Safe Nitrate Levels??

[Mr Gumby]

Hi all, just wondered what the general feeling was on nitrate levels.

I'm getting 20ppm from the tap and go with weekly water changes which gives me a high in the tank of roughly 35ppm

Other than having to keep lots of algae eaters everyone seems happy but according to the internet I'm a horrible fish keeper 👹

I'm curious to see what other people's schedules are

[Atitagain]

This is just my opinion but I don’t worry until it’s 50ppm but I generally change water at 30-35ppm. Try to keep levels at 10-20ppm. That’s in my non planted tanks, and I’ve even incorporated plants into those recently 

do you have any plants? They will help a lot with nitrate control. Having “ lots of algae eaters” could be detrimental long term (if your talking about plecos and snails) both are high waste producers. Most times better off doing your own algae cleaning. 
over long term without plants it will become harder to keep levels down here’s a great video to explain a lot better than I ever could.

Hope this helps

[Guppysnail]

I also have 20ppm in my tap water. I do not worry until 40 ppm though I do like 20 or less. The reason I get concerned will sound odd but…my lemon blue eyed bristlenose plecos are nitrate sensitive.  Below 40 their poo is short dash marks - like any other fish. When it hits 40+ it is a huge long rope. This tells me that at 40+ it is in some way affecting my fish my guess would be the liver/kidneys trying to remove excess waste. 
I use pothos in all my tank backs suspended with egg crate into the tank but they can be grown in hobs. Coop does an excellent video on this as well. 
One of mine

 

[Mr Gumby]

On 10/1/2021 at 11:27 AM, Atitagain said:

This is just my opinion but I don’t worry until it’s 50ppm but I generally change water at 30-35ppm. Try to keep levels at 10-20ppm. That’s in my non planted tanks, and I’ve even incorporated plants into those recently 

do you have any plants? They will help a lot with nitrate control. Having “ lots of algae eaters” could be detrimental long term (if your talking about plecos and snails) both are high waste producers. Most times better off doing your own algae cleaning. 
over long term without plants it will become harder to keep levels down here’s a great video to explain a lot better than I ever could.

Hope this helps

When I say lots of algae eaters it's shrimp and Otto's with a couple of nerites that I move around my tanks as required.

I do have plants but recently did a rescape and I'm waiting for them to grow in a bit more.

TBH I'm happy with my schedule just curious how others manage their tanks.

I do think a lot of people get stressed and leave the hobby trying to maintain 5ppm or less you see on the internet

[Guppysnail]

On 10/1/2021 at 6:48 AM, Mr Gumby said:

When I say lots of algae eaters it's shrimp and Otto's with a couple of nerites that I move around my tanks as required.

I do have plants but recently did a rescape and I'm waiting for them to grow in a bit more.

TBH I'm happy with my schedule just curious how others manage their tanks.

I do think a lot of people get stressed and leave the hobby trying to maintain 5ppm or less you see on the internet

I have keeping fish most of my life. Until I retired I didn’t “surf the web”. When I read all the crazy must do or your fish will die in 10 seconds stuff on the web I was appalled!  It seems One new person gets excited makes a video then 300 others parrot it as gospel.  Aquarium Coop is where I come for reliable information.  It’s good to ask questions to double check the things we do not just when we need fixes. I have learned more than I thought there was to know on this forum 😁

Ps way back when dinosaurs roamed we didn’t even test for nitrates or at least I didn’t 🤣

[Atitagain]

On 10/1/2021 at 6:48 AM, Mr Gumby said:

TBH I'm happy with my schedule just curious how others manage their tanks.

Not long ago i changed atleast 25% up to 50% water and serviced sponge filters every week in all my tanks. Trying to maintain that 10-20ppm. Then I started using plants now I only change water when necessary 40-50ppm and service sponge filters 4-6 weeks.

On 10/1/2021 at 6:48 AM, Guppysnail said:

Below 40 their poo is short dash marks - like any other fish. When it hits 40+ it is a huge long rope. This tells me that at 40+ it is in some way affecting my fish my guess would be the liver/kidneys trying to remove excess waste.

Ummm will have to keep a better eye on this. Never really pay attention to the poo unless there was a problem. Of coarse the long stringy poo is hard to miss but just thought I was over feeding.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/1/2021 at 7:13 AM, Atitagain said:

Not long ago i changed atleast 25% up to 50% water and serviced sponge filters every week in all my tanks. Trying to maintain that 10-20ppm. Then I started using plants now I only change water when necessary 40-50ppm and service sponge filters 4-6 weeks.

Ummm will have to keep a better eye on this. Never really pay attention to the poo unless there was a problem. Of coarse the long stringy poo is hard to miss but just thought I was over feeding.

I do this all day 🤣 🐟 🦐 🐌 🔍 👀 

[Atitagain]

On 10/1/2021 at 7:20 AM, Guppysnail said:

🤣 🐟 🦐 🐌 🔍 👀

🤣🤣🤣

[Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics]

I prefer it to sit around the 20 ppm mark, but I do a water change if I test and see above 50 ppm. 

[DavidR]

The more digging into this the more I keep reading that at home nitrate reading kits aren't accurate and shouldn't be relied on to maintain a healthy fish tank. I don't even test it, I know I have adequate filtration to perform water changes every other week, I typically do a 30-40% water change weekly anyway.