Acceptable nitrate level

[jock]

Hi

I find things have changed since my last tank many years ago so I would just like to check people's opinion on what is an acceptable nitrate level. I have 50gal tank with fish, some shrimp, dwarf hermits, snails, an lta, and a toadstool coral. I will add to corals eventually but I'm in no rush.

I have read somewhere that nitrates are actually better kept at a low level than at zero. However, that may be nonsense and I couldn't even tell you the logic behind it.

I ask because my nitrates were at zero for long enough, but due to a ~3 month period, for various reasons I won't go into, my water change routine collapsed. Back in order now and nitrates lowering but should i be going out of way to quickly lower it or just let routine get it back under control?

At peak I think I was at 40ppm (hard to tell on colour charts :/). Now I think I'm back to 20. When unsure of colour I always go with the higher value to be safe so they may be lower than this.

So what are your thoughts...

Need to be at 0?
At what level do inverts start to suffer and how long a period would they have to be left at that level for effect on their health?

Thanks

John

 

[danil]

To be honest I yet to see (or heard) about inverts death due to high nitrate level. They can tolerate pretty high level of nitrate. Most of the time high level of Nitrates is a result of something bad happened in the tank or will be a cause to something bad is about to happen. Could be ammonia spike in first case and huge algae outbreak for second scenario. So we have to control it in a balance matter. Each tank has it's own balanced level. General recommendation is to keep it low around 5ppm. This level gives indication that there are nutrients in the tank for your corals and filter feeders. Some LNS and ULNS systems have undetectable level of nitrates but they are not typical and easy system to run.

 

[Fallling]

You'll find many people these days tend to think have a little bit of nitrates such as 1 or 2ppm is better than zero as stripping the water too much can cause problems for some tanks. However, you'll find great looking tanks with 0 ppm as well as tanks within the 5 - 10 range. It really varies from tank to tank and the bio-load. If you want sps, low nitrates (under 5ppm) is typically a good range as high nitrates can cause browning. With softies and lps, it's not as much of a concern and they often "do better" with water that's a little "dirty". The only issue with elevated nitrates is if you have algae problems, that's going to help fuel it.

IMO, I'd reduce your nitrates a bit more with water changes but don't worry about striving for 0. Decide a range that sounds good to you and shoot for that... don't worry about chasing a particular number.

 

[Dan_P]

Shoot for low nitrates to mimic natural water conditions, though the animals can tolerate >0 ppm nitrates, so, you have some leeway. Here is an overview on nitrates that you might find useful

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/8/chemistry

 

[Teenreefer15]

as low as possible

 

[jock]

Acceptable nitrate level

Thanks folks. All very interesting. I wonder what level is undetectable on an api nitrate test. Couldn't get the link in that article to work on my phone of the results of various nitrate tests. I will aim to get back to reading 0ppm on api test... That way I should definitely be in a range that suits my needs even if it isn't actually a true 0ppm.

Cheers