How High, is Too High? When Are NITRATES A DANGER To Fish & Shrimp. New Research Reveals Safe Limits 

irrelevant to me, i taught my fish to jump into a bucket to poop and then jump back into their tank

As a Caridina shrimp guy. This has always been the case. Even in a heavily planted tank. Regular water changes are crucial not only to reduce Nitrates but also to replace essential salts and minerals. Even ponds get replenished with rain water and rivers flow.

I do not understand how you have not become one of the biggest names on youtube for fish keeping yet.

Very interesting ! Thank you. I hope you know what a great teacher you are.

Thank you Alex! I hope this video finally puts an end to this debate. I have had some hefty discussions, mainly with Father F. about this topic where he kept saying that high nitrate levels can do no harm. I shared links to scientific reports about this subject but to no avail. But okay, this man also denies coral bleaching in the oceans… Thanks again for this explanation. It probably won’t change the non believers minds but for anyone serious about this hobby, this is crucial information. It’s like smoking. A couple of cigarettes won’t do you harm but smoking over a longer period of time definitely will. Do your water changes, keep nitrate levels low.

Along with the dropping of the tempatur with Rainie season and large water changes, in the tanks, nitrate drop also could be the driving force that creates a spawning response

Thank you for the deep dive into NH3 and NH4OH. I’ve seen this in my tanks with respect to breeding unexpectedly stopping.

*water changes intensify*

There is a huge difference between NO3 and NO3-N. An API liquid kit or any hobby kit only tests for the full compound which is plainly expressed on the labels. This is important because you reference many studies that talks about how nitrogen restricts oxygen from interacting with the hemoglobin. Due to nitrogen binding with oxygen which cause methemoglobin. It even says specifically "To better compare toxicity data from other authors, all concentrations and levels of nitrate were expressed as mg NO3-N/L" It would make no sense for scientists to count oxygen as nitrogen, which is why they only look at the N component in the compound. It's more semantic, but oxygen is the one being restricted, not nitrogen. Misrepresenting or misunderstanding studies is the main reason why we have a lot of fear mongering in the hobby. These things need to be understood, because people will make various mistakes based on them. Such as buying excess amounts of dechlorinator for waterchanges they never had to do.

In one of my first aquariums, I noticed the nitrate went UP when I did water changes. Checked the tap water, and sure enough, it was higher than the nitrates in my planted tank.

Repost: There’s a difference in how the nitrate is measured, most scientific studies gauge it by NO3-N, which is a measure of the nitrogen in the nitrate. Hobby kits are measuring it as NO3, or the whole nitrate. The listed conversion between the two is 4.4268, hence the NO3-N x 4.4268 = NO3. NO3-N = Nitrate X 0.226 - This is why there's any controversy. Hobby kits measure differently from the scientists. Did you consider this at all? The numbers from the articles need to be multiplied by 4.4 to be at the same measurement level as the kits we use.

Seeing your face and reading the first 4 words of the title, I thought you started growing some fancy plants :)

Honestly I can't even believe its a debate. Starting my aquarium journey with shrimp has made me watchful of nitrates. It makes sense in my mind that if the water is toxic to shrimp because of the nitrates, it would be doing harm to my fish as well, even if I couldn't see it.

I agree 100% I have seen the failures and success related to high and low nitrates with mass breeding guppies and swordstails. When there was a high nitrate spike for whatever the reason, there were definitely acute symptoms like skin and fin issues. They would typically slow down or stop breeding when the spike was sustained long term. This forced me to take a serious look at the issue early on, which I am very thankful for. Also In my experience having a zillion plants does not necessarily mean you have low nitrates.... Things need time to set up and connect. Thanks for the great video. ❤❤❤

Awesome research Alex!!! Thank you for getting us all the facts about Nitrates

I like how your channel is respectful of different style of tank building, i can really see how some of the more newly popular methods will struggle keeping up with the parameters needed for say breeding. We need a plethora of methods for different purposes to test and help narrow down whats best

Thanks for your work on this, great information

So the shocking new study just said exactly what we knew and already did all along ? What a shock ! ⚡️🤯 I'm at a turning point in my fish keeping hobby where most of my tanks are just going great by themselves. I don't have to touch them very much no more. Now I'm more into fish health and their general happyness, knowing their natural environments and planning on having multiple more tanks each with a different biotope perfectly adapted to a fish. There are not enough good videos about these topics. I'm also having trouble identifying all fish sicknesses ( or distress ) and would like to know more about cures.

