Starfish Nitrate question

[DPB94]

Hey all,

I want to buy a biscuit star but I have been told I have to get my nitrate down as much as possible, I have been told 40 PPM is an acceptable level. Do starfish also build up a tollerance to Nitrate like fish do or are they too fragile?

Thanks,

Dan Bell

[Animal-Chin]

Dan is your tank at 40 ppm? IMO that's pretty high, I'm worried after 5 and downright freakin at 10...lol The stars gonna have a better chance the higher quality the water, they don't take to change very well in my experience...

[DPB94]

I test my tank on a regular basis and last week it was 40 PPM, apparently thats quite normal for a nano tank. I have spoken to most of the members of staff at my LFS and they said 40 PPM was good.

[My Little Ocean]

Originally Posted by DPB94

I test my tank on a regular basis and last week it was 40 PPM, apparently thats quite normal for a nano tank. I have spoken to most of the members of staff at my LFS and they said 40 PPM was good.

Change LFS! 40 is ridiculously high

[Animal-Chin]

Nano tanks are incredible hard to controle though. My honest opinion would be to try to get the nitrates down with a couple water changes before putting in a starfish but i've never seen anyone with a biscuit star so they could be different. They sure are cool looking...

[My Little Ocean]

Also biscuit stars only eat sponges and bryozoans so hard to keep and in a nano even harder sorry to say but I would stay away

[DPB94]

I'm going to do a big water change today and get Nitrate down as low as possible then but a star fish, thanks all for the advice.

[DPB94]

I ended up buying a Maldive star instead...

[crister13]

40s not THAT high. I forget who posted but theirs was 200............ Ive had mine at 40-80 before and everything was fine. Still, its not good, but its not insane.

[Gboy66]

Originally Posted by crister13

40s not THAT high. I forget who posted but theirs was 200............ Ive had mine at 40-80 before and everything was fine. Still, its not good, but its not insane.

40-80?? Wowzers!! IMO thats crazy high.

For a sw tank, i would only be happy with <5..and alright with <10. anything other than that is not good IMO. 20 wont kill the fish, and 40 might not either..but that is a dangerous path

[crister13]

I'm not saying its good, AT ALL lol. It's just not RIDICULOUS. 200!!!!! Whew lol. But definitely try to get them at or below 10

[DPB94]

The fish can build up a tollerance to it, I mean I know people that have theirs at 80 PPM and the fish are happy...