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Home: KOI Talk: Pond Water Quality:
Nitrate

 





 


scubadiver
Koi Lover

Oct 30, 2006, 4:31 PM

Post #1 of 18 (3401 views)
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Nitrate Can't Post
Hello there guys


I cleand my filter chamber last month using a pump to hose each of my chambers , after that my nitrate has been extremely high around 75.

I had stopped feeding for a week and that too did not bring my nitrate levels down ontop of that i have a bakki shower that was just installed recently less than 2 months now.

I have a 5 chamber filter constituting of settlement chamber .brushes , bio ball , japanese matts, and the final pump chamber.
The clarity of my water is fine and my ammonia is at zero so is my nitrite , i verified that my nitrate test kit was okay but testing the incoming water supply.

I tried adding BioZem ,to kick start my biological filtering but that too did not seem to help

currently i am feeding very little once a day and also carrying out daily 10% water change.

Frown


alex-san
Koi Lover


Oct 30, 2006, 6:15 PM

Post #2 of 18 (3393 views)
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Re: [scubadiver] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Scubadiver

Try not to worry too much about your nitrate levels. 75mg/l is high but I wouldn't call it extreme. My tapwater is 25mg/l.

My guess why the nitrate levels have increased is because you have removed too many anaerobic nitrate reducing bacteria when cleaning the filter. It's a good idea to keep the filter clean but don't over wash the media.

Removing nitrates is a much slower process than for ammonia or nitrites, so you need to be patient to wait for the filter to catch up. What your doing sounds fine to me. Bakki showers can take a while to get started removing nitrates, because they are so well aerated. It may be that the rest of your filter is so efficient that the Bakki shower has little left to do.

It might be worth trying some of the products that get rid of algae by bacterial reduction of nitrate, like Viresco.

www.koi-carp.blogspot.com


(This post was edited by alex-san on Oct 30, 2006, 7:09 PM)


scubadiver
Koi Lover

Nov 6, 2006, 3:59 PM

Post #3 of 18 (3310 views)
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Re: [alex-san] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Hello there

thanks for the reply .

i still have a question with regards to the level of Nitrate i.e. 75mg / L

Normally if you stop feeding or slow donw the feeding process you will start seeing the reduction of nitrate , usually slowy but in my case the levels remained the same for almost 3 week .

i have reduced my feeding drastically and even sometime not feed them for 3-4 day.

I cant seem to understand why my levels of Nitrate is not droppin , i am doing 10% water change daily.


Best Regard


Koi38
Senior Member


Nov 6, 2006, 5:54 PM

Post #4 of 18 (3300 views)
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Re: [scubadiver] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
What is your Ammonia and nitrite readings? Have you also check your water source?

"DuKu Friendly"
_____________________________________
"No one is ever too old to know better"

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/Koi38/


scubadiver
Koi Lover

Nov 7, 2006, 8:57 AM

Post #5 of 18 (3274 views)
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Re: [Koi38] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Hello there


My ammonia is at zero , nitrite at zero , my PH is at 7 .
The last check using the nitrate test kit on my water source indicated it to be zero too , however i was told that water in Subang was at 25m /l on nitrate , however when id di the test on my water source it indicaated zero reading on nitrate.


Koi38
Senior Member


Nov 7, 2006, 4:19 PM

Post #6 of 18 (3253 views)
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Re: [scubadiver] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Scub,

When you said you washed your filters, were they left under the sun?

How old is your filtration system?

rgds,
Jon

"DuKu Friendly"
_____________________________________
"No one is ever too old to know better"

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/Koi38/


scubadiver
Koi Lover

Nov 7, 2006, 4:25 PM

Post #7 of 18 (3249 views)
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Re: [Koi38] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Hello there Jon

I wash out my filter every 1 -2 months normally what i do is i hose out ecah chamber using water form the pond , normally all the 4 chambers that i have are emptied and all the sediments are hosed out into the drain.

I then fill the pond back with water add anti chlorine and salt . I add around 40kg of salt.
My pond is 15 ton including my filter chamber.
None of the filter materials are removed or left to dry out in the sun.

Normally after cleaning it takes around 4-5 hours to fill up the water back .

Best Regards
RAVI


Koi38
Senior Member


Nov 8, 2006, 7:04 AM

Post #8 of 18 (3230 views)
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Re: [scubadiver] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
In Reply To
I wash out my filter every 1 -2 months normally what i do is i hose out each chamber using water form the pond , normally all the 4 chambers that i have are emptied and all the sediments are hosed out into the drain. Why do you wash all your filters? Why not just 1st & 2nd chambers??? I wash my biofilter every 6 months but flush my settlement every day.

I then fill the pond back with water add anti chlorine and salt . I add around 40kg of salt.
Why add salt? This will make some parasites get immune to it, IMHO. I don't salt my pond unless I have too.

Best Regards
RAVI
I knew it was you, just wasn't 100% sure before. What sort of filter media are you using again?

Have you heard anything from dttk lately?

rgds,
Jon
"DuKu Friendly"
_____________________________________
"No one is ever too old to know better"

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y63/Koi38/


brandon
Koi Lover

Nov 9, 2006, 6:27 PM

Post #9 of 18 (3165 views)
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Re: [Koi38] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi scubadiver,

Normally we (koi hobbyists) dont flush all aour biochambers at the same time .Otherwise, we might lose all the beneficial bacteria and we have to start the ecosystem all over again.It takes a long time....Backwash each biochamber every 3 months.
Best regards,

brandon


koiguyoz
Member


Nov 9, 2006, 10:32 PM

Post #10 of 18 (3156 views)
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Re: [brandon] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
From my research on bioballs, you must be very careful to keep the bioballs wet for the entire time during cleaning and if possible don't clean them at all as they biobacteria are very sensitive to being cleaned.

