This is going to come across as bad but google scholarly articles nitrate toxicity freshwater.I am curious if anyone has personally experienced or heard of negative repercussions on fish health from high nitrate level. It is always said that nitrate should be kept below 40 mg/L, but why is this? Can anyone link a scientific study showing that amounts exceeding 40 mg/L for an extended period of time reduce lifespan, immune system efficiency, growth rate, oxygen saturation, etc.., of freshwater fish? Any input will be appreciated.
Both of those studies are very likely fake.https://www.researchgate.net/profil...to_Nitrate/links/555eabeb08ae9963a1142908.pdf
This study found that exposing the Common Carp ((Cyprinus carpio) to 12ppm for 1, 2, and 4 days caused severe degeneration of the liver (which improved somewhat over time but remained damaged).
This one researched the kidneys...
https://www.researchgate.net/profil...aquatic-species.pdf?origin=publication_detail
This one found that nitrate levels of well below 10ppm affect growth and development of salmon and trout, and a few other species.
As I said, data for ‘aquarium fish’ are few and far between, so far, but there’s a general concensus that nitrate is a causative agent in both Hole in the Head and Lateral Line Erosion diseases in cichlids. These diseases commonly occur at what we would historically call relatively low nitrate levels (<40), which are showing themselves to actually be ‘relatively high’.
High nitrate nitrogen (80–100 mg/L) was related to chronic health and welfare impacts to juvenile rainbow trout.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144860914000041#fig0025
by 4.43 to convert them to the format we are used to, from using the API test kit which measure nitrate as nitrate. Not all studies are as clear and I am often left wondering which of the two (nitrate as nitrogen OR nitrate as nitrate) is being used.(80–100 mg/L)
Again, you need to multiply the EPA limit of 10 by 4.43 to convert it to the format we are use to.I think it’s important to realize just how bad nitrate exposure can be to fish, and humans. The EPA limits city water to only 10 ppm of nitrate, and that’s because of how bad it can be for us to drink. Now think about a fish constantly living in high nitrate, not just drinking it like us. Something to think about.
You’re doing it backwardsThis study at least specifies the format they use is Nitrate nitrogen, which means you have to multiply those results by 4.43 to convert them to the format we are used to, from using the API test kit which measure nitrate as nitrate. Not all studies are as clear and I am often left wondering which of the two (nitrate as nitrogen OR nitrate as nitrate) is being used.
Again, you need to multiply the EPA limit of 10 by 4.43 to convert it to the format we are use to.
So, I think these two forms of expressing nitrate levels need to be kept in mind and questioned whenever reviewing a study, to try to determine how that study is measuring nitrate levels, to better understand the results.
You are correct in the fact that you can use both sets of numbers, but I find that just confuses people, and you can just change the multiply to the divide to reverse the conversion.You’re doing it backwards
“Therefore, to convert Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L) to Nitrate-N (mg/L):
Nitrate-N (mg/L) = 0.2259 x Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L)
And to convert Nitrate-N (mg/L) to Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L):
Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L) = 4.4268 x Nitrate-N (mg/L)”
From his study, nitrate-NO3 (mg/L) is given as 80-100, lets just say 80 nitrate-NO3 (mg/L).
Nitrate-N (mg/L)= 0.2259 X 80
= Nitrate-N (mg/L)= 18.072 mg/L OR ppm
But no...the study shows nitrate as nitrogen...From his study, nitrate-NO3 (mg/L) is given as 80-100, lets just say 80 nitrate-NO3 (mg/L).
or at least that is how it is written here, which I assume was a quote from the link supplied with that statement. So if that is the case, the 80-100 would be multiplied by 4.43High nitrate nitrogen (80–100 mg/L) was related to chronic health and welfare impacts to juvenile rainbow trout.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144860914000041#fig0025
It's just that I think you let this two ways of converting confuse you. But what you wrote says... Nitrate-NO3 (which is a way of expressing nitrate as nitrate) = 4.426( which rounds to 4.43) X Nitrate-N (which is a way of expressing Nitrate as nitrogen) so this is the same equation as I used. The EPA use nitrate as nitrogen (Nitrate-N). API measures nitrate as nitrate (Nitrate-NO3).Nitrate-NO3 (mg/L) = 4.4268 x Nitrate-N (mg/L)
I'm sorry Skavatar! I knew you were agreeing with me. I guess I wrote that post in too much of a hurry before I took off and didn't realize the way I wrote it made it sound like I was thinking that we weren't in agreement. I was actually talking to AquaticJ, and using your post to try to clear up the misunderstanding he and I were experiencing with converting the two measurements. However, I think he and I are also on the same page now, so all is good! I do thank you for your support, and I apologize again for making you feel like I had lost my marbles! . Although I do question that myself sometimes.toosie yes, i'm agreeing with you. it would be 344-443ppm nitrate if tested with the API test kit.
studies showed that nitrates are not toxic until around 300-400 ppm.
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Nitrates should always be below 10 Is my philosophy. IN nature, nitrates are almost always low in a lake or pond because there are so many plants and also anerobic bacteria.