Great topic…great coverage. Thanks for doing the research and passing along the info.

Just subbed I enjoyed your father fish interview. I think you conducted yourself in the correct and added some.intertesting points

I'm buckled in for this one! It's going to be a bumpy ride!

Interesting as always and thanks for the science backed answers, Alex! Glad to gear you're doing well.

Great video Alex, appreciate the info. Well presented :)

Excited to watch this later! Thank you 😊

This was a good video. My discus perk up when I change the water after 100ppm of nitrates. Also, I noticed I reversed hole in the head by keeping nitrate levels low too.

A lot of people will say I'm foolish or crazy but I have multiple ponds and tanks and I've never tested any of them. I would. Just haven't had a reason yet. I guess I'm either good or lucky .

Thanks so much for this!

Excellent topic. Thank you

Thanks for the info. Good video, interesting topic.

This is so informative! Great job, fantastic reporting!🌻🌼🐝 Keep it up 🙌

Very interesting to learn more about the role of nitrogen in the environment and in water quality! Thanks for digging deep, sharing your sources, and sharing with us! Well done 👍

Im puzzled by the 40 to 50 ppm for humans. Beets have 2797 ppm and spinach has 2333 ppm. I know infants will suffer from "blue baby" syndrome due to O2 not being carried in the blood at very low concentration. Most states limit nitrate in drinking water to 11 ppm or thereabouts. But anyone older than 6 months consumes loads of nitrate every day.

Definitely going to be trying to keep my nitrates as close to 0 as possible now. I thought I was doing good with my 20 ppm lol, but if there is an increase in mortality for fry at 10 ppm I want it as low as possible.

I've always targetted 20ppm as my upper limit for nitrates, and thats worked really well in all my tanks. Everyone breeds just fine. Mind you, 6 of the 8 run off a sump and refugium and NEVER see over 0ppm nitrate when checked, and i add fertilizer weekly. The refugium, btw, has been *fascinating*. I run it offset, lights on when the tank lights are out, and its just a 15-20ish gallon Sterlite tub literally full of fast growing surface plants(salvinia and frogbit) and loose moss. I swear, i could dump a whole container of fish food into one of the tanks and not have any kind of spike. Everything sits right at 0 all the time, abd theres no co2 spike at night because the refugium kicks in and consumes the offgassed co2.... Then in turn provides its own excess co2 to the tanks when their lights are on and its are off. My recommendations to other have followed this, really - 0-20 as ideal, 40 as a hard upper limit, and it seems ill stick with that.

Great info. FYI I'm lucky so far. Don't have nitrates above 30. Usually I change water for other reasons. But I do check nitrates on a regular basis.

Great video Alex, I think I have the opposite problem of nitrate creep. I can never seem to read over 4-5 ppm of nitrates, even on some tanks that have been set up for years

Great video Alex,with some really interesting info

I do 30% water change at 15 in my fantail tank. This brings it down to 5 and is good for another week . I have plants that are doing well, minimal algae but enough for a few snails and a pleco. Thought i might be a bit fusy keeping levels this low , but after watching this , think its best for my fishies 🥰

Thank you, it was well made. I dont have enough experience to share. Some of my plants turns a little white on some top leaves, they grow slower. I guess it cause by a lack of nitrate, and I am not sure what to do about it. I have no nitrate. I guess I will have to add fish, but it take time.

One of my tanks is up to 50ppm at the moment. The fish are spawning and fry are surviving and growing big with no input from me. Heavily planted community tank of course 👍 thanks Alexander

Excellent upload 👌

I struggle to even maintain enough nitrates in my tanks to keep my plants thriving so I can’t say I ever see more than that 40 ppm maximum. Even after I fertilize they’re usually only around 20 ppm 😆 That being said, I did get a couple tanks last year from someone and they had so many nitrates the test tube looked like the tubes of blood from blood tests. I wish I had diluted it to know the number but it was beyond 200. The fish all LOOKED terrible except for the corydoras and the kuhlis (those looked fine but weren’t active). The guppies were still breeding, but they were not healthy. The bettas looked horrible as well. I have no idea how people accidentally get nitrates that high. It blows my mind.

