Nitrate Levels

[Eelzor]

I believe it was the black ghost knife that was sensitive to high nitrate levels (60ppm). Does anyone know what items in the tank are good to keep the nitrate levels up or down? And are there chemicals available too?

 

[joshua]

i don't think u shud want to keep it up.. plants will help reduce the nitrate lvls... i'm not too sure abt chemicals.. don't use any myself.. good 'ol water changes would do the trick i believe

 

[CFC]

Nitrate levels are best kept in order by doing regular water changes, making sure that all food is eaten and keeping stocking limits to a reasonable level for your tank. There are nitrate absorbing medias available but they are expensive and need to be recharged or replaced frequently.
One of my tanks is suffering from high nitrate problems from where i let the stocking get out of hand for a while (slaps himself on the wrist) and didnt bother testing the water for a while (slaps himself again). The consequences are the tank is covered in unsightly hair algea and i have to do two water changes a week with RO water which costs me £12 a week, and in two months so far ive only managed to bring down the levels by around 30ppm from the 160ppm that they were! Ive just bought a De-nitrifier which i am going to set up over the weekend to try and end the problem but that has cost me another £95 (£55 for the de-nitrifier £10 for shipping and £30 for a pump and some filter hose).
As you can see frequent water changes and low stocking levels are by far the better and cheaper methods of keeping nitrates low, take it from someone who knows .

 

[Eelzor]

One more thing, when I change the water (I just gave my 50gallon a 20% water change) the water looks a little dirty. Will all that clear up later and after that, will it all be safe for at least another week?

 

[CFC]

The water shouldnt look dirty after a water change, when you poured the freshwater in did it stir up the bottom? When replacing the water i find it is best to add the water slowly and spread it around the surface of the tank, i personally place the bucket of clean water on the top of the hood and syphon it back in.

 

[platypus]

i personally place the bucket of clean water on the top of the hood and syphon it back in.

Oooh this has never occurred to me, I like it