Help with Nitrate Test Kits

Av3206

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ok so had a bit of an issue last week with tail rot that caused some deaths so i posted about water changes ect so i have some to the realization that nitrate is the problem so i got some different test kits and now what who do i believe
API liquid test 10-20
tetra strip 20-40
and API strip maybe 20

here are pictures of the tests please help
 

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ok so had a bit of an issue last week with tail rot that caused some deaths so i posted about water changes ect so i have some to the realization that nitrate is the problem so i got some different test kits and now what who do i believe
API liquid test 10-20
tetra strip 20-40
and API strip maybe 20

here are pictures of the tests please help
I would be very surprised if those nitrate levels were responsible as personally I think they are pretty normal and weekly water changes will keep on top of it. I personally would be pretty ok with those levels the day before I did a water change . How often do you do water changes?
 
i do weekly water changes about 30% i had 8 quarter to a bit bigger angel fish that all got tail rot and all but 2 died when i was on vacation last week i also have a 45 gallon tank
FYI here is my tap water
 

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i do weekly water changes about 30% i had 8 quarter to a bit bigger angel fish that all got tail rot and all but 2 died when i was on vacation last week i also have a 45 gallon tank
FYI here is my tap water
If my tapwater had that much nitrate in from the start I would try mixing it 50/50 r/o water or clean rainwater. I mix mine with the rainwater and add seachem equilibrium to replace the minerals. You’re wasting your time doing water changes with that tapwater as all your doing is adding nitrates
 
Nitrate is detrimental to aquarium fish at just about any level. Ammonia and nitrite poison fish more rapidly, but nitrate over time and depending upon the level and the species does cause problems. Generally it weakens the fish so it becomes more susceptible to other problems it should otherwise be able to handle without issue. Keeping nitrate as close to zero is always advisable. [I am not for a moment suggesting nitrate is the issue here, only pointing out that it is not helping.]

This is fairly easy to do provided nitrate is not already present in the source (tap) water. Regular (once weekly) substantial (60-75% of the tank volume) water changes, not overstocking or inappropriately stocking, not overfeeding, keeping the filter clean, substrate vacuuming, and live plants all help when nitrate is occurring solely from the biological system. And it should be easy to keep it in the low range, say 0 to 5 ppm.

When nitrate is present in the tap water, and at the level indicated here, it might be advisable to deal with that. Diluting with RO (or using just RO, depending upon the fish species) is one way. There are also filtration methods that other members have used with success. @AbbeysDad is one who has battled quite high nitrate in his source water, he can advise on this aspect.
 
aqua Pa supplies the water here and according to there website i am starting off with 10PPM from the tap
 
aqua Pa supplies the water here and according to there website i am starting off with 10PPM from the tap

If you could keep it no higher in the aquarium, that would not be too bad, but that is easy to say. Let @AbbeysDad comment on this.
 
I don't see where he says his tap water has nitrates in it - that would be unusual. Anyway - to answer his question - go with the results of the test tube test. Test strips are not reliable. Next do a nice big 75% water change, and measure for nitrates again and I bet it will be back to zero. 30% water changes is like leaving 70% bad water behind - they aren't that helpful.
 
thanks for the blog posts and yes my tap water has about 10PPM nitrate in it from a test and my water suppliers website. so just simple math here i am at 50 the end of my week and i do a 50% change i will only go to 30 rather then 25 so i will be constantly going up each week until i have a problem like i experienced with poor water quality. Currently i set up 6 5 gallon nestle pure life water according to there site they have none. my plan is to cut it with my tap water 50/50 each week to get my number down to 5. the cost is about 30 a month. i am also going to look into the top floating plants mentioned in the blog post
 
does anyone know what are some of the fast growing floating plants that would consume the ammonia from article?
 
so just simple math here i am at 50 the end of my week and i do a 50% change i will only go to 30 rather then 25 so i will be constantly going up each week
Try applying the same simple arithmetic to a 75% weekly change. The results will surprise you ;)
The most effective floating plants IMO are water sprite and amazon frogbit.
 

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