0 nitrates? Whaaaaa?

[em1981ma]

if nitrates are at 20 is that bad? What is ideal level i did a API strip test the other day nitrite was 0

 

[jlk]

I have:
25-30ish 1"-4" comets
4 2" fantails
1 5" Blackmore
6 1" shubunkins
20 .5" endlers
3 2-3" bettas
1 2" pleco

There are bettas outdoors mixed with all the other fish? Not the best combination and pond temps in this area are rather cool for tropicals right now. A few more weeks, and it will be too cold for a good number of these fish.

Exactly what are you feeding everyone and how much/how often? With all of these juvenile fish, you should be feeding them 3x a day minimum. The ones that will overwinter outdoors should be fattening up now as soon it will be too cold to feed them (50f pond temp, not air temp) and they will not fed again until spring. The amount of food necessary to support all of these fish for proper growth would double your nitrates in a day easily unless your doing big water changes daily.

 

[Crazyhermitcrab]

Hmmm are they eating a lot of food of just a little?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Just a little.

How large of a pond and how much of the plants do you have?

It's 1,099 gallons, lots of hornwort.

 

[Crazyhermitcrab]

There are bettas outdoors mixed with all the other fish? Not the best combination and pond temps in this area are rather cool for tropicals right now. A few more weeks, and it will be too cold for a good number of these fish.

Exactly what are you feeding everyone and how much/how often? With all of these juvenile fish, you should be feeding them 3x a day minimum. The ones that will overwinter outdoors should be fattening up now as soon it will be too cold to feed them (50f pond temp, not air temp) and they will not fed again until spring. The amount of food necessary to support all of these fish for proper growth would double your nitrates in a day easily unless your doing big water changes daily.

Yes I had the bettas mixed in with the the Goldie's, the guppies and endlers are still in the pond. Yes I know most people don't approve. But it's working for me.

I have not been feeding them very much. Just as much as they eat in 3 minutes, that's a pinch of goldfish flakes, I got the flakes on kensfish.com. I have not yet done any water changes, but haved topped off water.