what is too high for nitrate, acceptable, and good levels?

[henward]

Ok.
i have an automatic water changer for my monster tanks.
1200L x2.

anyways, not talking about my tank and filter set ups.
suffice to say, i can feed crazily - and i will get zero readongs for am and nit.
But, nitrate of course is always a trace.
i can get rid of almost all of it by upping my auto changer.
but that uses ridiculous water.
so i put a balance on my tanks between 5 to 10ppm nitrate. sometimes a tad more but really 5 to 10 max.

now.

with discus.
what ist he "acceptable" nitrate level. whats too h igh, ok and the good amount.
obvioulys, ZERO is best. but realistically, im sure most discus keepers here would have nitrates measurable in their systems.

[dan1]

Anything smaller than 3" I try to keep them 15 ppm or less, adults can go up higher, between 10 - 30 ppm

[henward]

cool
so im within good margins

[Eddie]

Wish I knew....never checked them before. ;)

[brewmaster15]

Wish I knew....never checked them before. ;)

Lol.. Eddie.... with water changes like you do, I doubt Nitrates will ever be something of concern.:)

This is for non-planted tanks...Generally I shoot for nitrate levels of less than 10ppm if I can, 20 ppm top end... I achieve this thru water changes and rooted pothos vines.. Many have noted discus can get skittish above 30ppm, myself included.

I wish I could get it down to 0-5ppm...but I am on a well in a farm land area..which limits my volumes of wc's possible and my water also has base levels of Nitrates (fertilizers run off) in the 3-5ppm range.

hth,
al

[mmorris]

I am on a well in a farm land area..which limits my volumes of wc's possible .

hth,
al

I've never had well water, but I always assumed people with well water had an unlimited amount of free water (minus pump costs?). How does the well water limit you? I didn't think you were using ro...

[brewmaster15]

I've never had well water, but I always assumed people with well water had an unlimited amount of free water (minus pump costs?). How does the well water limit you? I didn't think you were using ro...

Aside from the electricity a pump running Consumes...which can be substantial if you have as many tanks as I do.... There is definetly not an unlimited amount of free water!:(:(:(:( When a well goes dry...you face the cost of digging and drilling a new one... and that can costs as much as $8-15,000 ... .. Most people on a well these days have to really consider the what ifs.... and theres also the factor that when a well goes dry... you may not be able to find a suitable replacement site. I know some who have had to drill 3 wells just to get by for their family needs and they don't have fish.


Several years ago I had to deal with my well and that cost me $6000.:(

-al

[henward]

nz rains most of the year lol, probably half of the year
our water is cheap!
and our water is so clean in fact that i dont use ager:D

well i aerate it for a couple hours before use but we have pretty strict water quality here.

i have an automatic water changer, i can programe it to remove water up to 5500L a week per tank if i want.
whcih i dont.

the discus tank as approx wc of 150% weekly.
but i break that down to a few litres every 15 mons through out the day.
so i do 6 cycles of 15 mins a day on the discus grow out tank.
this is multiplied by 7.

my nitrate is very low on the discus tank, measured it at less than 5 to 6ppm. definately less than 10, definately around 5 ish lol colour is hard to gauge sometimes:D

[kitykatfunkiehat]

Thats an acceptable range, I'd think

[Darrell Ward]

There is a guy in our local club that has well water that has a nitrate level of 20 right out of the faucet. He never ages, or does anything to the water. It goes from the garden hose straight to the tanks. I trade fish with him on occasion, and never have any trouble with the fish. He has some huge "slab" discus, and has no trouble with spawns at all. Go figure! So I know for sure discus can handle at least 20-30 ppm nitrate levels.

[Eddie]

There is a guy in our local club that has well water that has a nitrate level of 20 right out of the faucet. He never ages, or does anything to the water. It goes from the garden hose straight to the tanks. I trade fish with him on occasion, and never have any trouble with the fish. He has some huge "slab" discus, and has no trouble with spawns at all. Go figure! So I know for sure discus can handle at least 20-30 ppm nitrate levels.

Yup, mentioned it a million times, the key isn't low nitrates. I remember back in the day a breeder in Europe (can't remember his name) had HUGE discus and his nitrates were way high. People concentrate on nitrate levels, missing the other reasons for replenishing water. ;)


Eddie

[Jhhnn]

I agree with Eddie- aquarium water is organic soup, with complex chemistry. Our test kits just scratch at the surface of what's going on...

[IamDiscus]

Yup, mentioned it a million times, the key isn't low nitrates. I remember back in the day a breeder in Europe (can't remember his name) had HUGE discus and his nitrates were way high. People concentrate on nitrate levels, missing the other reasons for replenishing water. ;)


Eddie

This is interesting...Can you elaborate more on this please...Nitrates can't get high like that without the hobbyist not changing enough water....so does that mean this Breeder you mentioned didn't change water often? That goes against what most successful breeders do, doesn't it?

Also what are the other reasons you refer to?

thank you.

[Spardas]

Maybe the water source already had a high concentration of nitrate in it.

[brewmaster15]

JFI..

In the USA (per the EPA) Levels of acceptible nitrates for drinking water is 10 mg/L or PPM,


Infants below the age of six months who drink water containing nitrate in excess of the MCL could become seriously ill and, if untreated, may die. Symptoms include shortness of breath and blue-baby syndrome.

Ironically, we know know that Nitrites cause Brown Blood Disease in Fish when theres a nitrite spike...... Nitrates cause the same thing in Humans by a different name...Blue-baby syndrome..(Nitrites will also, but the levels are set for less than 1 mg/L) I often wonder when people say their fish are breathing rapidly if they really are dealing with a parasite...or perhaps High Nitrates.;)

I'll keep my Nitrates down Guys..thank you very much.:)

-al

[Eddie]

Maybe the water source already had a high concentration of nitrate in it.


Ditto