All my tanks set up to achieve the full cycle never seem to have issues with fish looking great, breeding & living well past the expected average lifespan, so my experiences concur with the paper's conclusion.

My corys and guppys spawn like no tomorrow and I try to keep the nitrates at 20 to 40 even 50 ppm as I have a but load of pothos and hornwart and floating plants (you've seen the tank alex) if I don't fertilize and add potassium every week to every other week the plants aren't as happy and nitrates go to 0. But since upping my bioload a tad ill keep testing and Journaling 😅❤❤

This was an extremely interesting video! Thank you. Now I just wonder... I have aquariums with a lot of plants, small fish, neocaridinas and Malaysian trumpet snails. The nitrate is close to zero in all of them, and the other water parameters seem to be stabile as well, even though I do almost no water changes at all. Would there still be any benefits from doing water changes, or can I just relax and be happy to have easy maintenance aquariums?

Great video.

Fantastic video! I have myself kept and bred fish since I was around 10 years old, maybe a bit younger, am not almost 40, and I have seen a few times over the years how some species of fish can be extra sensitive towards nitrates. Some killies, like normans lampeøyes, have several times started spinning as they swim in a corkscrew fashion when the nitrates got over 20-40ppm, which seems very, very sensitive. I wonder, since studies show that fry die sooner from it, do you think it can be translated directly to the size of the fish? Smaller fish/less mass, are just more sensitive to it, or do you think there is something else that's a more important factor? Thanks for talking about this very important topic :D

Thanks for sharing. Definitely changed my outlook a little. I still think some people go too far when they say nitrate should always be 0. 20 should be a reasonable goal. I think growing external plants like pothos and peace lily out of your aquarium should be looked at more, which is a project I'm currently working on in my aquariums.

nice video, finally someone put out a review on this topic, need to read it more in detail... would be nice if you included the link or citation in the description. just based on experience, i have come to the conclusion that exposure to higher than ideal nitrate level in the early stage of life may be a significant contributor to stunted growth or poor development, in addition to other factors such as genetics or behavior of cohabitants. also one note: Haber received the chemistry prize for nitrogen fixation, there is no way he could get a peace prize for the other things he did

I can't ever get a nitrate reading on my planted tanks.

For Nitrates Don’t use the API kit, unless the reagents are 100% diluted into each other the result will increasingly get more and more inaccurate - you can’t tell how much it’s out because the baseline is set by how much the human factor is the issue. Use kits such as SERA and JBL that separate their reagents into 3 bottles, the results are consistent and accurate.

The only time I registered nitrates is when I did no water changes for seven weeks. Even then it barely registered . I have more plants then average I think. Between the plants and algae (also plants ) in my tank I never see a nitrate spike . I have changed things recently doing water changes bi weekly in order to remove algae not mulm or nitrates . Also running an airstone when I have the light off to increase flow and atmosphere intake. I test weekly always but nitrates aren't much of a concern.

The trouble with some information you highlighted was it’s outdated or only partially correct. Modern Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) where billions of Atlantic Salmon are grown each year before they are sent to sea for saltwater grow out, grow fish in Nitrate of >200mg/L. In fact some older systems of RAS operated at >1000mg/L. (Before denitrification reactors were at commercial scale) So to be clear Nitrate in eggs and small fry were kept below 20mg/L but post that it was seen as an insignificant parameter. These fish grew fast with a great food conversation ratio. I believe as a hobbyist it’s always species dependent but I never bother to test for Nitrates simply due to having seen its zero effect on salmonids. If you are managing your other aspects such ammonia, nitrite, pH and water clarity, especially in a planted tank, nitrates should never be much if indeed an issue at all. Just my opinion based on what I’ve experienced.

