# HIGH nitrates



## Fish33 (Feb 17, 2005)

I don't know why... They are around 80-120 :shock: . I have been reading up on it so I know a little more now, but I was always told that they were not important as long as your other readings were ideal ( which mine are). And are water changes the only/best way to lower them? I have alot of air stones in the tank, so I think that helps alot. Any ideas??


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## turtlehead (Jan 28, 2005)

what test kit are you using?


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

the air stones wont help with the nitrates, but it will put more oxygen in the water. the only way to remove nitrates is water changes. how often do you do them? you should start doing 25% water changes over the next couple days, vaccuming the gravel very well. what are your other test readings?


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## Mr Aquarium (Jan 18, 2005)

Waterchanges is the only way to lower them.
Your bio can only change so much of the amonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates, the trates will just build up "if your not doing your tank maintanence" untell you crash your tank and all your fish are dead.
I would to a very good gravel vac right now, draining at least 30% of the water, then wait for a few hours after you do this and clean your filter.
When I do my filters, I take them to the sink, take them apart and take the foam pad off and clean it, and most of the time, i don;t ever rinse off the parts in it exept where the impeller sits in the hole.
That should do pretty good to lower it now, then in a couple days do a 10% water change and go from there and do 15% a week unless you have allot of fish for the size of tank, then you can up 
the w/c % every week.
Amonia is not good for the fish, but nitrites are worse yet, and nitrates are not as bad for your fish but if let go can be bad for your tank, mainly the fishes.

I have seen a plant here and there that is spose to help lower tratesm but IMO, I wouldn;t count on that to far, so I'm not even going intot hat one.


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## maxpayne_lhp (Jan 19, 2005)

I agree, the waterchange can only low it down. But REGULAR water changes (partial) will prvent it. So run the maintaince now and start over the weekly water change will bring best result!
Luck!


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Plants will keep nitrates low, even remove them completely (I have to add KNO3 to my tank 3 times a week) but its not foolproof. Waterchanges are still the easiest and most effective way to remove nitrates. Test yur watersource also. Many areas in the U.S. have nitrates in the watersupply.


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## Fish33 (Feb 17, 2005)

I just tested the tap water and the nitrates are 0. My ph is around 7.2-7.4, the amonia and nitrite are 0. I do weekly gravel vacs. and this takes out about 25% of the water. The test kit is...oops threw the box out, I just bought it a couple of days ago. I have 2 bottles of liquid that I add 10 drops of each to the vial. I knew that the airstone wouldn't remove any nitrates, but I read that high nitrates put something in the water (forget what) that depletes oxygen, so I'm assuming they help with that.
Plan to do a water change today, and test to see what happens. Isn't the ideal range around 40 or less??
I dont' have the time or patience for real plants yet, maybe down the road :lol:


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Ideally is 30 or less. Most fish can handle 40 but there are many species that don't tolerate nitrates that high.


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## Fish33 (Feb 17, 2005)

Another question regarding the high nitrates, could this cause my neons to lose color? I've had some of them for over a year some for 2-3 months. I noticed that the red stripe was fading on a couple of them (also 2 died) so I assumed neon tetra disease, but they have been discolored for at least a month, and show no other signs. I moved the 2 that looked bad to a 2.5 gallon tank, best I could do in terms of a QT right now.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Nitrates cause damage to a fish's red blood cells making it harder for a fish to draw O2 from the water. So yes this will caus eyour neons to lose color as most fish do when under stress.


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## fishouttawater (Mar 4, 2005)

besides the water change, is there anything else that can be done to ease the stress on the fish, this seems to be what i woke up to this morning too, and my fish are faded and even shaking, the poor babies. mine are not as high, but getting there. the ammonia is at .25, so should be okay there. i have no meds available to me immediatly, i can have them shipped or drive to Denver to get them, which would be a four hour drive there, and back. any "home remedy" would even be welcome.


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

ammonia should be 0... any ammonia detectable amount of ammonia can be deadly... do an immediate water change of about 25% now and then 25% before you go to bed.


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

I agree water change is about the only home remedy


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## Sly Guy (Feb 15, 2005)

its funny how many times we get nitrate questions on here this pertains to saltwater a little more than freshwater but it is a neat article let me know what u guys think

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm


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## LeafGoblinFish (Mar 15, 2005)

get some plants its freshwater plants are easy to come across get yourself some banana plants at least do something plants use ammonia for nurishment and when they do that the ammonia cant turn into nitrite and the non existing nitritie cant turn into nitrate banana plants are probably the EASIEST plants in the world get a small one and watch it grow OVER THE NEXT 2 YEARS thats what i suggest u can think of it one of two ways very frequent water changes or just often water changes also are you feeding them the proper amounts of food all their food should be eaten and none left over if that means take a few minutes each day to feed them in small sperts so some food doesnt get to the bottom where they probably wont mess with it then spend a few more minutes its a few more minutes a day or about 30-60 minutes every 3-4 days and problems like this


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## E (Mar 8, 2005)

Water changes are the easiest, cheapest way, but not the only way to remove nitrate. You can also put an ion exchange resin in your filter. 

For emergency ammonia problems, you can use a cloramine remover like Prime to "detoxify" the ammonia or ammocarb in the filter. The bottle says to use 4x the tap water treating does. The Ammonia level will go down on some test kits, but not others, so it is hard to tell if you have put in enough to be effective. Also chemicals can affect your pH. 

Plants take nitrate out of the water, but decay into ammonia when they die or drop leaves, so remove dying plants ASAP.

If nitrate is really high, 25% water changes are not enough. You need 4 25% water changes to equal one 75% change. If your tap water is close to your tank water, change 90%. You would have to change 25% 9 times to reduce the nitrates as much. For most adult fish, the stress is worth it for the clean water..

There is no substitute for proper tank maintainence and cycling, including regular water changes. That being said, I don't believe fish should be subject to high free ammonia levels just for the sake of 
cycling a tank. Products like Prime help protect the fish without affecting cycling and seeding the tank with Stresszyme or gravel of filter media from an established aquarium keep water changes from slowing the cycling.


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## Fish33 (Feb 17, 2005)

So can I get one of those plants and literally just put it in the tank and do nothing else but prune it :fun: ?  I don't have the money to buy any other accessories that may be necessary for plants (at least not now!).  I would be interested in a plant of some sort and if its cheap enough, I really don't care if my fish pick at it.  I'll be very busy over the next couple of months and I can't afford to add more work to my obsessive hobby!!!!!!!!!

The amonia is 0 and the tank is very much cycled, and it was from the beginning, I used filter media from a different tank. Other than the high nitrate all of the conditons are ideal in the tank, and I have only lost 3 neons since it has been set up (possible NTD, but thats a whole other post!) not sure if you were saying otherwise! 
thanks


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## Thunderkiss (Mar 19, 2005)

Duckweed is good, just be prepared for cleaning your filter intake from time to time. Personally, after my own year long battle with duck weed i'd never touch the stuff again, so caveat emptor on that remedy, but it really can work wonders.

Given the time and inclination, if your tank could support some massive pieces of driftwood (*massive*) you could add that in and it would help once the bacteria got established but i have never tried this method and can't verify a time frame or any other hard data.
I'll try it someday, but as for now i can't fit any pieces suitably large enough to have any effect in any tanks i have currently.


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