The Loach Forum Archives (1)

Nitrate production rate??

Posted By: Wintek <wintek@aol.com>
Date: Monday, 9 August 1999, at 11:22 p.m.

Hello

For those of you that measure nitrate levels in your *fish only* tanks, what do you think the "average" amount of nitrate production would be??

If I define

R= Weekly rate of nitrate production

N= Number of weeks until a water change

F= Percent of water change, expressed as a fraction (25% = .25)

SS=Steady state nitrate level in the tank

Then R=SS*F/N

For example, RTR stated in his Aquasource magazine water change article that his nitrate levels were 10 ppm steady state, and that his water changes were 20% every week. So, the weekly nitrate production level is R=10*.2/1= 2 ppm nitrate produced weekly. I *wish* I had that kind of disicipline to stock my tanks that low. My goldfish tank when it was fish only took something like 50% weekly to keep the nitrate level at 20-40 ppm, which meant a weekly producti