nitrate level?
- Thread starter Joviella
- Start date
can someone please tell me what is acceptable for nitrate levels......keep getting conflicting advice. Just bought a test kit and it says 100mg/l.Stryker
Fishaholic
30mg/litre is ok for moderately hardy fish.
50mg/litre you should be thinking of a 10% water change.
100mg/litre damn, get it down as a matter or priority.
On the upside, I recently found my tap water is 30mg/litre so my fish have a supposed rough time of it, but they do ok.
50mg/litre you should be thinking of a 10% water change.
100mg/litre damn, get it down as a matter or priority.
On the upside, I recently found my tap water is 30mg/litre so my fish have a supposed rough time of it, but they do ok.
will it lower just with water changes?Stryker
Fishaholic
Yes as your tap water should idealy have hardly any. When you water change your are in fact diluting whats in your tank.
If I personally do more than a 10% change it seems to knock my fish about a little (wonder what else is up with my water) so if I found myself in your situation I'd do say 6-8 10% changes, one every 12 hours. But usually peeps seem to think doing a 25% change all in one go is ok.
Remember to use the stuff that removes the chlorine from the replacement tap water before putting it in the tank.
If I personally do more than a 10% change it seems to knock my fish about a little (wonder what else is up with my water) so if I found myself in your situation I'd do say 6-8 10% changes, one every 12 hours. But usually peeps seem to think doing a 25% change all in one go is ok.
Remember to use the stuff that removes the chlorine from the replacement tap water before putting it in the tank.
Stryker
Fishaholic
oh, I'd also double check your test kit.... try doing a nitrate test on some tap water.
Stryker
Fishaholic
wow 50mg/litre from the tap eh?
I was horrified at my tap water being 30mg/litre. However the govement health and saftey office said the water companies are allowed up to 50mg/litre before they b*tch-slap them. Personally I would not want to see any nitrates in my tap water.
I was horrified at my tap water being 30mg/litre. However the govement health and saftey office said the water companies are allowed up to 50mg/litre before they b*tch-slap them. Personally I would not want to see any nitrates in my tap water.
x-router
Fish Fanatic
Urm are you guys talking about 0.3mg/l and 0.5mg/l ?
My test kits seem to mesure it like that if I remember rightly.. perhaps I'm wrong. If your 0.30mg/l is the lowest point on your scale for your kit then it counted as <0.30mg so in fact you could have only a trace amount but the kits are not sensative enough to go below that .3mg/l level.
My test kits seem to mesure it like that if I remember rightly.. perhaps I'm wrong. If your 0.30mg/l is the lowest point on your scale for your kit then it counted as <0.30mg so in fact you could have only a trace amount but the kits are not sensative enough to go below that .3mg/l level.
waterwatereverywhere
Fish Crazy
Strange, I'm only a few miles from you and my tap water only has a reading of 5 - our water is Severn Trent, is yours?Stryker said:
Stryker
Fishaholic
I'm not talking about 0.30 or 0.50 no, I meant 30mg/litre and 50mg/litre in the posts above.....
With ammonia your usually talking about much smaller measurements so my test kit for ammonia works on 0.x mg/litre... well if my memory serves me right anyways
With ammonia your usually talking about much smaller measurements so my test kit for ammonia works on 0.x mg/litre... well if my memory serves me right anyways
Hi chali, 50ppm out of the tap is the norm for the tapwater around our area, in the summer it goes up to 70 or more! Doing water changes will lower it but you will need to change around 20% every day for a fortnight before you will see much difference and you will never be able to get it below 50ppm. All our tanks run with a nitrate level of around 70 or 80 ppm which IMO is acceptable considering the high nitrate content already in the water. There are several products on the market which will absorb nitrates from the water the best of which IMO are Nitra zorb by AP or the Clearwater bags which i know you are already using, the trouble with these products is that in our water they only last a few weeks before they need replacing so it can get costly.
x-router
Fish Fanatic
I have probably got confused between the twoStryker said:I'm not talking about 0.30 or 0.50 no, I meant 30mg/litre and 50mg/litre in the posts above.....
With ammonia your usually talking about much smaller measurements so my test kit for ammonia works on 0.x mg/litre... well if my memory serves me right anyways
Nothing to see here please move on
Stryker
Fishaholic
I know there are plenty of resellers of water supply but I'll be with Severn Trent a well. I was worried the nitrate may be the result of a contaniment local to me, if your water is ok then perhaps that is truewaterwatereverywhere said:
Geez, 70mg/litre in london?? The acceptable level is only 50mg/litre so how do they get away with that I wonder?
njparton
Fishaholic
Practical Fishkeeping Magazine recently recommended water changes when nitrate levels reach 70 mg/l 
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