At What Nitrate Ppm Do You Do Water Changes At?

I do 50%+ water changes every month when my nitrates reach 20-30ppm. If its less than that I feel that the tank is fine. I have many plants. At what ppm of nitrates do you guys change your water?

 

Mine are consistently 20 but I still do a change every week since there's a lot of junk accumulating in the water we don't test for. scarface explains that pretty well

 

I typically do mine every week just for the ease of it, but once it reaches 20ppm you should certainly do a waterchange. 20 ppm isn’t necessarily bad, but if it goes to far above it can cause issues.

 

I typically do mine every week just for the ease of it, but once it reaches 20ppm you should certainly do a waterchange. 20 ppm isn’t necessarily bad, but if it goes to far above it can cause issues.

I aggree. I never let it rise from 20-30ppm.

Mine are consistently 20 but I still do a change every week since there's a lot of junk accumulating in the water we don't test for. scarface explains that pretty well

I have really good water circulation. There are pretty much no dead spots. Over filtering 15x per hr lol. So I don't see any junk apart from the occasional dead leaf that I remove when I see it. Everything else gets picked up by the filter. I imagine it simply gets broken down into nitrates?

 

I push mine to monthly. Much beyond that and I start seeing a rise in dissolved solids and a decrease in dissolved oxygen. Water evaporates but the solids don't so when we top off our tanks were just adding more solids. That and fish and plants use some of the minerals and other things in the water but not everything. So your left with too much of the stuff they don't need and not enough of what they do.

 

I'm talking more like hormones produced by the fish too. That stays in the circulation for a while and doesn't really convert into simple nitrates

 

I'm talking more like hormones produced by the fish too. That stays in the circulation for a while and doesn't really convert into simple nitrates

So what about people with Walstad style tanks? How are they dealing with the hormones if they don't do water changes?

 

I don't know when the last time was that I tested my water.. I just go by eye. Usually once a week sometimes it goes longer than that!!

 

Mine are consistently 20 but I still do a change every week since there's a lot of junk accumulating in the water we don't test for. scarface explains that pretty well

Wow, I love the way you answered that!!!!!
Clear, transparent and cited other's advice.
A+++

 

So what about people with Walstad style tanks? How are they dealing with the hormones if they don't do water changes?

That question I cannot answer as I have no knowledge of that type of tank, sorry.

 

I do 50%+ water changes every month when my nitrates reach 20-30ppm. If its less than that I feel that the tank is fine. I have many plants. At what ppm of nitrates do you guys change your water?

Hello King...

Your 50 percent water changes are great! But, that amount of water needs to be removed and replaced every week. If you do this, you won't need to worry about nitrates or anything else that might be toxic to your fish. By changing out half or more of the water every few days, there won't be enough time for toxins to build up before you remove them. Gradually work up to this and your fish and plants will be much healthier.

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That question I cannot answer as I have no knowledge of that type of tank, sorry.

Basically, Diana Walstad created the concept of a no-water.change-tank

Hello King...

Your 50 percent water changes are great! But, that amount of water needs to be removed and replaced every week. If you do this, you won't need to worry about nitrates or anything else that might be toxic to your fish. By changing out half or more of the water every few days, there won't be enough time for toxins to build up before you remove them. Gradually work up to this and your fish and plants will be much healthier.

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Is there any way I can do it bI weekly? I can't really do weekly water changes due to my very tightschedule... If I did bI weekly wouldnt it stabilize? Pls correct me if I am wrong.. I am trying to find a nice balance here

 

So what about people with Walstad style tanks? How are they dealing with the hormones if they don't do water changes?

In a closed ecosystem it can be stable indefinitely.
Add fish food, traces off hands, and any other number of contaminants and you will need to refresh the water regularly.

 

Basically, Diana Walstad created the concept of a no-water.change-tank

Is there any way I can do it bI weekly? I can't really do weekly water changes due to my very tightschedule... If I did bI weekly wouldnt it stabilize? Pls correct me if I am wrong.. I am trying to find a nice balance here View attachment 519697

Bi-weekly isn't an issue, just change a little more water. You could also do small changes whenever you have spare time

 

I used to do 50% every week even with 0,0,20. but now that's its winter, i'm doing it every 2 weeks.

it replenishes minerals that the fish, plants, and bacteria have used up. and removes particles that you can't see.

plus, it keeps diseases down. I read about diseases on here everyday, yet my fish have been disease free since i've had them for the past 6 months.

