What should i do when the nitrate levels in my fish tanks turn orange when i test it?

Question

i'm not quite sure what to do as i've checked and fished out all the left over food in the tank and theres not much fish waste of the bottom. any advice?

thanx everyone =] ill try cleaning the water if it doesnt work ill get something that gets nitrates out =}

err the orange is just like average orange

strangely enough it didnt come with anything else than the 2 test bottles.. we had to speak to the fish shop person so that he could tell us what the colours had to be. he said yellow was safe. so im a bit worried about the orange. i've only had one angel fish in the tank for a week.

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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.

Answer 5

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!!

Answer 6

wow normaly the nitrates should be only white or a off white. thats like off the scale, do a 50% water change

Answer 7

do 20 -25% water changes every couple of days and it will knock it down pretty fast. no big worries.