Nitrate issues....

[spanko]

I'll go back and reread but one of them talked about growth and reproductive rates. I agree we as aquarists may not be interested in growth and reproductive rates but to just say it is not harmful does some disservice me thinks.
Here first link;
"What effects can nitrate have on our fish and other forms of aquatic life?
Nitrate is an essential plant nutrient, and high levels of nitrate in lakes and coastal areas can therefore contribute to the excessive growth of plants and algae. This may result in indirect toxic effects to other aquatic organisms. Algal "blooms" can reduce oxygen levels in the water, putting stress on aquatic animals, and some types of algae can produce toxins that are hazardous to other aquatic organisms (and people). Excessive levels of nitrate are also directly harmful to aquatic animals. Aquatic invertebrates and fish exposed to nitrate may be smaller, slower to mature, or have lower reproductive success. Under extremely high exposure levels, aquatic invertebrates and fish may die. Early life stages of aquatic animals are more sensitive to nitrate than are juvenile and adult animals."

 

[kspops]

Not that I am an expert, but I have had my 135 up for almost 7 months now and have not had a reading over 5 PPM on Nitrates. I have several mangroves growing in my sump and plan to move them to my new system's display. I have seen a couple posts on here about the systems. Just search for mangroves.
I think Coral Keeper has a thread on his setup.
Here are a couple of pics of my "baby forest".

 

[keith gray]

I have had a 65gl with fish in it and corals for about 5 years. I can't remember my nitrates ever being under 20ppm. They typically run about 40ppm. I change about 10% a week or when I am lazy about 20% every 2 weeks. I have chaeto and live rock in my sump. I see all of these people say they have 0 trates, that seems like Eutopia !
I guess if you constantly change wtaer maybe, but is 40ppm so bad if you don't experience other water quality issues and your coral and fish are doing well ?
I may add some caulerpa ijn with my chaeto for the heck of it and see what it does, but like I said, how much work and worry is it worth to strive for 0!!?

 

[srfisher17]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3181277
I'll go back and reread but one of them talked about growth and reproductive rates. I agree we as aquarists may not be interested in growth and reproductive rates but to just say it is not harmful does some disservice me think"
Sure, I don't think we should say that extremely high nitrates are OK; because they indicate something is wrong. However, I also don't think we should be alarming hobbiests with fish-only tanks that have some "mid-range" nitrate (say, for the sake of argument 60ppm) that their fish are in danger if they don't get a fuge, algae scrubber, de-nitrator, etc. Its a sense of accomplishment to have very low nitrates in any tank; but in a fish-only, so many folks panic when they don't need to. IMO; anyone responding to the nitrate posts should understand the difference of the effects of nitrates on fish vs inverts. Then, help the hobbyist reach a healthy outcome. If they want to spend the time and money to bring the nitrates in a fish-only tank from 60ppm down to 10ppm; they should know the options and know that doing so is not really necessary---but they are certainly free to do so if they wish.

 

[queenangel920]

My tank crashed 4 years ago and the only surviving fish was our damsel (that we've had now for 12 years). We've kept the tank up and running with that one damsel, doing little or no maintance. A few months ago we were really to get back into the hobby so needed to do much needed cleaning. The nitrates hovered 100+. Every week for about 6 weeks, we did a 22 gallon water change (95 gallon tank). Didn't notice much difference at first but after a few weeks, the nitrates started coming down. Got them down to 20 and that's seems to be the lowest we could get them. We've started a refugium with live rock, dsb, and cheato. The cheato is really growing now. Tested the nitrates this morning and were lower than 20, maybe about 15. So since your kinda in the same situation as I was, doing weekly water changes and a refugium with cheato did help out tremendously!

 

[microbat]

Ok, this is very good information, thank you so much
Bought a new test, it only goes to 160 and it seems to be off the chart. Testing my tap water and it is under 10 so I am definately testing it correctly.
I am going to look into the refugium, unfortunately it's running on two cannister filters so no sump option for me.
I really only have one other VERY dirty rock in there, it will not be dirty for long, just waiting for the urchin to find another hidey hole before putting my hand in! All coral is dead dead dead, not sure whether to take it out or not, any ideas on that? Would they still be contributing?
The good thing is that the PH is ok, ammonia and nitrite zero (though about to try out my new test so hopefully the old test had that right, wish me luck!)
Thanks again, your help is very much appreciated and immeasurable in my book!

 

[microbat]

K, ammonia and nitrite still zero, at least the cycle hasn't restarted!
Of one thing to be grateful of, guess its that... LOL

 

[microbat]

My kids are telling me I'm wrong and the nitrate is actually at 80...
I've posted a picture, this should be interesting. It's pretty accurate colour but the table is next to it.
It should hopefully be an interesting debate - what do you think it is??

 

[microbat]

Originally Posted by kspops
http:///forum/post/3181310
Not that I am an expert, but I have had my 135 up for almost 7 months now and have not had a reading over 5 PPM on Nitrates. I have several mangroves growing in my sump and plan to move them to my new system's display. I have seen a couple posts on here about the systems. Just search for mangroves.
I think Coral Keeper has a thread on his setup.
Here are a couple of pics of my "baby forest".
Your baby forest is awesome btw!

 

[queenangel920]

I have the same test kits and when my nitrates were really high, it was difficult to tell the true number. Those colors are so close together. Mine did look to be the same color as yours. I would say just start with 25% weekly water changes and after about 3weeks or so, you should notice them to start coming down. By doing that after about 6 weeks, my tests went from blood red to light orange!