hello again, when papers are talking about nitrate levels, we must know that scientists calculate ONLY nitrates. our test home kits (API, JBL etc) calculate the whole molecule. so, if a paper talks about 10ppm nitrates, we must multiply x4.4 = 44 ppm nitrates. In the last you asked, for me, nitrates are like the pollution in the atmosphere for humans. For example, if one lives in a big city or near factories his whole life, he will get used to it and won't have any health issues. At least short-term speaking. In the long run, this is another story. Also if you bring a child or an adult in a polluted environment, from the country, that could make him sick. Whoever comes back in the city from holidays in the clean air, can understand what i am saying. This is why fish in the tank when the nitrates were climbing stay alive, but when you add new fish they may die. But this is my opinion based to my experience. And my experience says that even if fishes don't die, they can be lethargic, exactly like we could be if we were breathing in a polluted environment. of course, there are more to this subject. We have papers that guppy fries died at 600 ppm nitrates (that means 2400 to our test kits), but not dying doesn't mean their organism is ok, and we don't know the long-term effects on longevity, growth or long-term health issues. On the other hand, we are missing the most important thing which is the crystar clear water. crystal clear water means bacteria-free water and one of the methods that this can be achieved is your way. Cloudy water means a lot of floating bacteria, placing the immune system of the fishes in "overdrive" and when one infection appears, they can't fight it and they die. we should focus in crystal-clear water and not nitrates. if the nitrates are 40 or 100ppm for me, is irrelevant and not vital. Also, everybody that comes to this hobby, must understand that making a natural aquarium needs a lot of work. Most of them want to have 1 10 10-gallon tank and not even change the water. This is because they are lazy or they don't have time. Water changes are the minimum in this hobby. Plants need trimming, making your own food is essential because it must have 50%+ animal protein, we must have antibiotics just in case and so many other things you know very well. I Dare anyone "no water changes" and "feed twice per week" fan, to try and keep for a month angelfishes, African cichlids, or discuss. The sad truth is that we don't care when inexpensive fish are dying. -hey, 3 tetras died. eh, no problem it is 2-3$ per fish. Anyway, the bottom line for me is: that cleaning filters and substrate all the time is our enemy. But filterless tanks like yours are for hobbyists like you. It is not for new people coming to the hobby that want a square glass through some sand and plants and save the money for filters and oxygen pumps. I believe, i said more than enough, sorry for the long text :)

Thx Alex…More water change controversy!

I think part of the discrepancy is that the numbers in these papers need to be converted to match our tests. There is an older paper, Camargo (2005) that I've been using for a similar purpose. I tend to keep it under 8-10ppm in my aquariums for the safety of the microfauna Btw those danio tinwini are gorgeous

Excellent talk as always. I keep nitrates under 20 ppm and do weekly water changes, more if it creeps higher than 20. I assume if nitrates are bad for me having high blood pressure, it can’t be good for fish despite people saying in the past that fish can handle higher. I look at bodies of water as a daily water change through movement so I feel the need to do something similar with my aquariums.

I'm a little confused now. I had always tried to keep the nitrates under 20 or so, but after seeing several videos, including Father Fish, claim that the plants don't even benefit from the nutrients in the nitrates until it was a very high number, if I remember correctly it was in the three digits. I had concluded from that information that they were saying the fish were not at risk until the nitrate reading was much higher than even the necessary amount to fortify the plants. Can you help clarify this? Thanks.

The gap between NOELs (No Observed Effects Levels) and LOELs (Lowest Observed Effects Levels) are unique to each species and from individual to individual. It seems like we should have a base of knowledge built up for the aquaria hobby by now…in essence we are carrying out lab experiments in every tank.

Would the same guidelines of 40ppm or less apply for shrimp? Or all other aqaurium inhabitants?

Off topic question: high ammonia in my tap water. Cheapest solution?

I have a question. Can aqua soil mixed with organic soil then cap with sand work?

Is there a connection to nitrates and algae?

Can we read the study somewhere? Would be interesting

I don't know what level is toxic. I do however that i never do water Changes and all i can tell you is my fish seem to be fine. I don't think i lose any more fish then anyone else. But i know this by the time your nitrate levels go to 300 ppm you would have so much algae growth sucking the nitrates out its not funny. And I would not trust the EPA to much. I'd take what they say with a pinch of salt.

When it's all said and done (which will probably be never ;) your takeaway aligns with conventional discourse: 20PPM or less is ideal. 30 -40PPM is acceptable and 50PPM is the proverbial line in the sand we should not cross.

