Nitrate Question: Ideal Reading?

[soritan]

i was told, today, that my nitrate reading must stay at 0ppm, and that a reading of 10ppm is too high for fish. have i been doing my fish wrong?

 

[freddyk]

No, except for a few of the more delicate species, our freshwater fish can handle nitrates of 50 and often much higher. The ultimate goal is, of course, 0, but except in heavily planted tanks it's pretty much impossible to achieve without spending lots of money on medias to remove it. Most people have nitrates of 20-40 without any problems at all. Some unlucky ones even have nitrates of 40 right out of the tap.

 

[soritan]

I thought as much, but this person sounded so dead sure, I suddenly doubted my research.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Perhaps they'd confused nitrates and nitrites? I'm one of the unlucky ones who get 40 out of the tap.

 

[soritan]

that's what i thought, i even asked them, and they were quite confident of themselves. so confident, i began to wonder if i had gotten nitrAtes confused with nitrItes...