Can i add another fish?
- Thread starter Reefer_madness78
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MuscleBobBuffPants
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If you’re having trouble reducing your nutrients with the current stocking and export methods then no, probably not. You should look into more nutrient export and stabilizing you parameters before buying another fish.
what’s your current stock/ tank size/ nutrient export strategy?
what’s your current stock/ tank size/ nutrient export strategy?
Reefer_madness78
Active Member
65g tank. 2 clowns 1 midas blenny. I do 10g wc every week. I was doing 20g a week just to keep nitrates lower but it wasn't cost effective to do that big of a wc every week. Everything else is great so I was told( by a reputable source on here) not to worry about nitrates if everything is going good. Corals are all doing great. Fish and cuc are all great.
Azedenkae
Valuable Member
1. What is your nitrate reading?
2. What is your nitrite reading?
Nitrates largely do not affect marine fish, you are right. But that also depends on how you define 'really high'. 20ppm for example, is not 'really high'.
At the same time, if you have any nitrite, that can also cause nitrate to read super high, especially if higher than you expect it to be based on feeding regime and stuff. It's due to how nitrate test kits work, by actually converting a portion to nitrite before measuring that, so if you already have nitrite present, yeah that'll cause falsely high nitrate readings.
Long term I'd suggest managing your nitrate through some other way. My fave method is an algae scrubber.
Reefer_madness78
Active Member
0 nitrites. Nitrates 50. I use a canister filter and if you read my last post I did you will get more info. Surely I can have more than 3 fish in a 65g tank even with high nitrates.
To put nitrates in perspective I once tested a freshwater tank with a few larger cichlids and even after a 75% water change it was still red. It stayed red for another 2 water changes. So imagine that. With large healthy growing fish. I wouldn't recommend that with saltwater fish or delicate fish/ a reef tank. But, you get the picture. My freshwater cichlid tank once tested at 150ppm. I since lowered it down to 30ppm but still.
BiggestE222
Active Member
Buy a skimmer or a algae reactor. Both can be used as a HOB if you do not have a sump.
BiggestE222
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You can but would you want to live in substandard conditions. Why make fish do it. Cichlids are waste machines and are not really comparable to marine fish.
JumboShrimp
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You can always try going FOWLR— my Nitrates stay over 160 ppm.
Azedenkae
Valuable Member
Yeah anyways to resolve this, I went ahead and see if there are any publications about nitrate toxicity.
www.sciencedirect.com
Here we go. Basically unless it's fish fry, marine fish can be exposed to nitrate levels >1000ppm to be lethal, though it varies from species to species. Nonetheless, that would mean unless it's with breeding marine fish, generally even 100ppm or so nitrate is pretty inconsequential when it comes to the health of marine fish.
Someone can read the study and fact check me, that would be awesome. I may have misinterpreted the study, but unlikely. Values in Table 3 should tell a pretty clear story.
Nitrate toxicity to aquatic animals: a review with new data for freshwater invertebrates
Published data on nitrate (NO3-) toxicity to freshwater and marine animals are reviewed. New data on nitrate toxicity to the freshwater invertebrates …
Here we go. Basically unless it's fish fry, marine fish can be exposed to nitrate levels >1000ppm to be lethal, though it varies from species to species. Nonetheless, that would mean unless it's with breeding marine fish, generally even 100ppm or so nitrate is pretty inconsequential when it comes to the health of marine fish.
Someone can read the study and fact check me, that would be awesome. I may have misinterpreted the study, but unlikely. Values in Table 3 should tell a pretty clear story.
Dkmoo
Valuable Member
Ditch that canister and get a sump/refugium with skimmer. That size tank you should be able to get a lot more fish.
When is the last time you cleaned the canister? I would suspect that the rotting ditritus is the source of your no3
When is the last time you cleaned the canister? I would suspect that the rotting ditritus is the source of your no3