Uhhhg rough day today power went out. 2am had to do diy things to keep water temperature up and surface agitation, lasted 10. Hours luckily everything survived but was stressed...... also enjoyed the video i was curious on this

Hello, I loved your videos, I have learned a lot, but among so much information from different videos of others youtubers I feel so confused... I just want to sell everything and give up all this 😢 I wanted to have an aquarium like the ones Father Fish has, but the ammonia is always at 5 mg/L 😢 never 0 I have a 95 liter planted aquarium (with the substrate and sand it is actually like 80 liters) I wanted to do it without a filter but in the end I was afraid of not having oxygen and other things and I preferred to put one, but even so the ammonia does not go down, I have used a lot of nitrifying bacteria From different brands and I have done water changes but nothing.... I don't know what to do anymore, I feel very frustrated because after every water change some neocaridina dies and it's very sad. Now I have about 8 neocaridina, 4 guppies, 6 otocinclus and 7 pygmy cory. I think everyone is fine, they are active and eat well, but anxiety and stress are hurting me. I no longer know if my parameters are good or not, because a while ago I saw a video from a RU-vidr who said that the KH cannot be greater than the gh and that's exactly what happens to me. My pH is 6 GH Less than 30 KH about 80 Nitrates less than 20 Nitrites 0.5 I just want to have an aquarium without such frequent water changes, I have a filter and heater ...I don't expect to have an aquarium without a filter, but water changes terrify me, where I live sometimes I don't know what happens to the water but something changes and many people have said that after a water change their fish die, that's why I want to reduce them as much as possible to be able to at least use bottled water that is reliable 😢 I need advice and I think you are one of the few that I feel can guide me right now.

Question, at what minimum level do plants thrive at?

Would it make sense to say where alot of fish in the hobby originate from, that they are exposed to fluctuating water parameters throughout any given 24 hour period? Especially for fish in little rivers, streams, etc, the fish experience water changes all day long. This would be my approach....as long as parameters are balanced for the mostpart, I would see no issue at all with doing minor water changes to mimic what they would experience in nature. Seems to make sense to me. Perhaps these same scientists are developing an expensive product to "fix" the nitrate issue. Lol

Sometimes I feel guilty because I only test for nitrates in my aquarium, but the fish are happy and so I have little incentive to spend time and money on further testing--anyway, I've always had zero nitrates--is that okay too?

They might start charging people for peeing soon so 😂😂😂😂

I don't see why you would let it go above 1ppm for most low tech aquariums. That just means you don't have enough plants to deal with the bioload. It will lead to more algae and more work. Even if you can't have underwater plants with the fish or water you keep, you can always do emersed ones to keep it low. CO2 scapes are a bit different, you want fast, strong plant growth above all else there.

Ok, here's the issue: As far as where these numbers come from, there’s a difference in how the nitrate is measured, most scientific studies gauge it by NO3-N, which is a measure of the nitrogen in the nitrate. Hobby kits are measuring it as NO3, or the whole nitrate. The listed conversion between the two is 4.4268, hence the NO3-N x 4.4268 = NO3. NO3-N = Nitrate X 0.226 - This is why there's any controversy. Hobby kits measure differently from the scientists.

❤🧡💛💚💙💜

Every day, I learn a new way in which Fritz Haber really fucked us over.

Scandalous! The controversy this will elicit! Great sleuthing as usual Alex! Thank you for sharing your findings and ….. now we know! Keep those nitrates low all! 😉☮❤🐠🦐🪴

Should be retitled: "Buy More Useless Aquarium Industry Products." Remember, behind each of these research studies is "Big Funding."

First!!! Finally 😂

You tube alt yazı Rusca çeviriyor ve ukraynalılar yaklaşık 40 milyon hepsi Rusca biliyor onlara ukraynaca ceviriyor .Fakat TÜRKCE Anlayan 200 milyon insan için Türkçe alt yazı koymyor neden ?

Are you perhaps making the usual mistake of overestimating the toxicity of nitrate by 4.4? The test kits a scientist will use aren't the same as the test kits a hobby fishkeeper is using. 100ppm on a hach kit = 440ppm on a hobby aquarium kit.

At what level dose bathing and brushing your teeth matter?

Thanks for posting this. I bought a 200 litre tank late last year and then found out about cycling and nitrogen levels etc. Even with the dirt capped with nearly three inches of sand, heavily planted and a third of the fish I might put in the tank my nitrate levels creep up to the 80+ mark after a week or two (and there is none in my tap water). I regret supporting a hobby that involves so much suffering done in ignorance to animals.