How much nitrate you think?

. I just did a 40% water change.

 

Oh, that's after a water change?!

It's either 40 or 80. I can never tell the difference. Same with 10 and 20.

 

It looks like it's hovering around 40PPM.

 

What's an acceptable level and what do others do to lower it?

 

I never let mine get above 20-25 ppm. That's about the average acceptable level before it starts getting dangerous. To lower nitrates, I usually do a couple back to back 25-50% water changes. How much nitrate does your tap water have in it?

 

What I do with them(they are so difficult to tell sometimes) is hold the liquid up to the light and look at it. It makes it a whole lot easier. I'd say 40-20, but it's a bit difficult since its in shading.

 

Any nitrate level between 0ppm ~ 20ppm in an established tank is acceptable.

 

I like to just assume it's the higher number. Because then it doesn't hurt to do the larger water change than not having done enough.

 

Hello chef....

The way I read it, you have a 40 ppm nitrate level. Nitrate is the end of the nitrogen cycle, so this form of nitrogen isn't toxic to most aquarium fish unless it gets much higher. Some water keepers feel this is too high, so you can use floating plants like Water sprite, Hornwort, anacharis or Pennywort to lower it a bit. Companies like Acurel and HBH have filter media that is made to lower nitrates in the tank water.

Personally, I don't worry about nitrate, but keep plants that use it for food. Keep up with your water changes and the tank chemistry will stay steady and this is more important than trying to maintain a particular chemistry.

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