Sick of nitrates

[Tequila]

I've tested both of my tanks about 10 times each since I've been keeping fish. I cannot understand why you're so curious as to why people test Nitrates, especially when it's the most important indicator of whether or not you're keeping up with maintenance on your tank efficiently or not. After a few tests on a regular feeding and waterchange schedule you will have a pretty decent idea of the rate in which your Nitrates increase, but it's far from useless having the test kit.

Nitrates are poisonous to fish just like Ammonia and Nitrite, they can just be tolerated at higher levels. I'm confident that keeping Nitrate levels as low as possible promotes quicker growth and much healthier fish.

Why wouldn't you care about that?

What? Huh?

What is it that you cannot understand English or Nitrates. Dude(s) I truely think if you knew what was in my canister filter you would fall the F over.

Dude I know Nitrates are poisonous to fish but nowhere never as poisonous as Ammonia or Nitrites! And if the truth be known I have never ever owned any more than 2 test kits for freshwater PERIOD! Though I have had in the past a 1~180G, 2~125G, 2~55G, 1~20G High, 110G Corner, & a 30G tank of my own personal setups and over 5,000G in Freshwater @ one of the largest independantly owned LFS chain as the highest paid employee ever. I don't now or think I will ever bother with more than 2 test kits for freshwater period!

I have never ever bothered with a Nitrite test kit before in freshwater and I'm not going to start now period. You may find that you need one I DON'T! Hey you may find that you need media in your canister I don't. I keep 2.2 RTGG that I bought when they where just 4 inches and now less than one year later there 16, 15, 12, & 10 inches not to forget that they have tank mates that are all fine, growing and breeding without prompting.

I do 25% water changes once per 10~14 days and my fish are outstanding in color, size, shape and weight. I have never ever tested there water for Nitrate or for that matter Nitrite or KH as a matter of fact I only test when I return from a vacation. And there is a dead fish, which in normal cases is a recent purchase. None of my long term fish have ever past away, only fish I recently purchased and are left in the care of kids that I have take care of my fish while I'm away, count them 3 fish period!, in 3 years PERIOD! (2 catfish and a Angle).

Whats in your filter? Carbon, Fiber, Poly pads and a ton of other crap. In mine 1.5 handfuls of boi~balls and thats it, I haven't changed my canister filter in 3 years Peroid! I never ever added chemicals such as STRESS COAT or others period, why because they don't need it. I feed my fish everything from Earthworms too Raw Shrimp and Green veggies and still I don't do NITRITE TESTS, heck I only do Ammonia tests when I think it's needed. Why, Because high Ammonia, means low PH, which means high Nitrites which means Waterchanges NOW!!!! Why do I need the other test kits???????????

 

[japes]

What? Huh?

What is it that you cannot understand English or Nitrates. Dude(s) I truely think if you knew what was in my canister filter you would fall the F over.

Dude I know Nitrates are poisonous to fish but nowhere never as poisonous as Ammonia or Nitrites! And if the truth be known I have never ever owned any more than 2 test kits for freshwater PERIOD! Though I have had in the past a 1~180G, 2~125G, 2~55G, 1~20G High, 110G Corner, & a 30G tank of my own personal setups and over 5,000G in Freshwater @ one of the largest independantly owned LFS chain as the highest paid employee ever. I don't now or think I will ever bother with more than 2 test kits for freshwater period!

I have never ever bothered with a Nitrite test kit before in freshwater and I'm not going to start now period. You may find that you need one I DON'T! Hey you may find that you need media in your canister I don't. I keep 2.2 RTGG that I bought when they where just 4 inches and now less than one year later there 16, 15, 12, & 10 inches not to forget that they have tank mates that are all fine, growing and breeding without prompting.

I do 25% water changes once per 10~14 days and my fish are outstanding in color, size, shape and weight. I have never ever tested there water for Nitrate or for that matter Nitrite or KH as a matter of fact I only test when I return from a vacation. And there is a dead fish, which in normal cases is a recent purchase. None of my long term fish have ever past away, only fish I recently purchased and are left in the care of kids that I have take care of my fish while I'm away, count them 3 fish period!, in 3 years PERIOD! (2 catfish and a Angle).

Whats in your filter? Carbon, Fiber, Poly pads and a ton of other crap. In mine 1.5 handfuls of boi~balls and thats it, I haven't changed my canister filter in 3 years Peroid! I never ever added chemicals such as STRESS COAT or others period, why because they don't need it. I feed my fish everything from Earthworms too Raw Shrimp and Green veggies and still I don't do NITRITE TESTS, heck I only do Ammonia tests when I think it's needed. Why, Because high Ammonia, means low PH, which means high Nitrites which means Waterchanges NOW!!!! Why do I need the other test kits???????????

