How high is enough!?!?

LiVe4fIsH · 09-27-2008, 08:15 PM

I am not to sure if this has been covered in past threads but I wanted to get an idea of how high of nitrates can african cichlids endure? After reading the article on water changes on FTF, I saw that the writer does a w/c when the nitrates are at or below 30ppm. I did not see what kind of fish he was housing. I am sure that different kinds of fish can withstand various levels of nitrates and since a.cichlids are a pop. fish to hold in tanks, it seems wise to understand how high they can tolerate before harming their own health. Of course nitrates in general are not good for our fish and its best to keep them always very low, but since I have added more fish to my tank, obviously my nitrates are going to shoot up faster than normal. I need an estimate to go off of, so that I can start a new procedure of what percentage I need to change every week, since I w/c once a week. Thank you

-Izzy

LiVe4fIsH · 09-27-2008, 10:40 PM

Thanks Tommy for a great reply! You always make me think in the 'big picture'. I wasn't even thinking of phosphates rising as nitrates rise. I can't believe some would say to allow nitrates to make it to the level of 400ppm! It seems there would be a sig. amount of algae in the tank to not even see your fish. What I will take out of your response is that I will basically stick to my normal weekly w/c, and aim for nitrates to be around 25-30ppm at the end of the week. This will most likely lead me to do larger volume w/c, but from what I have learned about a.cichlids is that they enjoy and grow faster with larger volume w/c. Even though they are messy creatures, they prefer nice clean water.

-Izzy

orb4me · 09-28-2008, 05:54 PM

I do w/c at 40, and panic on anything over that. I only breath a sigh of relief at 20.

LiVe4fIsH · 09-28-2008, 06:18 PM

Hey Orb, when you do a w/c when its at or around 40ppm, what are your nitrates after you do your w/c? Im sure you already have an established w/c day, so what are your nitrates right after you do the w/c?

-Izzy

RJRofFL · 09-28-2008, 09:11 PM

With my 29Gal, I do a 25% W/C every week and my NitrAtes rarely go over 20.

But I have small and tidy fish, only wish they were potty-trained.

Bob

LiVe4fIsH · 09-28-2008, 09:23 PM

Well, today I did a 21~22% water change in my tank (trying to find a good percentage to go off of since I got a few more new guys who are fairly large) and I do not think that it was a large enough water change. I tested before the w/c and it was sitting at 20ppm nitrates. After the water change, my nitrates were around 5ppm. I will be testing throughout this coming week and I will allow my nitrates to only get to 25ppm tops and I will try to go for a 25% w/c and see where this will put me at. Any thoughts on another idea I can try?

LiVe4fIsH · 09-28-2008, 11:35 PM

It makes me wonder how accurate our test kits are. In the case of nitrates, I guess that its not that 'important' and important I mean critical, to be right on the dot with the ppm and use the reading as a judgment of where the tank stands and if we should do a w/c. Though, with testing for more critical things such as ammonia or nitrite, and having these test kits being from the same brand manufacture, would we say that these are as accurate as the nitrate test kits? And from a cycled tank, we should show a 0ppm for both ammonia and nitrites but sometimes when I test my tank, it flucuates from 0 through .25ppm on different occasions. I swear that I have read somewhere on one of these threads that if we happen to see a .25ppm on ammonia through our test kits, to not assume certainly that there is enough ammonia to show up to a level of .25ppm but though it might be the inaccurate test kit. Just for some background, I do indeed use API test kits and they are only a few months old and no where close to being expired. I usually test for ammonia 45 mins to one hour after a w/c.

orb4me · 09-29-2008, 01:20 PM

my nitrAtes after a w/c will be slightly lighter in color than the 20, I see the 10 most of the time. I test once aweek. Then I do a monthly test, and odd ball times if I think there is something odd going on. Ive never seen 0 in my tanks after cycling. My tanks are all under a year old. 5 tanks and 40 fish. Ive also lost a few d/t dropping one tank. Wrong type of fish in a community tank, and some d/t water problems (not enough education, not enough attention to tank)

LiVe4fIsH · 09-29-2008, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommy Gun

Some of us may also be able to test and see ammonia in our water after we perform a water change due to the use of chloramines but this is usually very temporary and rarely substantial - definitely not a reason to stop doing water changes, nor a reason to use RO water by itself usually.

The thing is, I strickly use RO water and add no substance that contains any chloramines in it. Therefore, shouldn't I be seeing a reading of 0ppm for my ammonia? I have been getting a .25 for a few w/c and I am not to sure what it can be from. I will do a test tonight and report back with a reading for an update. My prediction is that I will get a reading of .25 ammonia. I am thinking that since I added four large fish, their waste with the addition of my other fishs' waste, became more heavily populated than the bateria ( the bacteria that converts to nitrate) that I have inside my tank/media. Is that possible? I understand that we have a 'certain' amount of this bateria in our tank and there has to a be some sort of way to have the ammonia take over if there was a big change in the tank. I am not sure if I am making perfect sense because I am in the middle of midterms, so I am def. deprived of sleep, lol. Lets say we have a garbage truck which can relate to our good bacteria that converts waste to nitrates and the trash it loads into its tank that will relate to ammonia. What if we overload the truck so much, the trash starts to fall off the truck onto the ground. Is this possible for ammonia to still be in the tank and the bacteria trying to catch up. The reason for loading the truck with so much trash is relating to adding a big group of fish and since more fish, more food to feed. Sorry again if this is a un-repliable post.

-Izzy

LiVe4fIsH · 09-30-2008, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommy Gun

, it won't take long before more trucks will be added to the fleet.

By added to the fleet, I am hoping that you mean the bacteria will eventully catch back up to the new amounts of ammonia and finally establish a new equilibrium. And I will finally get a reading of 0ppm!!

-Izzy