 

Bi-weekly isn't an issue, just change a little more water. You could also do small changes whenever you have spare time

Yeah, because If I did it biweekly my nitrates would stabilize at around 15, which for plants is good, since its bad to have nitrates as a limiting factor. And nitrate only becomes toxic to fish at 40ppm+

I used to do 50% every week even with 0,0,20. but now that's its winter, i'm doing it every 2 weeks.

it replenishes minerals that the fish, plants, and bacteria have used up. and removes particles that you can't see.

plus, it keeps diseases down. I read about diseases on here everyday, yet my fish have been disease free since i've had them for the past 6 months.

So was your tank producing 20 nitrates a week? 20 to 40ppm, 50% wc - back down to 20. That sort of thing?

 

the nitrate test is light/medium orange (10-20ppm) 1 week after, and a little darker orange (20-30ppm) 2 weeks after, never been red (40ppm), red is dead.

but I have several pothos vines, 2 lucky bamboo, and a peace lily. my outside patio pond has many pothos vines, hornwort and water lettuce.

 

the nitrate test is light/medium orange (10-20ppm) 1 week after, and a little darker orange (20-30ppm) 2 weeks after, never been red (40ppm), red is dead.

but I have several pothos vines, 2 lucky bamboo, and a peace lily. my outside patio pond has many pothos vines, hornwort and water lettuce.

Nice! I really want some pothos for my tanks but my lfs never has them. I do have 1 Lucky Bamboo and hornwort in my 30g, and they seem to pull a decent amount of nitrate like 5ppm per week. I wish I had water lettuce, there is TONS in my local lake, but I don't want to introduce any pest snails or diseases.

 

My tank gets a 50 percent change monthly. I am heavily planted and I can pretty much never detect nitrates except right after adding fertilizer.

Plants will uptake just about everything. Heavy metals, toxins, etc. And organisms in the tank break down just about everything else for use as dissolved organic carbon. Using tds is a great way to determine water changes in a well planted tank, and you end up wasting less water because you aren't changing water "just in case", but by informed decision making.

 

My tank gets a 50 percent change monthly. I am heavily planted and I can pretty much never detect nitrates except right after adding fertilizer.

Plants will uptake just about everything. Heavy metals, toxins, etc. And organisms in the tank break down just about everything else for use as dissolved organic carbon. Using tds is a great way to determine water changes in a well planted tank, and you end up wasting less water because you aren't changing water "just in case", but by informed decision making.

That´s awesome! I can't wait to get my tank into that sort of balance. Even if I didnt have to change the water, I would still do it monthly in my case because I would dose ferts and need to replenish the nutrients offered by the tap water.

I iamgine your tank is really balanced! Got any pics? I would love to get some ideas

 

That´s awesome! I can't wait to get my tank into that sort of balance. Even if I didnt have to change the water, I would still do it monthly in my case because I would dose ferts and need to replenish the nutrients offered by the tap water.

I iamgine your tank is really balanced! Got any pics? I would love to get some ideas

Here ya go. The balance isn't pretty right. Now. Need to give that jungle a trim.

 

Basically, Diana Walstad created the concept of a no-water.change-tank

Is there any way I can do it bI weekly? I can't really do weekly water changes due to my very tightschedule... If I did bI weekly wouldnt it stabilize? Pls correct me if I am wrong.. I am trying to find a nice balance here View attachment 519697

Hello King...

Changing half the water every two weeks is twice as efficient as monthly. If you lived in the same water you put all your waste into, how often would you want the water changed? I'm guessing pretty often. The fish depend on you to keep their water clean, so you should be as efficient as possible.

You can put the roots of house plants into the water to help reduce water changes. I use Chinese evergreens in some of my larger tanks and never have to perform a water change to keep the water clean. As long as the pollutants from the fish and plant waste are removed regularly and the water mineral levels are replenished, you don't need to perform a water change. Do some research on the different species of Chinese evergreen plants.

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Hello King...

Changing half the water every two weeks is twice as efficient as monthly. If you lived in the same water you put all your waste into, how often would you want the water changed? I'm guessing pretty often. The fish depend on you to keep their water clean, so you should be as efficient as possible.

You can put the roots of house plants into the water to help reduce water changes. I use Chinese evergreens in some of my larger tanks and never have to perform a water change to keep the water clean. As long as the pollutants from the fish and plant waste are removed regularly and the water mineral levels are replenished, you don't need to perform a water change. Do some research on the different species of Chinese evergreen plants.

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I absolutely agree with you. And I appreciate your very informative comment. I could try to do weekly water changes, but I can't promise that to be consistent. One week I might be able to do it, the other I might not. My schedule is spontaneous. I can however manage every 2 weeks. I'm guessing consisentcy is best? TO make up for the lack of weekly water changes I will take your advice and add tons of plants to help out. I will be on the lookout for the plant you showed me, as well as more bamboo and still trying to find pothos. Meanwhile I can stock up on Elodea and hornwort since they are so cheap and fast growing.