Indeed, most of the biomedia should still be quite wet during cleaning, because if you let any of them dry, you'll more than likely kill a larger population of the good biobacteria during your clean out.


larz1
Koi Kichi


Nov 26, 2006, 9:22 PM

Post #11 of 18 (2908 views)
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Re: [koiguyoz] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Plenty of good advice given already but I might as well toss in my 2 cents worth. I only wash my media when it really needs it, which is every 3-4 months at most. Even then it is a very minimal washing, no scrub down, just rinsing the media in the water contained in the chamber and draining off the solids. Much of what you see on your media (especially in the latter chambers) is bacterial colonies that may not be pretty to look at, but they are doing a job you want done.
One other thing I noticed about your water parameters is that your ph is on the low side. While that can be good for certain Koi varieties, it is also a careful balancing act as it may also indicate low kh. Do you have anything like oyster shell or coral in your system to buffer against ph crashes? The carbonates will also improve your filter function.


scubadiver
Koi Lover

Nov 27, 2006, 10:40 AM

Post #12 of 18 (2896 views)
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Re: [larz1] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Hello there Larz . how are you doing?

You mentioned that carbonates improve your filter function , could you kindly elaborate on that please ?

In what areas of the filteration process does the carbonate help out in .

Best Regards
RAVI.


larz1
Koi Kichi


Nov 27, 2006, 10:29 PM

Post #13 of 18 (2881 views)
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Re: [scubadiver] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Carbonates are one of the essential elements used by the bacteria to make it possible for them to absorb ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, etc... through their cell walls, process it, and convert it. Without it they cannot ingest/digest their food, which means they can't take care of your waterTongue Nitrobacters are very heavy feeders so they need plenty of nitrogen based feedstock (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) carbon base (calcium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate), and oxygen. Long story short, the different species work together to convert these wastes into CO2 gas, Nitrogen gas, and Water.


scubadiver
Koi Lover

Nov 28, 2006, 10:30 AM

Post #14 of 18 (2868 views)
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Re: [larz1] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Hello there Larz

Thank you for the information.

Basically you feel that my filteration system shoudl have Oyster Shells as these contain carbonates and will help further improve the filteration process .
Does clay have carbonates in its composition.

Best Regards
RAVI.


larz1
Koi Kichi


Nov 28, 2006, 7:50 PM

Post #15 of 18 (2850 views)
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Re: [scubadiver] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Crushed oyster shell would be an excellent addition to you filtration system. A mesh bag of it somewhere in your last filter chamber would be a good place. I don't know about your area, but around here livestock feed stores sell it cheaply. (it is used to add to chicken feed to strengthen their egg shells).
Koi Clay would also be good for your water. Look for some that contains Calcium Bentonite, also known as Montmorillionite. It is carbonate rich, acts as a water purifier, neutralizes heavy metals, and helps to keep algae under control.


thomasysl
Koi Lover

Dec 6, 2006, 6:59 PM

Post #16 of 18 (2808 views)
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Re: [scubadiver] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Ravi

Other that crush oyster shell, you can purchase baking soda, you can easily purchase from any hypermarket (e.g. Giant). The brand is KINGS Bikarbonate Soda or something like that (white container with blue wording).REMEMBER it is BAKING SODA not BAKING POWDER.
 It sells for RM0.99 per bottle of 100gm. I used that to maintained my PH. I dont really recall how much to use, but normally once my PH drop to 7.0 I will add about 5-6 bottles(500-600gm) at one time, it will give me about 7.4-7.5Smile, from there on I will add about 3-4 bottles every 3-4 days (FYI, mine 28ton ponds) to maintain. There is no worry if you add too much, as the PH will remain highest at 8.3-8.4 which is safe for koi.

As for your nitrate level, the bakki shower still need time to start working. Mine used to be around 20-30ppm(with plants), the bakki shower took about 6-9 months to bring it down to 5ppm now. TO reduce nitrate, you can also try to put some water plant, it will help to absorb the nitrate.

By the way, it looks like your nitrosomonas(ammonia to nitrite) and nitrobacter(nitrite to nitrate) bacteria are working at a efficient rate. No ammonia and No nitrite, isnt that what you want? Laugh

Just my 2cents


(This post was edited by thomasysl on Dec 6, 2006, 7:04 PM)


scubadiver
Koi Lover

Dec 8, 2006, 10:03 AM

Post #17 of 18 (2775 views)
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Re: [thomasysl] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Hello there Thomas


What do media do you use in your Bakki Shower do you use bacteria House or bio ball or other media.

How can one increase the amount of nitrobacter(nitrite to nitrate) bacteria working to the fullest effeciency.


RAVI.


thomasysl
Koi Lover

Dec 8, 2006, 2:12 PM

Post #18 of 18 (2765 views)
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Re: [scubadiver] Nitrate [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi Ravi,

I am using Bacteria House only in my shower system. Why do you need to increase the nitrobacter, since you already have ZERO nitrite. Nitrate is safe for fish unless it is of very high level > 200ppm. Give the shower more time, it will reduce the nitrate eventually Laugh. If you are really worry about your nitrate level, just change about 5% of water daily or overflow constantly by small amount of fresh water daily.

 
 
 



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