# Nitrates 80 ppm



## Canadian Fish

I typically do a 25% water change on all my tanks once every 8 or 9 days. This keeps my nitrates in all 4 tanks at 5 ppm. Once, in the summer when we were doing a lot of camping, we went 19 days between water changes. One of the tanks was at 20 ppm nitrates because of the delay. Ammonia and nitrites are always zero. (When we kept goldfish, we would occasionally get trace amounts of ammonia in that tank, but we don't keep goldfish anymore) 

That's the highest my nitrates ever got, 20 ppm. And just the once. 

So I was quite alarmed on Thursday when we tested the water on my 55 gallon Silver Dollar tank and it showed 80 ppm nitrates. It had been a week since the last water change. 

Now, I had a peacock eel die this week, and he used to hide regularly. So it's possible he was dead for a day or two before I lifted his hiding place and discovered he was dead. I thought this is why the nitrates were high. 

So Friday I did my usual 25% water change. Today I tested the water, and the nitrates are still 80 ppm! 
This is quite a jump from the usual 5ppm so I am alarmed. 

I have no plants in that aquarium, as it is a silver dollar tank. But even without plants, until now my nitrates have always been consistent.

This is what is in the tank:

4 x Silver Dollars (6")
1 x Hillstream Loach 
1 x African Dwarf Frog 
5 x Serpae Tetras 
4 x Mollies 
1 x Leopard Bush Fish (2")
1 x Pearl Gourami (2.5")

TEMPORARY: 5 Bala Sharks (2.5")

A couple of weeks ago we added the 4th Silver Dollar. I can't see how one fish could result in my nitrates being 15 times higher than usual. 

So anyway, what should I do? Should I just start doing larger water changes on that tank, like change a third of the water instead of a quarter?

Could this be because I have been feeding blood worms a little more regularly? Could I be over feeding? Would that cause my nitrates to spike? 

Thanks.


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## Byron

I assume nitrates are zero in your tap water, but it is wise to test it again just in case; depending where the water comes from, nitrates might come and go.

I would also increase the volume of your water changes; half the tank would be preferable [read my article on water changes here: http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...egular-partial-water-changes-part-1-a-117205/ ].

I would not feed bloodworms more than once, or at most twice, weekly. Not so much for nitrates, but because they are not all that good a food.

Byron.


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## Canadian Fish

I'll try a 50% change tomorrow, and test the water on Tuesday, thanks. 

I don't think my water has nitrates straight out of the tap, some of my tanks show zero nitrates when I test them the same day I do a water change. 

I'll use the bloodworms less, I've been using them every two or three days.


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## Geomancer

Do you clean out the substrate during every water change? In planted tanks that isn't necessary (free CO2 and plant nutrients), but in non-planted tanks it's a good idea to get all that waste out.

Another possibility is over feeding. If every piece of food you put in isn't eaten in under 5 minutes I'd cut back.

I agree on 50% changes. I have fully planted tanks and still do 1/3 to 1/2 changes weekly.


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## Canadian Fish

Yeah, I dig right down in the gravel with the vacuum and clean it out.

I think I may have been over feeding a bit. The Silver Dollars are piggies and I've been feeding them more and more lately. I fed them a little less today.


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## Canadian Fish

Well, I did a 50% water change today, and the now the nitrates are 20. Still high. I'm surprised they're not at 40ppm, though, since they were 80 and I changed 50% of the water. 

Going to do another change on Friday, hopefully that lowers it even more. From now on, when I do my weekly changes, I will do 50% in that tank.


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## AbbeysDad

Canadian Fish said:


> Well, I did a 50% water change today, and the now the nitrates are 20. Still high. I'm surprised they're not at 40ppm, though, since they were 80 and I changed 50% of the water.


Actually, I'm quite surprised you got a result of 20 so I question the results. My experience (assuming zero nitrates in the source water) has typically been that a 50% water change yields about a 25% drop in nitrates (or so). I think that part of the 'problem' is the color difference between some of the levels such that we're interpreting a result or range rather than getting a specific value. I've had Abbey check results and for example she would say "between 5 and 10" when I might have said 20ppm.

Also, depending on how close the sample is held to the white background of the card. The only true results are yellow (zero nitrates) and deep red (boatload nitrates) ;-)


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## Canadian Fish

Yeah, I thought that was sketchy. I get my testing done at the LFS and usually the same girl does it but this time she wasn't in the second time, and another gave me the 20 reading. So he must interpret it different than she does. After I do the water change Friday,I'll get her to test it. I know she's in Friday morning. I trust her interpretation of the colors over my own. 

How big a water change should I do Friday, as I did 50% yesterday? Should I do 50% again?

Thanks.


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## AbbeysDad

You could do another 50% although you may only need to do 25% because of the short interval between the two - but 50% wouldn't hurt.

Is there a reason you rely on the LFS for testing - getting your own API freshwater master kit would be worth the $20 investment.


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## Canadian Fish

The master kit is closer to $40 here, but it's not the money at all, lol. We spend so much on this crap, what's another $40. But I trust her interpretation of the results over my own. The colors all look the same to me. 

We're in there once or twice a week. She checks all 5 of my tanks (used to be 4) every Friday, usually. Last week we went Thursday. She knows which container is which tank, and which fish are in each. This week I had them test the Silver Dollar tank and the 220 on Thursday, Sunday and Tuesday, because of the problem with the nitrates and the other tank is cycling.


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## AbbeysDad

So if you (anybody) from Canada orders from Amazon you pay twice as much...or were you referring to the off the shelf price at your LFS?

I appreciate the remark about the color differences as there's a fine line between many of them.


