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well..there u go...a neglect on water changes and overfeeding really pays back hard at times...so...just get back to routine of chaning water and less feeding and ull be ok.

Hi,
Back off a mini-vacation.
The figures you mention could be fine. I say "could" be
as it depends upon lots of other factors. Generally
speaking you would want "some" nitrates showing, especially
if you have plants in the tank.

One of the limiting factors in plant growth is the
availability of the element, Carbon. Plants break down
the organic compounds to get their Carbon. However,
depending upon the compounds (and chemistry) extracting
that carbon can be real work for the plants and they wind
up lacking this very important element. Folks who want
to "supercharge" their plant growth (kinda like adding
nitro to a gas engine) will inject CO2 gas directly into
the water. The plants can extract the Carbon quite
easily that way and, with the proper amount of light, really
take off and grow.

The nitrates are one of the organic compounds that the
plants use for this Carbon, and other nutrients. If you
hold your tank to "0" readings, the plants will survive
but not "thrive" as much as they could.

A caviat... Too high nitrates encourage algae growth,
and, to make things more complicated, too little will also
encourage its growth. Finding the compromise is a balancing
act that depends upon everything from how much and how often
you change water, how many and what size the fish are, and
what kinds and how many plants are in the tank.
Don't panic. Simply put some plants in the tank and enjoy
the "look" of real plants, and the movement/colors of the
fish. In time it all makes sense.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

way too deep for me, my plants do fine with really no maintanence, other than an occasional cleaning of half eaten leaves by my RTBS. I will try and get some floating plants.

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That depends. generally, yes those numbers are absolutely fine. However, if you want faster/ better plant growth, it depends on what is the KH (carbonate hardness) of your water. KH and PH together will tell you the saturation of CO2 in the water. For a planted tank you want a CO2 saturation of about 15ppm. You can use the calculator on this site to figure out that number.

Of course, if you don't want to get into all of that, those numbers are fine

---

Back in the saddle!

thanx again then Frank. I'm already there then. They are currently somewhere between 20 and 40. I was unde the impression that 0 was the desireable number. Just wondering then, my PH is 7.6 and nitirtes are 0, are these alright?

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates-
I happen to have become a philosopher

Hi,
Actually you don't really want the nitrates at "0".

The normal upper limit is about 40, and the normal
lower limit is around 10 (less for an unplanted tank).
Don't get carried away in your housekeeping.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thanx everyone, I almost have it under control. Probably a few more days and Nitrates should be back down to 0. Unfortunately I lost two fish, in fact they happened to be the two largest in the tank. Lost the bulldog pleco, which my 3yr old daughter loved, so I'll have to get a new plec fairly quickly. Also lost the male blue gourami, which was bout 41/2". Hopefully no other fish have been affected. SO far no others have shoed any signs but I'll have to keep my fingers crossed. Oh and don't worrry I wont introduce any new fish untill the nitrates are back under control. Thanx again.

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates-
I happen to have become a philosopher

Hi,
To lower your nitrates, you need to do a series of things:

Regular, perhaps weekly, water changes of 10-20%.
Decrease feeding, and or the quantity/size of your fish.
Clean the gravel.
Add floating plants.

Regular water changes are your way of duplicating nature.
Rain and or, flooding, swaps out old water for new water
and dilutes the "soup" the fish swim in. How often, and
how much at at time depends on how heavily stocked the
tank is, and how big the fish are. A 55 with some
tetras needs less water changed, less often, than a 55 with
one large oscar.

Feeding smaller amounts of food will introduce less
nutrients and will result in less food to decay into
nitrates and other compounds.

Regular cleaning of the gravel 1/4 of the substrate at a
time will remove the detritus in it and lower the nitrates.
Mentally divide the tank into quarters and when changing
the water, stir up 1/4 of the surface, once every month.
Move to the adjacent quarter the next month and so on.
If you use a Python style syphon, press the intake into
the gravel down to the glass, in any exposed (unplanted)
sections. Lift the syphon up slightly to allow the gravel
to swirl around and then when the water is clear, lift it
higher to allow the gravel to fall back into place. Move
over the width of the diameter of the intake and press down
again, so that you have a series of OOOOOs from front to
back of the tank.

Add floating plants.
Floating plants develop root systems that drop down into
the water from the leaves at the surface. They draw their
nutrients directly from the water and will lower the
nitrates. They will also provide shade for the fish that
prefer some cover to hide under, and will lower the
watts per gallon reaching the substrate for low light
demand plants.

Hope that helps...
Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

There is a product called NitraZorb that I have had success in helping me control nitrates if they get bad, water changes until you get it close then use NitraZorb.

how do I get rid of high nitrates? Mines are off the charts. I dod a siphon vac and a 30% water but there still way too high. Suggestions please.

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates-
I happen to have become a philosopher

I have brought down nitrates from levels around 100 to 20 or less in one day without shocking the fish. I filled up one of those 15g rubbermaid containers and ran an extra heater and airstone on it so the water was the same as the tank. Change 20-30% water and then fill the tank with water from the container which should be identical to what is in the tank minus the nitrates. Refill the container and wait several hours then do it again. Over the day you will steadily lower the nitrates without any other significant changes in water parameters. Your basically acclimating them to water with a different nitrate level. Bringing the nitrates down all at once with 1 huge water change has killed fish many times.

You mentioned "high" nitrates but not the level. Nitrates above 25 ppm are now considered to be detrimental in your aquarium according to a recent Tropical Fish Hobbyist article. If your nitrates are 80 ppm would strongly consider 20% daily water changes over the next two weeks to reduce your nitrates to 20 ppm. Yes, it would take that long if your system is generating a 3 ppm daily increase in nitrates. It would still take 8 days of 20% water changes to drive your nitrates down to 20 ppm if your system is generating just a 1 ppm daily increase!

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

water changes are good

also, what kind of plants do you have? you could have a large amount of slow growing plants that wouldnt make much of a dent on nitrate levels. Try hornwort, let it float and your nitrates should be down in no time.

---

Back in the saddle!

its a 55g &amp; I think its just from overfeeding and poor maintanence as of late. But to let u know the tank has been up for like 8 months so it is cycled &amp; I never had a problem. It is well planted and the plants look good (except the ones that MY rtbs chews up). The stock consist of 1RTBS, 1blue &amp; 1Gold gourami, 3 labs(still small), 3 queen loaches, 1 bulldog plec, 1 paradise fish, and 4 cherry barbs. I really have just been neglectful and deserve to be on punishment. Just trying to right my wrong b4 its too late. I'll start with the water changes.

By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
Socrates-
I happen to have become a philosopher

wiseives

Bring the Nitrates down is the easy part but finding out why is possibly more important if not they will never come down.
Causes can be either or all, over stocked, over feeding, no live plants, or are you cycling at the moment?

More infomation required please.

Keith

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hello, can you tell us more about your tank? what size and fish?

The best way is water changes. Do around 25% everyday for 3 days then test. After you bring the nitrates down weekly water changes should keep them there. If not then you either have a stocking or maintenance issue.