safe amount of nitrate

[manddave]

hello,


Does anyone know what amount of nitrate is safe for an aquarium?



thank you

 

[Waterloo Kid]

The easy answer is....zero!
Thats the reading you are aiming for but for the vast majority of people a reading of under 40ppm is perfectly acceptable. I don't know of anyone who keps the level below about 10ppm. You would either need to do loads of water changes or use (lots of) plants and/or nitrate removing resins.
Nitrate is only harmful to fish in relatively high amounts so aim for less than 40ppm and you'll be fine.
WK

 

[Alien Anna]

It depends. If you have live plants, you want it between 10 and 25ppm because they need it as fertiliser (in fact, some people actually have to add nitrates in some circumstances). If you have artificial plants you should try to keep your nitrate level down as low as possible by water changes (assuming your water isn't infested with nitrates). If your tap water is full of nitrates it might be a good idea to invest in a nitrate filter or RO unit.

 

[manddave]

Hey thanks for the speedy reply and the advice. It is much appreciated

 

[CFC]

Does anyone know what amount of nitrate is safe for an aquarium?

That question all depends on the fish you keep, while most common tropical fish will easily handle nitrates up to around 70ppm other more sensative tropicals will suffer badly if the content goes over 10ppm ie discus and stingrays.

Excessive nitrates are becoming a bigger problem to fishkeepers all the time, as filtration methods become more efficient at neutralising ammonia and nitrite they also create nitrate more quickly, also larger populations in our cities mean that the water we use for water changes often has higher concentrations of nitrate than the water we are throwing away.
For the average fishkeeper it is pefectly acceptable to pick a limit of say 5ppm over the nitrate content of your tapwater and keep the levels at that, most fish will have grown accustomed to these levels during there time in the lfs and local distribution centres and the thought of having to buy expensive water filters or continually change water will put off people who just want a pretty feature in the house or a low maintainance pet without spending a fortune.