Are Nitrate levels more harmful to mbuna's and other Cichlids? SevernTrent water where I live has Nitrate at about 38 comming out of the tap. I have seen several posts concerned about tap water in the UK but it has not harmed my Barbs, Kribs and Tetras in my other tank. I also used rainwater to lower the Nitrate but with the low ph that is not realy suitable for the mbuna. I was just curious to see if the more alkaline water made the Nitrate more toxic?
Nitrate
- Thread starter ridgewalker
- Start date
well in my experience a high nitrate level can not be good. my fish always seem to perk up after a waterchange. 38ppm is not HIGH with regards to nitrate but it isn't 0. perhaps your africans will become acclimated to the 38ppm of nitrate and not even notice the difference.
the ph shouldn't affect the nitrate's toxicity (howver it most definately DOES with ammonia)
the ph shouldn't affect the nitrate's toxicity (howver it most definately DOES with ammonia)
I had to guess the rest, I guessed 8UN eventually and it reported 33mg/l - that's bad man!
Trouble is if the PCV is 50 then it has to reach 51 before you've any right to complain about it. Little wonder Severn Trent have had only 1 test failure in 2003. A few years back it was 40, don't know why it has been raised - too many failures perhaps? ;-)
Nitrate poisoning is a long term thing, like Somonas says the fish seem to get used to raised levels, levels way above natural levels. Makes you wonder though, if 50ppm is fine for us to drink how much harm is it doing the fish?
Trouble is if the PCV is 50 then it has to reach 51 before you've any right to complain about it. Little wonder Severn Trent have had only 1 test failure in 2003. A few years back it was 40, don't know why it has been raised - too many failures perhaps? ;-)
Nitrate poisoning is a long term thing, like Somonas says the fish seem to get used to raised levels, levels way above natural levels. Makes you wonder though, if 50ppm is fine for us to drink how much harm is it doing the fish?
ST15 8xx shows as 38
http://www.stwater.co.uk/APPS/STWInternet/STW0650.nsf/STW_Web
follow link on water quality, but it is severn trent only
http://www.stwater.co.uk/APPS/STWInternet/STW0650.nsf/STW_Web
follow link on water quality, but it is severn trent only
Hi Karma_llama
I just put a post code in Birmingham where i used to work and that also had Nitrate at 2 but the ph was up at 8.9.
I'm no expert on cichlids but the reading I have been doing on Mbuna show the Malawi ciclids have a ph range of 7.8 - 8.5.
Again I am no expert but you could probably lower the ph by mixing the tap water with rainwater. Rain is more in the 7's and has little or no nitrate. I have been using rainwater in my other tank for a long time now and the fish are thriving. We get so much rain in the UK its good to make some use out of it.
What are the experts views on rain water? Good or Bad idea?
I just put a post code in Birmingham where i used to work and that also had Nitrate at 2 but the ph was up at 8.9.
I'm no expert on cichlids but the reading I have been doing on Mbuna show the Malawi ciclids have a ph range of 7.8 - 8.5.
Again I am no expert but you could probably lower the ph by mixing the tap water with rainwater. Rain is more in the 7's and has little or no nitrate. I have been using rainwater in my other tank for a long time now and the fish are thriving. We get so much rain in the UK its good to make some use out of it.
What are the experts views on rain water? Good or Bad idea?
www.dwi.gov.uk is a good place to start, you can get last year's reports on all the regional water companies from there.