High Nitrate level

Well its not all that nigh but is n th low end of the stress scale,
next to high borderline. Ammonia and nitrites are 0 ph and alk is
fine.......but I find high nitrate. I did a partial water change the
other day and its still goes right back to the current level. I have
numerous plants, and good filtration. (1/2 barrel setup) All th
plants are doing fine, real nice and green except for the one water l
illy, it seems anemic as it has some nice dark leaves while others are
a pale yellow green color. It was fertilized prior to be put in place
inthe 1/2 barrel, and was fertilized regularlay before that, but it
only ever gets maybe 5 to 7 leaves at most.......The miniature cat
tails are so so, awfull fragile and bend and crimp very easy and not
really all that dark. I use Plant Tabs which is an aquatic plant
fertilizer. Any clues whats wrong on the high level of nitrate and the
water lilly?

--
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Regards
Roy aka chipmaker

Contents have been checked for spelling. I just decided not to make any needed corrections!

Nitrates can only be removed from the pond by plants or water changes. If
the level is high enough to worry about, do water changes of 10 to 20% per
day until the level is back down where you would like to see it. The source
of nitrates may be from your fertilizer tablets, but generally, in
overstocked ponds anyway, it is the end product of the filtration, and the
more fish, the more nitrates.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/index.html

"Roy " wrote in message
...
Well its not all that nigh but is n th low end of the stress scale,
next to high borderline. Ammonia and nitrites are 0 ph and alk is
fine.......but I find high nitrate. I did a partial water change the
other day and its still goes right back to the current level. I have
numerous plants, and good filtration. (1/2 barrel setup) All th
plants are doing fine, real nice and green except for the one water l
illy, it seems anemic as it has some nice dark leaves while others are
a pale yellow green color. It was fertilized prior to be put in place
inthe 1/2 barrel, and was fertilized regularlay before that, but it
only ever gets maybe 5 to 7 leaves at most.......The miniature cat
tails are so so, awfull fragile and bend and crimp very easy and not
really all that dark. I use Plant Tabs which is an aquatic plant
fertilizer. Any clues whats wrong on the high level of nitrate and the
water lilly?

--
Visit my website:

http://www.frugalmachinist.com
Regards
Roy aka chipmaker

Contents have been checked for spelling. I just decided not to make any
needed corrections!

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 23:41:37 GMT, "RichToyBox"
wrote:

===Nitrates can only be removed from the pond by plants or water changes. If
===the level is high enough to worry about, do water changes of 10 to 20% per
===day until the level is back down where you would like to see it. The source
===of nitrates may be from your fertilizer tablets, but generally, in
===overstocked ponds anyway, it is the end product of the filtration, and the
===more fish, the more nitrates.


Well I am making a guess here, but I eliminated one fish today, the
red / white sarassa comet (named Frank). There was no end to this
fishes hungar.It would scarf up all of the pellets in a flash much
quyicker than the others could managae, and I could put a wad of
duckweed or fairy moss in the tub and come back in an hour and it
would be all gone........Put new floating plants in and in no time all
roots were gone. Then the leaves, and I would wind up with only nubs
of leafs floating around. I pulled out my water lilly that was not
doing too good today and I thought it odd that others like it had tons
of stems but not this one. Then I seen there was lots of would be
stems that were evidently eaten before they could grow.......In other
words if that fish could get his mouth on it it was eaten.........So
after watching these fish for some time now, I came to realize it has
to be that sarassa thats eating everything. So I removed him and put
him in the larger ponds enclosure. More than enough duckweed and other
stuff to eat than he can take care of in a long time!

I did the relocation early this morning, and thenput some floating
feed in and it actually had some pellets here and there an hour
later.......before it was gone in minutes. I also threw in some more
duckweed and fairy moss, and its still in the tub as of now, instead
of being eaten like before, so I think now I can have polants that
will actually be able to use the nitrates since their roots are not
getting eaten or the plants being eaten, and with as much food as this
fish ate, its bound to have been the heaviest replenisher of nitrates
back in the water.........So I checked the water this morning, still
high, did a water change of about 10%, took another reading and will
wait a couple of days and see if my theory is right.......ifnot, I'll
just eliminate one more of the fish, but I have a feeling its gonna be
ok now with that fish out.

The wife named that fish Frank because there is a local grocery store
here in the country named Franks-Red & White, so the name fit hi8m,
especially with it being a grocery store.
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