What do you mean by "regularly"? How often would that be?

IMO it looks amazing. The left side looks a little gloomy, but I'm sure that jungle will soon dominate that area as well. Is that Jungle Val on the left? Mine melted after 5 months of flourishing, is yours ok?

 

My nitrates stay between 0 and 5, so I just do it weekly to refresh the tanks.

 

I absolutely agree with you. And I appreciate your very informative comment. I could try to do weekly water changes, but I can't promise that to be consistent. One week I might be able to do it, the other I might not. My schedule is spontaneous. I can however manage every 2 weeks. I'm guessing consisentcy is best? TO make up for the lack of weekly water changes I will take your advice and add tons of plants to help out. I will be on the lookout for the plant you showed me, as well as more bamboo and still trying to find pothos. Meanwhile I can stock up on Elodea and hornwort since they are so cheap and fast growing.

What do you mean by "regularly"? How often would that be?

IMO it looks amazing. The left side looks a little gloomy, but I'm sure that jungle will soon dominate that area as well. Is that Jungle Val on the left? Mine melted after 5 months of flourishing, is yours ok?

If you were talking about my tank, the val and the wisteria are ridiculous and both are older than a year. The val was 1 plant, the wisteria was 3 stems a foot long each, now they are taking over.

 

If you were talking about my tank, the val and the wisteria are ridiculous and both are older than a year. The val was 1 plant, the wisteria was 3 stems a foot long each, now they are taking over.

Oops! My bad. I meant to reply that part to you. Nice! My little trimming of wisteria didnt take off as much. I got it about 2 in and it got up to 6 in, but pretty much stopped there.

 

I am like wodesorel. I change out 3 gallons 2 X's per week in my 20 gallon.

Each tank like each Fishkeeper is unique. This works for me and takes about 30 minutes (trim plants, count fish and shrimp, clean glass, rinse filters, etc.).

 

I absolutely agree with you. And I appreciate your very informative comment. I could try to do weekly water changes, but I can't promise that to be consistent. One week I might be able to do it, the other I might not. My schedule is spontaneous. I can however manage every 2 weeks. I'm guessing consisentcy is best? TO make up for the lack of weekly water changes I will take your advice and add tons of plants to help out. I will be on the lookout for the plant you showed me, as well as more bamboo and still trying to find pothos. Meanwhile I can stock up on Elodea and hornwort since they are so cheap and fast growing.

What do you mean by "regularly"? How often would that be?

IMO it looks amazing. The left side looks a little gloomy, but I'm sure that jungle will soon dominate that area as well. Is that Jungle Val on the left? Mine melted after 5 months of flourishing, is yours ok?

King...

I guess regularly would be at consistent intervals. A constant water chemistry is more important than a specific or particular water chemistry. Using house plants is helpful to maintain a constant water chemistry. But, the plant must have a large root system if you want it to make a difference in the nitrogen levels. Small plants with small roots won't do much. The plant must be large. That's why I suggested the Evergreen. Floating aquatic plants don't get large enough to make a real difference. Any species of Philodendron, like Pothos won't get large enough to remove much dissolved waste.

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King...

I guess regularly would be at consistent intervals. A constant water chemistry is more important than a specific or particular water chemistry. Using house plants is helpful to maintain a constant water chemistry. But, the plant must have a large root system if you want it to make a difference in the nitrogen levels. Small plants with small roots won't do much. The plant must be large. That's why I suggested the Evergreen. Floating aquatic plants don't get large enough to make a real difference. Any species of Philodendron, like Pothos won't get large enough to remove much dissolved waste.

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Awesome! I will keep an eye out for these types of plants. Any chance the Snake Plant would work?

 

It likely ran out of nutrients. If you want a real kick, plant it sideways. Youll end up with the main stem basically acting like a rhizome and growing sideways, sending up vertical stems.
king o' angelfish

 

It likely ran out of nutrients. If you want a real kick, plant it sideways. Youll end up with the main stem basically acting like a rhizome and growing sideways, sending up vertical stems.
king o' angelfish

Oh wow! I had never thought of that. I will add Wisteria to the list of plants for my 80g planted build soon to come!

 

Awesome! I will keep an eye out for these types of plants. Any chance the Snake Plant would work?

King...

The house plant must be able to live with the root system immersed in the water, with the leaves above. I'm always willing to try new things, so if this describes you, then try it. You'll need to rinse all the potting mixture from the roots and be able to support the plant in a way that allows the roots to be under the water and the leave above. Any leaves under the water will die. The plant will do best if you get a length of plastic tubing and attach one end to an air pump with the opposite end in the tank, under the roots of the plant. This will provide a source of oxygen to the plant roots and it will grow much better.

Have fun!

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