20 Nitrates

[zackish]

I just went to test my water this morning after at least a 75% water change last night and I have about 20 nitrates. Is this good to add fish or should I do a small water change today to bring them down even more? I don't know how fast they add up so I don't wanna have to do a water change in 3 days when I just put my fish in there.

Thanks.

[dev]

The fish don't care much about nitrates, and can handle 50 ppm or more with no problems at all.

20 ppm is just fine, in fact I reccomend having at least 10-15 ppm. In my planted tanks I start adding nitrates artificially in the form of CaNO3 if it goes much lower than 10.

But like I mentioned in your other thread - higher concentrations of nitrates will tend to incrase growth of green algea, particularely if the concentration of phosphates are very low, like it probably is in a new tank without any fish.

[RobbieG]

You should be fine. 20 PPM Nitrates is a tad high after a 75% water change - but you did the water change a while ago so I'd just add some fishies and keep an eye on it.

[Bill M.]

The fish don't care much about nitrates, and can handle 50 ppm or more with no problems at all.

20 ppm is just fine, in fact I reccomend having at least 10-15 ppm. In my planted tanks I start adding nitrates artificially in the form of CaNO3 if it goes much lower than 10.

But like I mentioned in your other thread - higher concentrations of nitrates will tend to incrase growth of green algea, particularely if the concentration of phosphates are very low, like it probably is in a new tank without any fish.

Yea, I agree with Dev, you should be okay with 20 nitrates. If you put real plants in the tank, your nitrates will plummet. Plants abosrb nitrates in the photosynthesis process. It's just like a fertilizer. I am lucky if my trates get above 10 because my tank is so heavily planted.

You should be fine to add fish, just test your trates every other day. If they get above 50 pmm, do a 50% WC. Good luck bro!

[troy]

Just be careful.

[zackish]

ya, I have about 7 plants in there now and some fairly large ones and I plan to get a few more today.
Thanks guys for the help, I am leaving now to get my fish!

[neil180]

I wouldn't worry to much my tap water has nitrates of 20

[xoolooxunny]

I have to add nitrogen every day just to keep it above 10ppm. 20ppm is safe for fish. Have fun with the new fish!

If your nitrates go to low, you could start to see blue-green algae (BGA) or clado (Cladophora) algae, I learned about clado the hard way, but thankfully i caught it real early. If that stuff gets really bad, a power washer wont take that stuff off, so try and aim for 10-15ppm nitrates.