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## marshallsea

Canadian Fish said:


> The master kit is closer to $40 here, but it's not the money at all, lol. We spend so much on this crap, what's another $40. But I trust her interpretation of the results over my own. The colors all look the same to me.
> 
> We're in there once or twice a week. She checks all 5 of my tanks (used to be 4) every Friday, usually. Last week we went Thursday. She knows which container is which tank, and which fish are in each. This week I had them test the Silver Dollar tank and the 220 on Thursday, Sunday and Tuesday, because of the problem with the nitrates and the other tank is cycling.


Is the LFS using test strips? If so, no matter who tests it's inaccurate to the point of being useless.


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## Canadian Fish

That's local, but amazon.com doesn't ship most things to Canada, we have to use Amazon.ca, which doesn't have quite as good deals, and usually no free shipping. Online ordering in Canada sucks compared to the US. I do use Pets and Ponds, which is in Canada and cheaper than local, but shipping is only free when you but $200 or more. Shipping usually negates the savings.(If we got from amazon.com we would pay twice as much, as we would have to pay shipping to Canada and duty, plus our 13% sales tax) 



AbbeysDad said:


> So if you (anybody) from Canada orders from Amazon you pay twice as much...or were you referring to the off the shelf price at your LFS?
> 
> I appreciate the remark about the color differences as there's a fine line between many of them.


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## Canadian Fish

marshallsea said:


> Is the LFS using test strips? If so, no matter who tests it's inaccurate to the point of being useless.


Nope, they use the liquid and the test tubes.


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## marshallsea

Canadian Fish said:


> Nope, they use the liquid and the test tubes.


Cool then. I wanted to make sure as around here they use strips.


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## Canadian Fish

I think Petsmart uses test strips here, but Big Als uses the real tests. They're actually both in the same shopping area, but we only go to Big Al's at it is a fish store as opposed to an every pet store. 

When they do my 5 tanks we're there for ages because the tubes have to sit so long, and they only use enough tubes to do two tanks at a time. Which leads to wandering around and buying stuff. My 4 year old loves it though.

They write down the results for me every week too.


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## Byron

Canadian Fish said:


> That's local, but amazon.com doesn't ship most things to Canada, we have to use Amazon.ca, which doesn't have quite as good deals, and usually no free shipping. Online ordering in Canada sucks compared to the US. I do use Pets and Ponds, which is in Canada and cheaper than local, but shipping is only free when you but $200 or more. Shipping usually negates the savings.(If we got from amazon.com we would pay twice as much, as we would have to pay shipping to Canada and duty, plus our 13% sales tax)


I also use Pets&Ponds. I order in bulk, as I buy my conditioner, Flourish, Equilibrium from them in the largest available sizes, so the $9 shipping still means I have saved anywhere from $40 up to $90 across the board. Flourish for intance is $30 for the 2L jug from P&P but I cannot get it for less than $50 in stores, so even on its own with the shipping I am still saving money. But ordering several items saves even more.


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## AbbeysDad

Canadian Fish said:


> That's local, but amazon.com doesn't ship most things to Canada, we have to use Amazon.ca, which doesn't have quite as good deals, and usually no free shipping. Online ordering in Canada sucks compared to the US. I do use Pets and Ponds, which is in Canada and cheaper than local, but shipping is only free when you but $200 or more. Shipping usually negates the savings.(If we got from amazon.com we would pay twice as much, as we would have to pay shipping to Canada and duty, plus our 13% sales tax)


Well then...I'd like to get any medicine from Canada (can't, but I'd like to), but my fish supplies from Amazon!


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## Canadian Fish

LOL. Yeah, can't beat our health care.

Byron, I bought the filters, heaters, airpump, airstones, deocrations and vacuum from Pets and Ponds and saved $200 vs if I had bought here locally. Which actually meant getting my tank set up two weeks earlier. 

Soon I will buy power heads, second filters for my 55s, and probably a master test kit and food, which puts me just over $200 for the free shipping and saves me $60 vs Big Als. 

I love that place. I found out about them here.


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## Byron

Canadian Fish said:


> LOL. Yeah, can't beat our health care.
> 
> Byron, I bought the filters, heaters, airpump, airstones, deocrations and vacuum from Pets and Ponds and saved $200 vs if I had bought here locally. Which actually meant getting my tank set up two weeks earlier.
> 
> Soon I will buy power heads, second filters for my 55s, and probably a master test kit and food, which puts me just over $200 for the free shipping and saves me $60 vs Big Als.
> 
> I love that place. I found out about them here.


Yes, Big Al's has no shipping charge if over $40 (or whatever it is), but their prices are usually just a tad higher than P&P. I actually worked it out on one order to see.

I believe in supporting local fish stores, but I also have the reality of living on a fixed income and I cannot afford to spend several hundred dollars a year more than necessary. I have to be realistic.


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## Canadian Fish

Me too. I'm on a fixed disability income and my wife works part time. Which is why we took from May to September to pay off our tank on layaway. Most of our tanks were bought used. 

Our LFS is great to us, so we buy all our fish at the one store, and all sorts of odds and ends. I cashed in 2000 points when I bought the substrate for our big tank, and those had accumulated since February. Half of course was the big tank. 

But when making large purchases I can't throw away hundreds of dollars that I don't need to spend. I can't afford to be THAT loyal to my LFS. This next order will be my second big order from Pets and Ponds. 

Local Big A's ARE great to us. They give my son stickers and little gems to drop in our tanks. They all know him by name (originally from us yelling CHARLIE STOP RUNNING) Once when I wanted a Silver Dollar they marked him down on the weekend specials and put him on hold for me until the Sale date came. They always tell us in advance the fish they are getting in. 

Well, we're off trick or treating. I'm sitting here in a pirate costume and my son is Darth Vader. Happy Halloween everyone!


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