Nitrates in the 100s?

[Grymatta]

I was chatting to a fish specialist/consultant who maintains big fish tanks at office buildings. He told me that many of those tanks are overcrowded and sometimes have Nitrate levels over 100 and more! He said that its typically around 80-100 for those kinda tanks and not usually a problem for the fish...that they can tolerate it fine.

Now, I do weekly WC on my tanks and my nitrates are never above 20 ppm and what he said shocked me.

Is it possible for fish to live in those high nitrate conditions?

 

[GIS Guy]

In my experience the less hardy ones tended to die at the rate of about 1 per month.
I'd say no.

 

[SANND]

From what I've read online, you won't see accute effects of high nitrates like you do with high ammonia and high nitrites but the chronic effects will eventually take their toll. There are some people who believe the amount tolerated is highter than 20 ppm. I don't really have an opinion but I know that if I go long enough between WCs to get up past 20 ppm, then I've got other water quality issues going south.

 

[Mountain Dewd]

My nitrates are not usually very high either. Comes with having plenty of plants. From my experience the swords seem to be better at taking out the nitrates than some of the other types I have tried/seen. I thought this was all part of a healthy ecocycle.

Might just be me though.

 

[Fishywishy]

i have overstocked tanks (some of you would throw a fit which is why I don't have a sig), with plants (and i'm gonna assume a fish specialist would use live plants not plastic), I barely make 5ppm nitrate in a week...with no algae or algae eater.

I think he was either talking about something else or exaggerating just a tad, and if the specialist was male, males don't the difference between 2 inches and 6 inches.

 

[Lotus]

If he's a tank consultant, he's making a business out of keeping tanks stocked. In that case, the more water changes he does, the less profit he makes (water changes take time; time is money).

Just because he does it, doesn't mean it's good for the fish or their long-term health. Nitrate toxicity varies among species. Some tolerate it better than others.

 

[Seleya]

He's probably also stocking the tank..... *ca-ching!*

 

[Grymatta]

Actually, this tank consultant seemed to be very knowledgable about cycling, biological filters, etc.

He actually gets paid for coming in and doing WC/maintenance and he agrees that the more WC, the better for the tank. Most of his income comes from this kind of maintenance.

The problem is..most of his clients are too stingy to pay for frequent WC. They go like one WC/month which is why he sees alot of high nitrates in the tanks. that, plus the fact that alot of people will bring in their own fish and put it into the tanks themselves and overcrowd it.

Thats what happened to the tank at my office. Its overstocked and the water quality is going south. and my boss wont spend a dime to maintain the tank. Theres only so much I can do..

 

[MarkRW89]

My nitrates are not usually very high either. Comes with having plenty of plants. From my experience the swords seem to be better at taking out the nitrates than some of the other types I have tried/seen. I thought this was all part of a healthy ecocycle.

Might just be me though.

Got exactly the same here, i could probably go without a water change for months and my nitrates wouldnt rise above the local background levels (5ppm). I always have to keep checking that my test kit isnt out of wack!*crazysmil

*Note to self to start using fertilizer *

 

[JoluvsGuppies]

I dont think many fishes would survive in a toxic evironment like that.
How in the world do you get high amounts of nitrate like that??

 

[Grymatta]

I guess its possible if you have a really overstocked fish tank, overfeed, and dont change the water for a month...