Hi, i'm new here, was browsing through, and what really got my attention were the threads where opinions were expressed that "high" nitrates ( say 80+ from what i've gathered here) could kill or severely impact rays. Just wanna share my experience here about nitrates, i apologise for it being long winded but i doubt i can make my point sufficiently otherwise.
i'll admit i was one of those who followed literature and always erred on the side of caution, meaning i religiously tested water parameters and kept nitrates below 50 ppm for freshwater, below 10 for saltwater. when i first dabbled into ray keeping i was literally going crazy because i couldnt keep nitrates in check whilst feeding 4-5 times a day (pups), without a trickle/drip system. that meant 50-80% water changes once every 2 days, none of my tanks were overstocked, eg 3 x 5-6" rays in a 180-240g, ammonia/nitrites were zero throughout even after huge feedings because i way overfilter, but the nitrates just kept shooting up cause of the amount i fed and the amount of waste produced subsequently. And it definately didnt help my tap water had detectable nitrites, and 20-30ppm nitrates. if i got lazy n skipped a water change nitrates would go beyond 100. mind you none of the rays exhibited any signs of stress let alone get sick or die... they ate like pigs and grew faster than most ppl could believe. all the while in water that never had lower than 80ppm nitrates and could peak out at 150+.
One fine day i got close enough to some reputable ray breeders and when i asked their opinion of how high was high for nitrates, half of them didnt see the need to bother with nitrates, and the other half thought i was crazy for panicking and getting stressed out over having 100ish nitrates. Mind you, these are the ppl who have invested millions in their farms n rays, and have continuosly churned out some of the most stunning BDs and the super white trend.
Well to be honest i was still skeptical even though my rays had been and were still thriving under high nitrates, but i did tone down and started getting better sleep without as much of the fear that i would wake up n find dead rays due to high nitrates. Weeks passed, months passed, years passed, and i have come to accept that my rays (BD , Leos and BD variants) are thriving irregardless of the high nitrates. Eg they grew from 7-8" to 14-15" disc size in less than a year, never had bad appetite (i actually still feed 2-3 x a day even those that are bigger than 16"), never suffered from any sickness, recovered from bad bites from males within days without needing to do anything at all, etcetc.
Fast forward to today. no side effects AFAIK from high nitrates. Sickness? No. Deaths? No. Stunted? No. Shortening of life span? Honestly i wouldnt know firsthand cause the longest i've kept any ray before selling/trading to upgrade brood stock was around 6-7 years, but i can most definately say rays wont die overnight from <200 nitrates. UNLESS they were shocked by transferring them instantly from water that was <40, straight to water that had multiple times higher nitrates level. And even then i did buy rays that came in with <50 nitrates, dripped them for 30 mins with my 150 nitrates water, chucked them in and they started eating within 5 mins.
Anyways, just thought i would give a different viewpoint of how deadly ntirates above 50 are. i have yet to see a ray die from nitrates < 200. Makes me wonder if any of those peeps saying 80 nitrates were the reason of death overnight, actually had any first hand experience of such scenarios.
Last but not least i wanted to post some pics of my rays over the years but apparantly i cant post links unless i have 4 posts... so i'll update the pics when i'm able to lol.
P.s : I welcome any discussion, but please do make it constructive.
i'll admit i was one of those who followed literature and always erred on the side of caution, meaning i religiously tested water parameters and kept nitrates below 50 ppm for freshwater, below 10 for saltwater. when i first dabbled into ray keeping i was literally going crazy because i couldnt keep nitrates in check whilst feeding 4-5 times a day (pups), without a trickle/drip system. that meant 50-80% water changes once every 2 days, none of my tanks were overstocked, eg 3 x 5-6" rays in a 180-240g, ammonia/nitrites were zero throughout even after huge feedings because i way overfilter, but the nitrates just kept shooting up cause of the amount i fed and the amount of waste produced subsequently. And it definately didnt help my tap water had detectable nitrites, and 20-30ppm nitrates. if i got lazy n skipped a water change nitrates would go beyond 100. mind you none of the rays exhibited any signs of stress let alone get sick or die... they ate like pigs and grew faster than most ppl could believe. all the while in water that never had lower than 80ppm nitrates and could peak out at 150+.
One fine day i got close enough to some reputable ray breeders and when i asked their opinion of how high was high for nitrates, half of them didnt see the need to bother with nitrates, and the other half thought i was crazy for panicking and getting stressed out over having 100ish nitrates. Mind you, these are the ppl who have invested millions in their farms n rays, and have continuosly churned out some of the most stunning BDs and the super white trend.
Well to be honest i was still skeptical even though my rays had been and were still thriving under high nitrates, but i did tone down and started getting better sleep without as much of the fear that i would wake up n find dead rays due to high nitrates. Weeks passed, months passed, years passed, and i have come to accept that my rays (BD , Leos and BD variants) are thriving irregardless of the high nitrates. Eg they grew from 7-8" to 14-15" disc size in less than a year, never had bad appetite (i actually still feed 2-3 x a day even those that are bigger than 16"), never suffered from any sickness, recovered from bad bites from males within days without needing to do anything at all, etcetc.
Fast forward to today. no side effects AFAIK from high nitrates. Sickness? No. Deaths? No. Stunted? No. Shortening of life span? Honestly i wouldnt know firsthand cause the longest i've kept any ray before selling/trading to upgrade brood stock was around 6-7 years, but i can most definately say rays wont die overnight from <200 nitrates. UNLESS they were shocked by transferring them instantly from water that was <40, straight to water that had multiple times higher nitrates level. And even then i did buy rays that came in with <50 nitrates, dripped them for 30 mins with my 150 nitrates water, chucked them in and they started eating within 5 mins.
Anyways, just thought i would give a different viewpoint of how deadly ntirates above 50 are. i have yet to see a ray die from nitrates < 200. Makes me wonder if any of those peeps saying 80 nitrates were the reason of death overnight, actually had any first hand experience of such scenarios.
Last but not least i wanted to post some pics of my rays over the years but apparantly i cant post links unless i have 4 posts... so i'll update the pics when i'm able to lol.
P.s : I welcome any discussion, but please do make it constructive.
