NitrAte

[sandy]

Hi all. I know that all levels should be zero. (or in the case of NitrAte, very close to it... but my tank is at the tail end of a cycle and I was wondering... How high is "oh my gawd" high on nitrates? (I don't want to wait and see if inverts die... I wan't ZERO death (of course) ). I do a 10 gal (min) water change each weekend. I do roll-call (check for health) morning and night. I test like an idiot (waste a lotta tabs just to make myself feel less anxious).
My tank is still VERY new and I'm fortunate not to have lost any lives so far. ALL I am doing is adding to my LR once a month. Last night I added a wonderful 8 lb piece of LR. It is cool. I'm monitoring for "spikes"... s'kay.
As always, thanks for all your help, advice & support. Sandy in Tucson.

 

[twoods71]

OMG high nitrates for a FOWLR tank I say would be anywhere over 40ppm.

 

[sandy]

Thanks. FOWLR? Fish Only with Live Rock? I also have shrimp, snails, hermits and one serpent star. Would this still be FOWLR?
Thanks <img src="graemlins//silly.gif" border="0" alt="[silly]" />

 

[broomer5]

Don't know what to call that.
Fish And A Few Inverts But No Corals Yet And Live Rock
Getting close to be considered a reef tank about now.
You'll want to explore ways to reduce nitrates eventually - keeping healthy inverts requires less nitrate in your water.

 

[fshhub]

we've had our trates in our fish only over 100 for a while, and almost never saw anythign under 80, all the fish lived theere for about a year, now in our fowlr(yes it is fish only wiht live rock) trates are at 5, and IMO, a reef is considerred anything without corals or sessile inverts(unmoving, like anemones and feather dusters, i consider anemones unmoving, since they do move, but not constanly, like fish and shrimp, i may be wrong, but i still consider them this way)