"Dick" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 15:02:36 GMT, "humBill"
wrote:

I am concerned about my nitrate levels. I believe I practice good tank
maintenace. My fish levels are not low, but I don't believe they are
excessive. I don't have the plants, extra lights or knowledge to have had
much success with plants. Can anyone offer some inexpensive suggestions
for
that. OR, can anyone tell me if relatively inexpensive filter additives
such
as: ammo lock - zeolite - nitrazorb - purigen, etc. will help to any
significance and not be detrimental in other ways.
Thanxx
Bill


Hi Bill, your question raises many questions in my mind: size of
tank, current lighting (watts of light), why concern about nitrate
level (what readings are you using, if any), why no plants, and what
fish load you have?

Okay - let's take my largest tank (55g), for instance. It has 4 x 4" Fancy
GF and 4 x 4 2" cories. That hood has a 40 W tube which I replaced the bulb
with some sort of Coralife 'grow' tube. It normally has around 40ppm at
weekly waterchanges of 45-50%. Just reading the scale is part of my
concern. Ecspecially once the Aqua. Pharm. tests reach red it, I am not
absolutely confident as to what hue it really is. I do know when I do a
water change it does reduce the color to dark orange so presumably it was
not originally over 60 = because of interpretation I am not confident
whether the numbers are really 40/20, 60/30 (before/after) etc. My
description of plants was ambiguous. I do have plants, actually more here
than the others. But because most of them are diminishing faster than
growing, I would say I am far from 'densely planted'. I know GF create and
tolerate Nitrates a little better. There are also very diverse opinions on
when and if you should worry about nitrates. My other tanks are half or
lower these readings, and regular FW fish, but I would say all have slowly
been creeping up over the months.

I run my tanks without charcoal and only with a fine filter material.
Three are 10 gallon tanks with Whisper Jr. filters, one 29 has a built
in filter which again I use the fine filter material, then the 75
gallon has two Penguin 330s (the wheels quit turning and I quit trying
to keep them turning).

The tanks all have lots of "low light" plants. I change 20% of the
water twice weekly. In my opinion, changing water is vital to having
a healthy tank. In my opinion, filters do not remove anything from
the water. I believe what they do is reduce the solids to a smaller
size through erosion, making it easier for the bacteria to transform.
I chose to go to my simplified care based on comments about the
limited value of charcoal, the observation that their is no active
qualities about filter materials and the observation that the 75
gallon was doing fine without the wheels turning, plust the fact that
the other 4 tanks did not have wheels. I do not make an effort to
vacuum the bottom unless I spot debris such as a dead leaf.

There are lots of things others will suggest and may be helpful, but
consider that the simpler the routine, the easier it is to follow it.
Changing water is not sexy, well, not to me, but so important.

Over the last two years I have tested nitrates and pH from time to
time. I no longer bother. So long as my fish are active, lots of
color, hungry and absent any signs of illness, "I should worry?"

dick

I will definitely try to factor in your 'What, me worry' attitude. I have
more experience with my ponds where I don't add anything except occasionally
some dechlored water. However, those fish are very hardy and the bottom
line is I don't have enough 'tank sense' to really recognize smaller
problems before they become larger ones. ex -Are 2 of my Orandas huddleing
at times just to rest out of the currents or are they telling me something.
When does an occasional yawn become a problem. etc. I'm sure as time goes
by I will be more confident with whatever I am doing, being good enough for
my pets(comfortable nor complacent). I definitely tend to spend less rather
than more money whenever possible. But for now I suspect I will continue to
try to understand and become comfortable with what it takes to reach a low
maintenance 'balanced tank' - hopefully, getting there primarily through
ongoing success rather than failures.

Thanxx for your help!
Bill