Nitrate 160 nitrrite 0.5 help

[ccole]

help

My wife bought back a new kit to check if my other kit was corredt - we got a API test stip kit as suggested by d-mac in another thread. It read

GH -180
KH120
PH 6.8
no2 0
no3 160......

Could it be Nitrate problems because i need to do more frequent water changes?
the natural nitrates in the tap water is 60 the ph was 7......


have done a water change and the readings are;

gh 180
kh160
ph7.3
no2 0.5
no3 120


?

(related to my rusty pleco thread)
cole

 

[Tener ds]

help

My wife bought back a new kit to check if my other kit was corredt - we got a API test stip kit as suggested by d-mac in another thread. It read

GH -180
KH120
PH 6.8
no2 0
no3 160......

Could it be Nitrate problems because i need to do more frequent water changes?
the natural nitrates in the tap water is 60 the ph was 7......

(related to my rusty pleco thread)
cole

wow thats high.a while ago i was havin big probs in my tank when they were around 60,down to 0.5 now.
im no expert but more water changes will help to bring it down.

 

[ccole]

cheers tenner - its down to 80 now at least fingers crossed water changes will sort it out
cheers cole

 

[D-MAC]

help

My wife bought back a new kit to check if my other kit was corredt - we got a API test stip kit as suggested by d-mac in another thread. It read

GH -180
KH120
PH 6.8
no2 0
no3 160......

Could it be Nitrate problems because i need to do more frequent water changes?
the natural nitrates in the tap water is 60 the ph was 7......


have done a water change and the readings are;

gh 180
kh160
ph7.3
no2 0.5
no3 120


?

(related to my rusty pleco thread)
cole

Have you done a test of your tap water? We can sometimes overlook what we get from the tap and asume it all good...The high no3 would account for the dropping Ph as the detritis builds up...You will find that once you have the no3 back down to below 40ppm the Ph will be more stable...You will probibly find you will need to do around 4-5 30% water changes to get it where you need to be.

 

[ccole]

Cheers again d-mac
I did test the tap water and
Gh 30
Kh60
Ph6.5
No2 0
No3 120

What does all that add up to?

Thanks for all the help
Cole

 

[D-MAC]

Cheers again d-mac
I did test the tap water and
Gh 30
Kh60
Ph6.5
No2 0
No3 120

What does all that add up to?

Thanks for all the help
Cole

:dk:That readings don't add up at all...I can't see how the gh would be lower than the kh...And there is no way no3 should be coming out the tap at 120 as that breaches the European guidelines...Are you sure of the readings? just checking!

 

[matubula]

If the water coming out of the tap has nitrates at 120 (assuming it's ppm or mgl) then no matter how many water changes you do, or how often, you will never get the nitrates below 120 ppm/mgl. Your only only way of reducing them are by using denitrification filter methods, plants or a RO unit.

 

[ccole]

i am never sure of anything d-mac so will do it all again .respects

 

[ccole]

my bad i gVE YOU the second reading of my tank!!!

tap is
gh 180
kh180
ph7.5
no3 20
no2 o

!!! sorry about that!!!

 

[Lornek8]

my bad i gVE YOU the second reading of my tank!!!

tap is
gh 180
kh240
ph7.5
no3 20
no2 o

!!! sorry about that!!!

gh/kh readings are still a bit funky. KH is a component of GH and should always be higher. Nitrate looks better.

 

[ccole]

hey lorne i pressed enter before i had finished!!! sorry please look again thanks

but going by what you said it still isnt right!

 

[L777]

Hi

Nitrate home test kits are notoriously unreliable and test strips even more so. I never use my Nitrate test kit (you can have it if you give me your postal address and pay the postage). I prefer to test the TDS of the water comparing known readings of the source water with that of the tank water. IMO a much more reliable method of knowing just how clean the water is and when a water change is required.

Chris.

 

[meloizias]

mmm i would try lower your GH and your KH a bit, but still 20 nitrate coming out of your tap is pretty bad, depending on how much you love your fish i would look at starting to use some RO water, you should be able to get that from your LFS

 

[ccole]

Her merlaz, I got some Ro water today. I love my fish as much as I love any animal- if I could insure them I would! Tje ammonia is now zero and hardness 20. So hopefully tomorrow with the ro water change it will lower even more. Cole

 

[Lornek8]

Her merlaz, I got some Ro water today. I love my fish as much as I love any animal- if I could insure them I would! Tje ammonia is now zero and hardness 20. So hopefully tomorrow with the ro water change it will lower even more. Cole

Be careful, all this changing of water parameters, especially quickly can be extremely stressful. Water hardness is a parameter akin to pH in the way fish react to changes. Furthermore, if you get too little hardness it makes your pH unstable & you could get a pH crash.

 

[D-MAC]

Have you used RO water before? A few things to remember. Don't use the Ro directly to the aquarium...You must stabilise first...This is done by adding back in the minerals that has been taken out by the reverse osmosis process, As Lorne said you will have a very unstable system, unless you do this...Some people add 50% tapwater to 50% RO, but this is not the correct way, as you can't get the right balance...You are only diluting the minerals in the tap water by 50%...I hope this makes sense to you.

 

[ccole]

Hi d-mac, thanksfor the info makes total sense. I haven't used the ro water yet because I have been doing lots of research and iam not convinced its the way to go.
My nitrate's and high.gh.kh as I under stand it,.nirates are consumed by plants and by trimming the plants you take away th e nirates they contain, also peat natually stabilises ph kh gh and not tds. I am thinking I will use a hundred litre tank as my top up water and this will be filed with plants to lower the nitrates.and also filtered with peat. I am also adding a lot more plants to my current set up. What do you think?

 

[D-MAC]

I wouldn't add peat as this will drop the ph way down...In my 350 ltr water holding butt, adding 2 ltrs peat will drop the ph from 8.4 to just under 7.0 in around half an hour by ripping out the lime that stablises the hardness and ph...I find that water stability is the way to go, I don't fuss with the ph or hardness readings at all just add Prime...I find the fish soon adapt to the water as long as it is not wildly out...So far it works!

 

[ccole]

Hi guys thought I would up date you on my water journey. I set u up my water change tank full of plants, checked it yesterday and the nitrate was 10! I do believe I have cracked it. I am going to add more plants and trim them once a week.i also changed to seachem prime it stinks but works out cheaper and works beter. Thanks for everyones help. Cole

 

[D-MAC]

Well done :clap::clap: hopefully everything will stabilize for you now :thumbup: