21
of 2.0 mg/l and higher, you should directly refresh 50% or more of the
water until the nitrite level is 0.5 mg/l or lower.
Nitrate (NO
3
)
Test procedure:
1. Take a water sample of 10 ml.
2. Add 5 drops of NO
3
-1 test fl uid and shake.
3. Add 5 drops of NO
3
-2 test fl uid and shake again.
4. Add 1 spoon of nitrate powder (tube with green cap).
5. Shake for 20 seconds.
6. Wait 15 minutes and determine the NO
3
-value using
the included colour chart.
Nitrate (chemically abbreviated as NO
3
) is the end product of the de-
gradation of ammonia by nitrifying bacteria in your aquarium or pond.
Nitrate is not toxic for fi sh and thus is no direct problem for the health of
fi sh like ammonia or nitrite are; high concentrations however can on the
long run reduce growth and reproduction of fi sh. Indirectly, nitrate can
lead to algae problems as nitrate is one of the key nutrients for algae
and plants. Plants and algae compete with one another for nutrients
and unfortunately plants can’t always win this competition. In such a
case algae can grow and even explode in numbers. In a pond this re-
sults in either turbid, green water or in mass amounts of thread algae. In
20ml
15ml
10ml
5ml
6
15 min
5
20ml
15ml
10ml
5ml
4
20ml
15ml
10ml
5ml
1x
3
2
10 ml.
20 secs.
20ml
15ml
10ml
5ml
1
5 dr
ops
20ml
15ml
10ml
5ml
NO
3
-1
5 dr
ops
20ml
15ml
10ml
5ml
NO
3
-2
