).

So in my situation, the fish are doing okay in 100PPM+ nitrates. I hate to say it but if I hit 200PPMs and some die off, that may be the only way to reduce my nitrate level.

Or you could post ads in the marketplace here, or craigslist, or somewhere to sell the fish for a little or give them away instead of leaving them in poor water conditions and hoping that the nitrates will get high enough to kill off some of them.

My tank is a bit overstocked, but I keep my nitrates under 20ppm. I just gave away 2 fish to reduce my bioload so I can keep the rest of the fish happy and healthy.

 

[Oosh]

Packer - Oosh was actually the one who said something that made me remake my point, not you. It just irks me when people have a mishap and claim 'the fish were fine'. We all have mishaps, I can't blame anyone for that. I just hate that we assume it had no impact just because fish don't die from it.

Nothing in their behaviour or activity levels changed, they continued breeding, over that period of time. Short of asking them how they were doing to confirm I'm not sure how else to describe their situation as other than "fine".

Don't get bogged down in the symantics, I understand that long-term exposure to those levels is not good, but over the short-term there were "fine".

vfc: I'm sorry, but if you can' adequately look after you pets, you need to downsize to a point that you can get those Nitrates better under control. A toxic cull is not a humane option.