nitrates 5.0 ppm. straight from tap? question, help!

[walt3]

this is what comes from my tap for water changes. do you think this is a problem? fish seem pretty happy but i was wondering what others thought? this is going into a planted display 75 gallon with 6 yound discus. thanks. walt

[TURQ64]

I think it's a lot, considering it's from the tap, but bio load can eat a lot of nitrates..You say the fish are o.k. with it,so..how does it measure out in your tank after say, 24 hours?...Gary

[walt3]

do you think that my quinine sulphate plus salt treatment for ick a while back has caused problems for my bacteria in my ehiem canister filter?

[TURQ64]

I know squat about Eheim canisters, but if it was a while back, colonization by bacteria has probably resumed..I'm curious as to your tap's source of the nitrates..ammonia breakdown, or something, but I'm still curious....As for the bacteria, if they are slow at developing, Safe or Prime will control excesses, as will nitrate pillows, etc....

[walt3]

quite frustrated.:( i just did a gravel vac, 1/3 water change and my readings after were - ammonia- slightly detectable, nitrite- always zero, nitrate-always 5.0 or slightly above. very puzzled as to what i can do for my fish at this point. i know the tap is 5.0 and it seems that it gets slightly higher over 24hrs. im doing daily 1/3 changes now. the fish are super hungry all the time, look colorful and always have there fins extended like there happy and curious. my lfs where i got them use the same city water source. mine look happier for sure but the one thing i think i noticed was a slightly faster breathing from mine. could be my imagination... dont know. maybe my filter needs to grow some more bacteria since my ick treatment? been about 2 weeks maybe since the drama with ick. ive added a airstone, powerhead to circulate more water and raised the spray bar to the surface to aggitate the water more. slowly lowering my temp.its now 86. i guess that may help with o2. heading down to 84 i guess. 130 watts of compact flourescent light. no co2 no ferts at the moment. stumped??? :( walt.

[walt3]

just tested my water from tap and basically realized that my ammonia at .25 and my nitrate readings are both caused by the water im using and not from maintenance issues.:) i actually love water changes as it makes me feel good about giving them a better enviroment. so it was initially upsetting to see water tests not coming back with zero everything. :( still wish my water from tap didnt contain all this crap in it! :) i was hoping to just use water changes to keep things good and not have to use resins and chemical stuff to remove impurities from the water. pain! :( walt.

[DanMan]

Are you testing the tap before or after adding conditioner? Some will throw your readings off..

[walt3]

before straight in the test tube.

[Darrell Ward]

No, it's not ideal, but it certainly won't harm your fish at that level. Levels of nitrate are often much higher than this in tanks with large predators. If you keep up with your water changes so it doesn't skyrocket, it will do no harm. What I don't like to see is any level of ammonia in tap water. Ammonia can do all sorts of harm. I would consider investing in an RO unit. "Prime" can make ammonia less toxic for your fish in a pinch.

[Dogbert4Pres]

Just 5ppm from tap, I wish I could be that low out of the well. It is closer to 100ppm and 5ppm after the RO

[walt3]

thanks. i feel better.

[TURQ64]

Like Darrell mentioned, I'd still be looking into an R/O unit............Gary

[walt3]

darrell, i thought i read some where here the api test can give false positive for ammonia? could i be getting false positive from my tap water with this kit?

[x2h]

i have 5-10 ppm nitrate in my planted discus tank, no a problem at all. in another tank with community fish, nitrate = 20 ppm, and ok too. i do have a 2.5 gallon planted with nitrate = 1 ppm, and the Rosbora hets are spawnign like crazy. i've heard <40 ppm nitrate can be tolerated by fish, of course we normally don't want to risk that with expensive discus fish.

[Darrell Ward]

darrell, i thought i read some where here the api test can give false positive for ammonia? could i be getting false positive from my tap water with this kit?

It is true that after treating water with products like "Prime", you can get a false reading for ammonia. I wouldn't think this would be true for untreated tap water.