greatgman
Aquarium Advice Freak
how much is a bad reading for nitrate in ppm?
my reading is about 20 ppm
my reading is about 20 ppm
nitrate levels
- Thread starter greatgman
- Start date
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I have read 40 to 50 is the time to really get worried.
When mine hit 20, I started to do more frequent water changes, and added a refugium with Macro in it. Now my nitrate is not exactly 0, but somewhere between 0 and 10.
When mine hit 20, I started to do more frequent water changes, and added a refugium with Macro in it. Now my nitrate is not exactly 0, but somewhere between 0 and 10.
greatgman
Aquarium Advice Freak
iguess i'll be okay till after xmas
seaham358
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have heard 40 also....
lando
Aquarium Advice Addict
It really depends on what type of tank you have. In reef tanks nitrate levels well below 10ppm are desierable. If it is a FO or FOWLR then you can get by with higher levels (up to 20-40ppm). It should be the goal of any SW aquarist to keep nitrates in check through enough biological filtration and/or regular water changes.
Verbalkint
Aquarium Advice Activist
I have about 25 - 30 lbs of liverock, as well as a skimmer, and other powerfilters, but I can't for the life of me seem to get the NitrAtes below 40ppm.
Mind you, i am using tap water (Getting a filter for that next week)
Its a 29 gallon tank, and I do a 15 - 18 gallon water change every Wednesday night (Just got done doing one, in fact)
Any suggestions to get that lower (Maybe more liverock / a canister filter, etc etc)???
Mind you, i am using tap water (Getting a filter for that next week)
Its a 29 gallon tank, and I do a 15 - 18 gallon water change every Wednesday night (Just got done doing one, in fact)
Any suggestions to get that lower (Maybe more liverock / a canister filter, etc etc)???
Why are you doing a 50% water change every week? That's way to much of a water change unless you are having major problems with ammonia or nitrite.
And get that RO filter soon... I'd hate to see your tank turn into a green hair monster!
And get that RO filter soon... I'd hate to see your tank turn into a green hair monster!
Verbalkint
Aquarium Advice Activist
So I don't need to change that much a week just to keep Nitrates in check?
lando
Aquarium Advice Addict
The only reason you should need to do a 50% water change would be if something major happend. Like an ammonia spike or something like that. 50% a week for regular maintenance is a bit much. I would try doing 15-20% a week using RO/DI water and see if your nitrates go down. YOu can also try a nitrate sponge. What type of filter doyou have? That may need a cleaning as well.
malkore
Aquarium Advice Addict
Lando speaks the truth. Marine tanks should get smaller, less frequent water changes, to avoid upsetting the balance of things. Thus, you don't stock marine tanks as heavily as freshwater tanks.
I do a 5gallon water change about every 10-14 days on my 40 gallon tank. So barely a 10% change every two weeks. I have no cyano, my fish are healthy, corals growing well, coralline spreading. Mostly I just have to keep up on alk and calcium (since it's more of a reef setup)
I do a 5gallon water change about every 10-14 days on my 40 gallon tank. So barely a 10% change every two weeks. I have no cyano, my fish are healthy, corals growing well, coralline spreading. Mostly I just have to keep up on alk and calcium (since it's more of a reef setup)
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