What is the safe level of nitrAte?

[Fishless cycle]

I have just fishless cycled two tropical fish tanks - the 22litre is showing 10nitrate but my 180litre has between 40-60 nitrAtes. I'm doing a 30% water change - what is safe for fish? And how do I get the nitrAtes down?

 

[Fishless cycle]

I'm worried as I have fish in the tank now which I added yesterday. Should I hurry them back to the lfs? I have a small 22litre tank I could put some in which is established. How bad is nitrAte and can I get it down - are the fish ok?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

40-60 is slightly high. You want to do some water changes to get it down to 20 ppm or less.

 

[Fishless cycle]

Thanks for your quick response. I have almost finished a 25% water change (less than I thought). Will the fish be okay in there or should take them out? I'm trying to weigh up which is worse for the fish: the stress of moving them with the stress of the nitrAte?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

It's high but not that high. Nothing a water change or two wont fix.

 

[Fishless cycle]

Thanks for your help. I've completed the water change. How soon after a water change can I test for nitrates?

 

[Hholly]

You can wait an hour or two.

 

[Fishless cycle]

You can wait an hour or two.

It still seems high - definitely higher than 40ppm, still same as before

How long should I wait before doing another large water change?

 

[Hholly]

You can do them as often as you like. Are you vacuuming your gravel really deeply?

 

[Fishless cycle]

You can do them as often as you like. Are you vacuuming your gravel really deeply?

I've just completed a fishless cycle and I did a 85% water change before adding fish, which I did yesterday. I'm annoyed I didn't wait a day to check the nitrAte levels before adding fish. I was so excited when the ammonia and nitrite stopped showing that I didn't think of it. Because I was using pure ammonia to cycling do you think it's soaked into the sand etc?

Will cleaning the gravel help? I could do that tonight? Should I do a 50% water change?

 

[Joshfishguy]

0 nitrte

 

[Fishless cycle]

Yes my nitrite is 0 and so is my ammonia. My nitrAte is over 40ppm. this is for a tropical fresh water tank.

 

[jhawk__]

Yes my nitrite is 0 and so is my ammonia. My nitrAte is over 40ppm. this is for a tropical fresh water tank.

Nitrate Is less deadly than nitrite I believe, and most fish can stand up to around 40 ppm and some higher. I wouldn't stress it to much, just keep up with the water changes 1-2 times a day and keep testing the water.

Are you using test strips or the API master test kit? Usually the strips aren't as accurate as the API kit.

 

[Fishless cycle]

Nitrate Is less deadly than nitrite I believe, and most fish can stand up to around 40 ppm and some higher. I wouldn't stress it to much, just keep up with the water changes 1-2 times a day and keep testing the water.

Are you using test strips or the API master test kit? Usually the strips aren't as accurate as the API kit.

Thanks - I am using the liquid API test kit. I will do another water change and gravel clean as soon as I can after work. Will it be too much to do a 50% water change or should I do 25% tonight and again tomorrow?

I have 8 neon tetras, one fry guppy, 6 harlequin rasbora and 6 dwarf neon rainbowfish in a 180 litre tank. Hopefully they will all be okay. They seem okay at the moment. Still annoyed with myself - I should have double checked

 

[jhawk__]

Thanks - I am using the liquid API test kit. I will do another water change and gravel clean as soon as I can after work. Will it be too much to do a 50% water change or should I do 25% tonight and again tomorrow?

I have 8 neon tetras, one fry guppy, 6 harlequin rasbora and 6 dwarf neon rainbowfish in a 180 litre tank. Hopefully they will all be okay. They seem okay at the moment. Still annoyed with myself - I should have double checked

Either one works, fish love clean water! I would suggest doing 2 25% changes a day or just one 50% a day, whichever is more convenient until the trates start lowering. Test the water an hour after every change to see if they are lowering. Then try 50% changes every other day until they hit zero then just Go to your usual WC routine.

If there is only one fry, does he have a lot of hiding places? Most fish will eat fry if it will fit in their mouth. A good idea would be to buy a separate small 5 gal for him and future fry If you really want to get into breeding and keeping/selling the fry.

Hope this helps

 

[Fishless cycle]

Thanks - yes that does help.

I find those little heaters take ages to heat up the water, so I fill my buckets with treated water and then have to stick them into a hot bath - it's quicker, but not very economical on the heating front... maybe I should time it when I actually have a bath myself... two birds, one stone

I call him a fry but I guess he's about a couple of months old now. They didn't know what he was in the shop so they let me have him in case he got eaten. He hangs out with the neons mostly and is not small enough to be eaten now.

Will my nitrAte actually get to 0 - that would be great. It's always been around 20-30 in my 22 litre. Does that mean I'm not cleaning it thoroughly enough?

 

[jhawk__]

Thanks - yes that does help.

I find those little heaters take ages to heat up the water, so I fill my buckets with treated water and then have to stick them into a hot bath - it's quicker, but not very economical on the heating front... maybe I should time it when I actually have a bath myself... two birds, one stone

I call him a fry but I guess he's about a couple of months old now. They didn't know what he was in the shop so they let me have him in case he got eaten. He hangs out with the neons mostly and is not small enough to be eaten now.

Will my nitrAte actually get to 0 - that would be great. It's always been around 20-30 in my 22 litre. Does that mean I'm not cleaning it thoroughly enough?

They do take a while to heat the water up, I just put room temp. Water in my tanks and it works out fine.

That's good that the fry has some buddy's! Usually a line fry won't survive!

Yes , your nitrates can get to 0 ppm eventually if you keep up with the water changes, and maybe. How often do you clean it? And has that tank been cycled yet? Or have you changes the filter pad? Your tank can have small spikes of ammonia , Trites and trates if you do.

20 ppm of trates is practically safe for most fish though, just do a water change every 2-3 days until it goes down.

 

[jhawk__]

Lone* fry , stupid auto correct lol.

 

[Hholly]

You can use warm tap water. Just be sure to dechlorinate. don't sweat the nitrates too much. If you keep up on regular water changes things will be fine. Have you tested the water straight from the tap to see if it already has nitrates?

 

[jhawk__]

Yeah, testing the tap would be a good idea. ^^