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7 Responses to “What should i do when the nitrate levels in my fish tanks turn orange when i test it?”
just try cleaning out the water too. Get some new fresh water and wash the gravel (or whatever you have on the bottom of your tank) thoroughly.
i hope this helps!!
wow, you got all the waste out, and old food. congratulations, you won’t have much problem with ammonia.
how orange is the orange? what does the test say the color orange means?
otherwise, my advice is: go to fish store and buy something that gets rid of nitrates.
the nitrates test kit should have a color guide to tell you how many part per million (PPM) nitrates you have in the tank. Usually it is a little card about the size of a credit card to compare the color with. The darkest orange on my kit is about 40 ppm. That means it is time for a water change, syphon out 25-40% of the tank water & replace with treated water.
The only way to remove nitrates in a high enough quantitiy in fresh water is through water changes. There is not a product that you can buy to remove nitrates. In marine systems nitrates can be removed biologically (with anerobic bacteria present in deep sandbeds or with live rock)
Just keep up the water changes to maintain your nitrates under 40 ppm.
edit:
It sounds like you bought a refill pack instead of the actual masters test kit. The masters test kit would come with 2 bottles for ammonia, 2 for nitrate, one for nitrite and one for ph low & one for ph high. It comes with an instruction booklet and the indicater cards to interpret the chemical tests. The refill kit is useless by it self without the indicator cards.
Nitrate is the end product of nitrification. The bacteria in your filter converts the Ammonia (Very toxic) into Nitrate (Almost as toxic) & then into Nitrate. This chemical builds up over a period of time & the fish become accustomed to it. New fish will keel over if introduced to a tank with high Nitrate & if you perform a big water change, then the fish you already have will suffer Chemical stress. Plants will absorb some of the Nitrate as food. But, to keep Nitrates down, all you need to do is to perform a 20% water change each week, using a dechlorinator.
Nitrate should be kept under control. Don’t let it get over 40 ppm. Nitrite should be 0. If you do regular water changes you shouldn’t have a problem. Your tank is cycled.
July 15th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Liza Ottesen
just try cleaning out the water too. Get some new fresh water and wash the gravel (or whatever you have on the bottom of your tank) thoroughly.
i hope this helps!!
July 18th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Jeffery Javier
wow, you got all the waste out, and old food. congratulations, you won’t have much problem with ammonia.
how orange is the orange? what does the test say the color orange means?
otherwise, my advice is: go to fish store and buy something that gets rid of nitrates.
July 20th, 2009 at 5:13 am
Jeremy Ashmore
the nitrates test kit should have a color guide to tell you how many part per million (PPM) nitrates you have in the tank. Usually it is a little card about the size of a credit card to compare the color with. The darkest orange on my kit is about 40 ppm. That means it is time for a water change, syphon out 25-40% of the tank water & replace with treated water.
The only way to remove nitrates in a high enough quantitiy in fresh water is through water changes. There is not a product that you can buy to remove nitrates. In marine systems nitrates can be removed biologically (with anerobic bacteria present in deep sandbeds or with live rock)
Just keep up the water changes to maintain your nitrates under 40 ppm.
edit:
It sounds like you bought a refill pack instead of the actual masters test kit. The masters test kit would come with 2 bottles for ammonia, 2 for nitrate, one for nitrite and one for ph low & one for ph high. It comes with an instruction booklet and the indicater cards to interpret the chemical tests. The refill kit is useless by it self without the indicator cards.
July 21st, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Alma Grantham
do 20 -25% water changes every couple of days and it will knock it down pretty fast. no big worries.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Margarita Solano
wow normaly the nitrates should be only white or a off white. thats like off the scale, do a 50% water change
July 25th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Raymond Picard
Nitrate is the end product of nitrification. The bacteria in your filter converts the Ammonia (Very toxic) into Nitrate (Almost as toxic) & then into Nitrate. This chemical builds up over a period of time & the fish become accustomed to it. New fish will keel over if introduced to a tank with high Nitrate & if you perform a big water change, then the fish you already have will suffer Chemical stress. Plants will absorb some of the Nitrate as food. But, to keep Nitrates down, all you need to do is to perform a 20% water change each week, using a dechlorinator.
July 25th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Gertrude Gullett
Nitrate should be kept under control. Don’t let it get over 40 ppm. Nitrite should be 0. If you do regular water changes you shouldn’t have a problem. Your tank is cycled.