Dont worry i was there 3 months ago when i started the hobbys as well, but i have learned so much through this site lol. Well mainly because i spend a couple hours on here every day
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To put it simple it's like this.....
Fish waste produce Ammonia which is a toxic chemical for fish.
Ammonia is converted to Nitrites which are still toxic for fish.
Nitrites are converted to Nitrates which are only toxic in high levels.
For these "conversions" to happen you must have an established bacteria colony in your tank/filters. The bacteria breaks down ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate.
The easiest way to remove nitrates from water is to do water changes. Example: Your tank is at 20 ppm Nitrate and you do a 50 pct water change. Considering your tap water has 0 nitrates your nitrates will now be back to 10 and you should do another w/c once their back to 20.
There are other ways to get nitrates out and the easiest is by having live plants in you aquarium but thats a whole different story.
I try to maintain my nitrates below 20 when possible, doing usually 1 40 pct water change every week. My fish are getting bigger and producing more waste now so i will either have to upgrade to a bigger tank or start doing more water changes so the nitrates dont kill my fish.
. I currently do a 10 percent to 30 percent water change every weekend, depending on how much down time I have...