Sorry, let me get this straight.

You try to belittle me by listing your tanks, what you keep in your filter, etc. Then you spiel out two paragraphs that prove you can't properly differentiate between Nitrites and Nitrates. For the 'highest paid employee ever' I would have hoped you would know better.

Pending the stocking of your tank, Nitrates are THE indicator of whether or not your regular tank maintenance routine (water changes) are keeping up with the bio-load on your tank. Testing for Nitrates every so often (I don't mean daily, weekly - perhaps monthly or every quarter) is very helpful to test whether or not you're keeping Nitrate levels under control or if they're gradually getting the better of your routine. An ammonia test kit on the other hand, well I can't say I've tested Ammonia for months now, if you've got decent filtration on your tank then you really don't need to unless it's grossly overstocked.

Now, with me saying this and this is what you're having trouble grasping, testing your Nitrate levels is not necessary, but is definitely helpful. If you still cannot grasp the concept of what I'm talking about, I suggest you Google "aquarium nitrogen cycle".

As for my canisters, they're stocked with EHFI Substrate, EHFI Mech, varying micron filter pads, 200gm of Seachem Purigen. 3500Lph Sump is currently under production. I'll be putting more than a 'handful' of Bioballs in it so I won't be "falling the F over" any time soon. I do a 30% change weekly and keep my Nitrates at around 8ppm as previously stated. If they start to rise as my fish continue to grow, I'll change to bi-weekly water changes, that is the principal behind testing for Nitrates. Understand now?

 

[Bud8Fan]

Well said japes, Period!

 

[sabotage]

What? Huh?
Though I have had in the past a 1~180G, 2~125G, 2~55G, 1~20G High, 110G Corner, & a 30G tank of my own personal setups and over 5,000G in Freshwater @ one of the largest independantly owned LFS chain as the highest paid employee ever.

can i have your autograph??? you are a God to me...

 

[gonnelro]

Hahaha, threads like this crack me up. I love when people come on these sites and get really pissed off about the simplest things. Dude, nitrates are obviously problematic at high levels. Yes, way much so than nitrites and ammonia - in fact my tanks run at way, way higher nitrate levels than 8ppm, but why on earth are you getting so mad at someone else because they test for nitrates? Whatever works for you is fine. If you dont want to test for nitrates, dont. But why get all pissed when other people do? And while you might think its unnecessary, can you really argue that testing for nitrates and keeping the levels low isnt beneficial? Thats like saying, hey, Im skinny and I eat McDonald's every day! Must mean McDonald's is not bad for you! Keep it up though, I only really posting so that youll get pissed off and flame me and I can get a good laugh out of it. Call me sadistic, but I enjoy watching people bubble over and lose control of themselves over things like this.

 

[fishaddiction]

sorry everyone, when I put mg/l did not realize i left out the value. Do not have test kit on me at the moment so its either 20 or 25 mg/l

 

[japes]

sorry everyone, when I put mg/l did not realize i left out the value. Do not have test kit on me at the moment so its either 20 or 25 mg/l

20-25 ppm (ppm = mg/L) is fine for your Nitrate levels, there is a good chance it's coming out of your tap at possibly up to say 15ppm if your tanks are lightly stocked and you feed as sparingly as you say.

I believe anything under 40ppm is quite decent, the lower being the better obviously, but fish apparently do fine in Nitrate levels up to 120ppm but I can't say I have any experience with levels that high as I'm quite the tank maintenance (and forum) nazi.

 

[Pufferpunk]

So someone is proud for not cleaning their filter for years? How could it possibley be functional?

 

[Bud8Fan]

You think that is bad. These are a couple of replies to my fish tank setup up from a non-fish forum. I was arguing with them in between the ands.

In my 200 gal tank the water never gets changed... Never...
With a good filter system and a big tank you don't need to change the water... My tank is going on 20 years old with the same water...
Do you change the water in you farm ponds???

and

In a planted tank the nitrates are no big deal, the plants will consume them. If there is no nitrates in a planted tank the plants will slowly starve. Nitrites on the other hand are a bad thing, very toxic.

A fish dealer I use has a 50g marine tank in his store that has never had a water change, just top offs due to fast evaporation. It's been in there for 18 years under his care. They call him the fish doctor. All the other LFS around recommend him.

and

Lots of people say it cant be done (no water changes)... You need lots of plants and light and a good filter... I make my own filter pads and change them once a week... The pads are made out of quilt pads and cost me about $0.04 each... My fish last for many years... Oscars are one of my favorites... I feed them dog food... What I do may not work for everyone, but I'm happy with what I got and it works for me...

 

[gonnelro]

20-25 is more than fine