Nitrate question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
screaminleeman

screaminleeman

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 27, 2009
1,445
10
38
Westminster, MD
I have continually read that the goal is to keep "nitrates" below 20! While that is probably an excellent "rule of thumb", it is extremely common throughout the world that is an impossibility in reality.

What is a "realistic" number to keep nitrates below and not a "perfect world" number like 20?

Just a little background, it is rare that water supply (drinking water included!) contains ZERO nitrates.

Federal law requires that areas with over 10 Nitrates post warnings in public buldings stating their nitrate reading. The average Nitrate reading in a town (Finksburg, MD.) directly next to where I live is around 15ppm!

You can change your water 100% hourly and NEVER get your nitrates below 15ppm.

If you start at 15PPM nitrates with your direct water supply, then an average stocked aquarium will reach the 20ppm "limit" in precious little time at all. Nothing short of 100% WC's daily would maintain this "arbitrary" number!

Am I to understand that people who live in areas like this have ABSOLUTELY no business getting into the hobby of fishkeeping? I am not an expert, but hopefully someone can chime in and determine what the true danger level is! I know that areas that have 20ppm Nitrates are NOT condemed by the federal government as unable to support human life.

Again no expert, just throwing a number out there, but I think it is more like 50ppm Nitrates before the Federal Government declares an area uninhabitable for humans hence laws apply to builders in these zones.

Any feedback is appreciated.:popcorn:
 
I think different folks have different issues....In all, 100% honesty I have no problem keeping my nitrates well below 20, and I only do biweekly wc.
 
I live on city water, and have zero nitrates in my water.

Realistically though, you should try to keep your nitrates below 40 ppm, in order for your fish to thrive.

Goldfish are notoriously sensitive to nitrates, and keeping them below 20 ppm is ideal, so they don't end up with swim bladder issues. In my keeping of goldfish, I have found high nitrates to be MORE detrimental than an ammonia spike.

Tropicals can handle a little higher levels of nitrates, but where they come from, barely ever are forced to live in nitrates in the wild. I realize that this is probably an unrealistic goal in the aquarium environment, but as with everything else humans keep in captivity, shouldn't we strive for conditions better than that in the wild? I guess I'm really going off on a tangent here, sorry!

Me, personally, I wouldn't keep fish if I had high nitrates in my water, or I would filter my water to make it more appropriate to sustain life. I know that people can drink nitrates, but we aren't completely submerged in it, and every single one of our metabolic cycles taking place in that "dirty" water.
 
In my freshwater tanks I don't even think about it. Never test for it. I just do my water changes once or twice a month. Rinse my filters of heavy solids every few months. I keep a lot of fish and feed a lot of food so I know my nitrates are probably on the high side. But I don't even think about my nitrates. Ph is what I more constantly monitor in my tanks cause its always going down.
 
pacu mom;4744865; said:
Fishkeepers with high nitrates in their water supply should consider a reverse osmosis system.
Click to expand...

I did look into this. The downfall was the speed at which the process takes place. I am easily way over 500 gallons of water per week required for water changes and probably much closer to 1,000 gallons weekly.

Small to mid sized RO systems (somewhat affordable) can not produce the quantity of water required for my setup(s). Larger systems that can produce this type of water quantity are way out of the price range of a "private fishkeeper" hobbiest! The cost of this type of system would require the hobbiest to be disgustingly rich.

I also priced having bottled (5G Carboys) of spring water delivered weekly for around the same price as a HD RO system. Again only for the digustingly rich.

Multi-millionaires cheapest solution is just to "move" to an area with a much lower Nitrate level to begin with.

The solution would have to be for a hobbiest that is slightly below the "millionaire" financial status.:)
 
I also do not monitor my nitrate levels in my freshwater tank.. I just do regular water changes and I clean 1 of my 3 filters alternating each time. As long as your fish are happy, healthy and active, just keep up with your regular maintenance and you will be good to go.. Just my .02..
 
screaminleeman;4744849; said:
I have continually read that the goal is to keep "nitrates" below 20! While that is probably an excellent "rule of thumb", it is extremely common throughout the world that is an impossibility in reality.

What is a "realistic" number to keep nitrates below and not a "perfect world" number like 20?

Just a little background, it is rare that water supply (drinking water included!) contains ZERO nitrates.

Federal law requires that areas with over 10 Nitrates post warnings in public buldings stating their nitrate reading. The average Nitrate reading in a town (Finksburg, MD.) directly next to where I live is around 15ppm!

You can change your water 100% hourly and NEVER get your nitrates below 15ppm.

If you start at 15PPM nitrates with your direct water supply, then an average stocked aquarium will reach the 20ppm "limit" in precious little time at all. Nothing short of 100% WC's daily would maintain this "arbitrary" number!

Am I to understand that people who live in areas like this have ABSOLUTELY no business getting into the hobby of fishkeeping? I am not an expert, but hopefully someone can chime in and determine what the true danger level is! I know that areas that have 20ppm Nitrates are NOT condemed by the federal government as unable to support human life.

Again no expert, just throwing a number out there, but I think it is more like 50ppm Nitrates before the Federal Government declares an area uninhabitable for humans hence laws apply to builders in these zones.

Any feedback is appreciated.:popcorn:
Click to expand...

This is weird. The water here (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) has 0 nitrates in the water. I Just tested it last week. I keep all my nitrates under 10. Not hard at all. 50% WC once a week (2 weeks over the holidays). I keep 2 types of puffers. They're messy eaters and require pristine water conditions.
 
Very good question :)

I don't have too much trouble with nitrates here. Weekly water changes keep things in check. I do use live plants in all my tanks which helps a tiny bit. I have done some reading on this though and some people claim that a protein skimmer (affordable) will help a little bit and others claim that nitrogen/nitrate filter media also helps a little bit.

I am not a biologist, but from what reading I have done, it looks like you can achieve a noticable nitrate decline by using live plants, a protein skimmer and nitrogen/nitrate filter media. Fluval claims to have pretty substantial nitrate removal rates with their "G" series cartridges:

http://www.fluvalblog.com/filter-media-redesigned-fluval-g-chemical-media/


When reading about how to lower nitrates out of the tap, you're right, there aren't many choices. "Diluting" the tap water with purified water is the easiest solution. Reverse Osmosis in large quantities is expensive.

I was intrigued with the distillery concept. Basically, boiling the water and collecting the steam. This would give you nearly perfect water! But, it would be a huge system lol :) By the way, boiled water itself is even worse than the tap water since you boil off the "good stuff" and even higher concentrates of nitrate remain behind.

Damn, I rambled on, sorry.

Good question though!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom