Nitrate Check

[SourAngelfish]

Curious what people keeping successful tanks with large fish run their nitrates at?

I had previously struggled with nitrates and would sometimes let them run 100+ppm, I’ve heard from many this is not appropriate and had spent a few days getting them down to the 20-40ppm range.

Do we know exact affect of nitrate on fish? The tank looks no less clean with the lower nitrate levels, I understand visuals do not equate to health of the tank however.

Would be interesting to see if everyone could just run their nitrates after reading this, maybe share a bit about their tank, and tell me what they get

as for my current fresh tanks:

29gal: 30ppm

180 gal: 50ppm

due for water changes tomorrow haha

 

[Rocksor]

Less than 20ppm, basically orange on the API test for the 240g and less than 10ppm on 55g and 15g

 

[The Masked Shadow]

55g - Nitrate: 30

55g outdoor - 10 ppm

40g patio pond - 15ppm

40g quarantine - 5ppm

29g community tank - 30ppm

 

[neutrino]

Mine now are low, 5-ish, but it hasn't always been that way, mainly because I tend to stock lighter and do bigger water changes than I did years ago-- there was a time when I did haps and peacocks that I had fabulously overstocked tanks, except fry grow-out tanks. When I first started measuring nitrates they were high, so I started doing bigger water changes, got them down around 20. But even before that I seldom had health issues. I filtered well, did my water changes, kept filters and substrate clean, and ran UV sterilizers.

Through a forum I used to know a successful breeder in Australia, he paid for city water-- expensive, restrictions, etc. He did his water changes when nitrates reached 50, every other way his tanks were spotless. Not recommending it, especially for sensitive species, but it worked for him with those circumstances. Also, 50 was the peak, not the constant.

Lower is always good, of course, and better for fish disease resistance according to the science I've read. People have differing opinions on what's acceptable, some say under 40, some say under 20, some say lower. But there are other factors and some fish (or other aquatic animals) are more sensitive than others.

Some have the idea natural rivers, lakes, etc. have practically zero nitrates, I've seen people say there are no nitrates in water in nature. Wrong. Nature produces its own nitrates, it's part of the nitrogen cycle, sometimes from sources you wouldn't think of-- shale erosion, for example. Modern farming and other human activity significantly adds to this in many places, meaning some of waters our fish come from are not as pristine as we imagine. On the other hand, some remote or undeveloped waters can be very low in nutrients, including some blackwater rivers, high altitude streams, etc.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

Min e were taken at its max, right before water changes

 

[duanes]

I try to keep nitrate below 5ppm, by using every other day 30%-40% water changes, and an overage of terrestrial and aquatic plants as nitrate sponges, on my 300 gal system.
But in nature.....most "clean" natural waters are even lower.
When I was a chemist, it was my job to do daily checks of raw Lake Michigan water, it averaged under 1 ppm, (measured on a spectrophotometer that tested down into the 100th place (0.00).
Here in Panama the natural unpolluted waters I have also tested, have been 5 ppm or less.
Swamps or rice paddies would be an exception.
Although effects of nitrate are not usually acute, chronic diseases like HLLE may be a result in aquariums.
We have all seen mature oscars, severums, Geo's and other long lived cichlids with hole in the head disease showing up at around 2 or 3 years, often the result of nitrate levels above 20ppm (especially if kept in hard water systems).
terrestrial plants

and aquatic plants in my system.

Below one of my latest nitrate tests .

 

[eon aquatics]

i never had a nitrate or nitrite problem, although my multi test strips dont check for ammonia
i kind of just assume there is low ammonia because my 55 gallon is mostly clean and has low nitrate and nitrite