Charts needed

[BenHehle Beamz]

hey AP folks, anyone have a table like that for No2 and No3 ? couldnt find anything usefull so far. thanx a lot!

[TCLynx]

Well the Nitrates are not going to become dangerous until the levels are way above being off the chart.  I like to keep them lower just because it makes the tests easier to read.  I personally can't tell the difference between anything above 40 ppm on the nitrate test so I wind up having to dilute by a measured amount so I can run the test and multiply to get the result.  Anyway, I've been running systems that have regularly had nitrates off the charts and the fish still seem to be doing fine.

 

As to nitrite.  It is pretty toxic pretty quickly (which is why I like to fishless cycle so I can avoid the dangers of it) but you can salt a system to 1 ppt to help mitigate that toxic effect a little bit.  Now the way nitrite is so toxic to fish, you might kinda think of it like carbon monoxide is to people, it interferes with the blood taking up oxygen.  But by adding salt the chloride ion from the salt can bind with the nitrite a bit and reduce the amount that gets taken up by the fish.  Sorry my science here is so vague, maybe some one can improve on my explanation.  Anyway, In my systems I don't like to see the nitrite above just a trace if that.  I know of people who have had tilapia survive outrageous levels of nitrite in the water but other fish are far more sensitive.  If the Nitrite is up, make sure you got lots of supplemental aeration going and salt the water up to 1 ppt.  (Actually in probably the first issue of the BYAP Mag there is a formula that is something like 17 ppm of salt per some amount of nitrite but I think most of us just round up to 1 ppt of salt.)

[BenHehle Beamz]

thanks TC, i will take a look at the BYAP Mag. i cycled my system before, since that No2 never got higher then 1 ppm. So far, my system runs well (runs with tilapia), (NH4 0,25ppm, No2 1ppm, No3 40ppm, ph 6,4) struggling a little bit with the pH (one day it droped from 6,4 to 6), add some CaO later on (if i can find a formula, or maybe i test it first with 10 l of water and just multiply the amount then). hmm, i really like this chart above, so i was just wondering if there are more charts like this around (for No2 and No3). So, anyone who has some good charts, please let me know! thank you all

[TCLynx]

Don't know of any charts but will keep my eyes open.

 

I like to alternate my pH buffer between calcium carbonate and potassium bicarbonate, seems to be helping my plants more doing it that way.