HIGH NITRATES

Erick Quintanilla · Mar 14, 2020

Hi there what's the best methods you guys use to lower you're nitrates? Just tested my tank and its perty heigh my nitrates are at 40ppm what would you guy recommend me to do to? I've been vacuuming the sand bed also I've been cleaning my skimmer more often so at this point I'm thinking about doing a large water change but I'll appreciate you guys opinions or if you guys have dealt with this problem what you guys do to resolve it thanks guys.

ccombs · Mar 14, 2020

I will be honest here, my tank consistently ran 40ppm nitrates and everything inside was just fine. The nitrates themselves are not the problem per se, they usually just indicate something else might need attention.

If you have good husbandry and the nitrates consistently are at 40ppm, I would not worry too much. If they keep rising, however, you might need to search for something else that is fouling the water.

Flippers4pups · Mar 15, 2020

ccombs said:
I will be honest here, my tank consistently ran 40ppm nitrates and everything inside was just fine. The nitrates themselves are not the problem per se, they usually just indicate something else might need attention.

If you have good husbandry and the nitrates consistently are at 40ppm, I would not worry too much. If they keep rising, however, you might need to search for something else that is fouling the water.

This^.

I've ran 40+ N03 for years and years.

I stopped chasing numbers and my tank has done very well.

windemerejack · Mar 15, 2020

I echo all the above, if your tank is stable 40ppm and is looking good then nothing to worry about. Some people run tanks at a lot higher than 40ppm
You can do more harm trying to lower them unnecessarily, than being stable, Stability really is King in this hobby, if your tank is happy then keep all params with those numbers, whether you think they are high, low, or 'normal'.

Robertellis30 · Mar 15, 2020

When I had higher nitrates I had trouble keeping some fish alive. Mostly the delicate ones like leopard wrasses. When I was working on lowering them. I did changes every other day for 2 weeks. Also started dosing dosing Red Sea NoPox

Erick Quintanilla · Mar 15, 2020

Thanks for you're feed backs guys appreciate it

windemerejack · Mar 15, 2020

Erick Quintanilla said:
Thanks for you're feed backs guys appreciate it

And gals

laverda · Mar 15, 2020

Robertellis30 said:
When I had higher nitrates I had trouble keeping some fish alive. Mostly the delicate ones like leopard wrasses. When I was working on lowering them. I did changes every other day for 2 weeks. Also started dosing dosing Red Sea NoPox

Nitrates should not have any negative affects on fish at those levels from the studies I have read and from my experience. I had nitrates levels of 120 in one of my tanks for 15 years and all my fish did great including several wrasses. Some of my oldest fish now are 25 & 26 years old and came from that tank. Nitrites however are toxic to fish.

jeffchapok · Mar 15, 2020

My NO3 runs 40-50 ppm consistently and I haven't lost a fish in nearly a year. I have trouble with SPS when it gets much higher than that, but LPS and softies don't seem to mind. The highest I've measured was 90 ppm with PO4 at 1.0. I added a refugium to bring it back down to 40-50 and don't worry much about it past that.