nitrate level 100mg/L

[robbie carrobie]

dear friends here is list of test results Ph 6.5, Ammonia 0.1mgL, Nitrite 0.1mg/L, Nitrate 100mg/L . recently purchased fish tank 5 feet *2 feet*2 feet, all original aquarium water, fishes everything. Filter system was out of water during transportation as was all rocks, gravell etc. fishes were also housed in smaller tank for transportation although original water was used to house them. Why is my nitrate level so high, how can I reduce it quickly and how harmful is it to my little fishes (mixed aquarium, 4 silver dollars, 2 ciclids, red tail shark, 2 bala sharks, 2 upside down cat fish, two other spotted catfish, 1 plek (spelling ?), 2 neon tetras, and two other small ciclids i think. please help me and my little fishes which I love. Ps. filter system is underneath the gravel.

 

[wetwetwet]

Hi robbie,

Are the fish showing signs of stress? If this was their old water then theey were probibly aclimatised to it. Nitrate is the final stage of the nitrogrn cycle and only removed by water changes (and plants).

I'm not too familar with ugf but how long was the filter not running for? any more than 2 hours and things will start to deteriorate...

In any event feed sparingly untill you get on top of things...



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[jflowers]

cut and pasted this from my reply in BQ's, mostly as WWW said...


NitrAte is the by product of beneficial bacteria and there is no way to reduce it apart from regular water changes/heavy planting/Nitrate absorbers in the filter. My guess would be that the previous owner has slacked off the regular water changes while trying to sell the tank. Did they give a reason for selling? Was it lack of time?

Jon

 

[robbie carrobie]

yeh it was because of lack of time to enjoy the fish, a least thats what the dude said, and yes the filter was left out of the water for at least 5 1/2 hours.

 

[wetwetwet]

I just reread your post and realised you have ammoia and nitrite as well. Ammonia is very poisenous to fish and nitrite to a lesser extent.

Hopefully enough of the benifical bacteria will have survived and will soon multiply to take up the bioload.

Keep a close check on these readings and keep up with water changes especially if they get any higher.

You need to keep waste to a minimum so feed sparingly and remove any dead decaying plants.

Keep us up to date with how you get on



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[robbie carrobie]

The plants are infact all artificial, although i would like to get real plants although i dont know if I can with the kind of filtration system that i have underneath the gravel.

 

[robbie carrobie]

just to add a little remark that generally fish are quite lively although there is one little fish, i wish i could tell you what he/she is, who sometimes looks quite listless although when other fish chase him/her he /she can certainly move but for the most part he/she sometimes just sits chiling out near the bottom.

 

[wetwetwet]

Depending on the fish - this could be quite normal behaviour If you post a pic of it here I'm sure one of the members will ID it for you...



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[robbie carrobie]

Thanks man, Im gonna do just that because there are some fishes that I cant find in the index. Just for the record, did water change as directed and have halfed the nitrate level. Wish someone would explain under gravel filters, the pros and cons with me. I read somewhere once that they are apparently quite controversial, although I could not say either way being a newbie.

 

[WILDER]

http/www.aquariumcorner.com/filtration.html

 

[lightningjoe]

I like Under gravel filters. I have always used them, but not by themselves. I always connect the risers of the ugf to a filter that hangs on the back of the tank. I use half inch pvc or 1 inch clear flexible tubing to connect them together. This way large particles are caught in the gravel and fine particles are removed by the floss in the other filter. It has always worked well for me and i never have any fish stuck to the filter intake.