nitrate??

williams · Post by **williams** » 10 Jul 2003, 07:15

Dear all,

does any has any info on nitrate, its syntomps, causes and how it can be solved.

regards

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 10 Jul 2003, 08:30

Hi,
Nitrate is harmless in low concentration but sudden or long term exposure to high concentrations can be harmfull.Only fishes that are sensitive to nitrates shows syptoms.Its main symptoms are short live and swiming with their mouth in touch with the back or sides of the aquarium.
Nitrate is the final product of the nitrogen cycle.
First ammonia is producedfrom decomposing organic debris(fish waste, dead leaves).Then bacteria convert ammonia to nitrite and then other bacteria convert nitrite to nitrate.
There are two thing that keep the nitrate concentration low:
Well planting and water changes.
Hope that i helped a little.

Allan · Post by **Allan** » 10 Jul 2003, 09:56

Hi

I just need to add, that the nitrogen cycle does not end with nitrate. Nitrate can be broken down by denitrificating bacteria in the anaerobic zones of the aquarium. This forming oxygen (used by the bacteria) and free N2 (as in 70% of our atmosphere).

So by having a thick bottom layer of bigger pieced gravel, you can actually bring down nitrate aswell.

But i must add, that this gravel is unsuitable for many aquarium fish, like i.e. corydoras and most other bottom dwellers.

Kr
Allan

philtre · Post by **philtre** » 16 Jul 2003, 15:13

Kostas wrote:Hi,
Its main symptoms are short live and swiming with their mouth in touch with the back or sides of the aquarium.

Hi Kostas,

care to share a little bit more or elaborate about the aboe. you've sparked my interest with the part about mouth in touch with the back of the aquarium. What's the explanation behind that? so they will just keep having their mouths in touch with the sides of the aquarium?

Thanks very much!!!
Cheers,

S. Allen · Post by **S. Allen** » 16 Jul 2003, 17:26

;) unfortunately Kostas' description doesn't help with plecos...

nitrate problems can vary from species to species, sensitive rays will stop swimming and become inactive, eventually succumbing to bacterial infections and finally death if the situation's not remedied. I've seen discus darken a bit when they weren't happy with water, and they total cessation of breeding, although no alteration in appetite... Mostly, it's not a big deal, do a water change and it's not a problem. I'd personally suggest choosing a nitrate level and trying to keep it below that with water changes, not really hard unless you've overstocked.

Anaerobic bacteria are popular for their abilities to break down the nitrate, especially in the plenum and deep sand bed methods most often used for marine tanks, but there are some drawbacks to all of the methods... as ammonia is not the only chemical produced by fish, although probably the most dangerous. Even with the deep sand bed, or even denitrator coil methods, I would suggest at least a monthly 50% water change to get rid of other things in the water. For some of the ideas and problems with the denitration methods commonly used in marine tanks, that can easily be changed to work for FW(with the replacement of marine algae for FW plants to remove other nutrients), check out the last TFH.

coelacanth · Post by **coelacanth** » 17 Jul 2003, 10:26

As far as I know, it is as yet unproven that it is actually Nitrate itself that has a deleterious effect on the health of fish (although there's lots of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence), but what is sure is that high Nitrate is a testable parameter that can be used to determine the standard of maintenance of an aquarium, so in general if you use water changes to keep your Nitrate levels low you'll be doing the fish good by also lowering the concentrations of all the compounds that we are unable to test for with the range of materials at our disposal through the aquarium trade. Denitrifying filters are great when they work, but can be a disaster when they don't, and in-tank passive denitrification beds are particularly suspect.
Personally I do think that high concentrations of anything that the fish do not normally encounter in the wild are probably not a good thing.
If your source water is high in Nitrate, invest in a unit that will remove it. If you find that weekly water changes with 'good' water are not enough to keep levels down, reduce stockiing levels. Ignore those rechargeable bags of resin, they are simply not enough to keep up with the production of Nitrate in a mature aquarium.

polkadot · Post by **polkadot** » 17 Jul 2003, 18:50

Besides a good bio-filter, regular water changes is essential to keep nitrate content low..

Kostas · Post by **Kostas** » 17 Jul 2003, 19:15

Hi,

unfortunately Kostas' description doesn't help with pl*cos...

Ohh.. i forgot to write about the symptoms of nitrate on plecos.When there is high nitrate content or sudden ph change plecos go out of their caves and attach themselves into an object near the current and stay there without moving at all until the water parametres are ok again.

What's the explanation behind that? so they will just keep having their mouths in touch with the sides of the aquarium?

The only explaination i can give to this is that fishes try to go out of the aquarium in order to find better contitions.Yes they will keep having their mouths in touch with the back and sides of the aquarium until the nitrate is again in low concentrations.