Redrawing the line between nitrates and nutrition.

[knifegill]

My 125g has tested, at the end of the week with normal/heavy feedings, at less than 10 ppm for nitrates. There's no ammonia, I just double checked. I just rehomed my four baby sunfish to a relatives private pond last weekend and didn't realize the degree to which four little two-inch fish were contributing to waste!

So here's the question: Is it reasonable to increase feedings to provide a greater weekly variety in exchange for nitrates reaching something like 15ppm? I do a 30-50% water change once per week.

The stock is
1 wild peru oscar ar 11"
1 L200 pleco that I feed gut-loaded zucchini every other day
3 platydoras armulatus
soon adding 1 nine-inch orinocodoras eigenmanni. He might break the deal.

Opinions?

 

[BODYDUB]

Basically the more fish you have the more filtering you need. As long as you're producing nitrates then you "really" have nothing to worry about. If you increase the food intake you obviously increase the waste output, but as long as you have enough filtration on any established tank and do regular w/cs then you should be fine. All nitrates mean is an estblished tank for less w/cs. But you should never have any ammonia reading what so ever unless you are cycling a tank.............

 

[MonsterMinis]

You can also off-set Nitrates w/ the use of driftwood and Java fern. Even my Oscars can't destroy it. So it may be something to consider. As long as you have the filtration to handle the bio-load I wouldn't think the tanks average nitrates would spike that much. I am in a constant battle w/ nitrates and resorted to live plants in many of my tanks ( my water is pretty much liquid nitrates 40-60ppm out of the faucet.) having established live plants helps keep it in the 20's. some get down to 15.

You can also consider chopping your WC's into 2x a week doing 30%.

 

[knifegill]

You can also off-set Nitrates w/ the use of driftwood and Java fern.

I actually recently added a huge chunk of driftwood (not mopani, looks like a softer species) and I've had java moss (not fern) in there forever. How does driftwood lower nitrates? Anaerobic bacteria or something?

Is it normal to have nitrates in tap water? :0

Basically the more fish you have the more filtering you need. As long as you're producing nitrates then you "really" have nothing to worry about. If you increase the food intake you obviously increase the waste output, but as long as you have enough filtration on any established tank and do regular w/cs then you should be fine. All nitrates mean is an estblished tank for less w/cs. But you should never have any ammonia reading what so ever unless you are cycling a tank...........

Thanks, BODYDUB. That all makes sense to me. I haven't seen any ammonia in a tank since my first year, aside from the jade goby I tried to jump start in marine water.


My plan is to add the 9"er and continue to feed lightly for a week or two, keeping an eye on things. If it's still 10- after that, I'll up the schedule. It's currently once per day at lights out time. Anyway, thanks for the input.
I probably could do more frequent water changes. I don't see why not.

 

[MonsterMinis]

lol prolly shoulda expalined it better.. the driftwood won't help w/ nitrates itself.. It's a good base to tie on the java fern. Keeps it from being dug-up as most oscars are prone to do, or if your tanks bare bottom. I'm not sure if the java moss vs fern is a better nitrate soaker-upper... I actually have both in many tanks. But the fern also won't clump up and float around or get shredded into bits generally unless you have a VERY bored fish. lol. I just buy the wood and ferns seperate ( alot cheaper then buying wood w/ the fern already attached). and use either rubber bands. or monofiliment line ( fishing line) to tie it on. Its also a low light plant so no need to change your lighting or add any fert ect ect..

and depending on the tap some will have nitrates.. I'm on a well.. surrounded by corn fields ect.. hence my nitrates being so high. Knowing your water perameters straight out of your tap can be very beneficial. If you have less then 10ppm.. just increasing your water changes or frequency may be all you need to do if your nitrates start climbing. I'm not farmilular w/ some of the fish you listed so to that extent, I'm not sure what bio-load your really potentially going to encounter.

you may see an additional ammonia spike the first week of adding a new fish to the system. which is your bacteria colony shifting to accomidate it. If it continues longer I would consider adding more bio-filtration to your system. otherwise it's normal.

personally i wouldn't worry about it, but would do a few water tests just for peace of mind and to keep an eye on it. do an extra 25% wc if need be. and let things settle.

 

[knifegill]

I don't have any nitrates at all in my tapwater. Actually, my tapwater is extremely soft and useless. I have to buffer it to keep softwater species alive.

But your driftwood accident got me to look this up: http://www.naturalresourcesnewsserv...43:ditch-this&catid=15:nrns-stories&Itemid=63

It's got me thinking...