32 replies to this topic

[KyleOvens]

Hey Everyone I'm new to this forum, have been keeping fish for around 1 year now, I recently noticed in my 6x2x2 my nitrates are around 80ppm, haven't added new fish or done anything different just the normal 25% WC a week.
So I've been doing 50% WC every day for 4 days now and nothing has change still 80! And my tap water test at around 5ppm if that? Some helpful opinions would be nice

Fish : large Oscar, large pleco, large catfish, pearl cichlid, frontosa, 2 medium scats.
Nitrite 0
Amonia 0
Nitrate 80
Ph 7.8 stable

Edited by KyleOvens, 24 March 2016 - 03:31 PM.

[Jules]

Hey bud.

Are yours sifting through the substrate with a gravel vac, or siphoning up detritus build up etc?

What filtration is the system using and do you regularly maintain/clean some of this media?

 

My nitrates are always around this figure on my larger aquarium, and I do 2 30-50% water changes a week (but I have large fish that eat copious amounts of food), cleaning my filters generally drops the nitrate.

 

What is your feeding regime? can be several factors contributing to the issue here.

[KyleOvens]

Thanks for the reply Jules
I have half gravel and half glass bottom substrate thinking of going all glass bottom, and yes when I WC I gravel vac what gravel I do have, I feed large hikari food sticks and the occasional frozen beef heart I rinse both foods under the tap before I feed.
Filtration
800L/hr canister
1500L/hr canister
960L/hr internal
2 bio sponge filters ️what go to a air pump

Do you think my tank is over stocked ? I honestly don't think it is

[KyleOvens]

Oh I feed as much as they can eat in 2 minutes every second day

[Jules]

I personally don't think its over stocked, if it is, arrest me for overstocking too then.

OK, mnimal substrate, pretty good food regime, how often, how and what do you do to clean your filters?

[KyleOvens]

I clean my internal when it stops flowing as good as usual I clean the canisters probably monthly not at the same time of coarse, and not on a day I'm cleaning gravel they never look extremely dirty, I squeeze the sponges out in a bucket of tank water but not so they are 100% clean I like to leave them slightly dirty

[Buccal]

Mate,, all your fish are serious poo machines,,,, it's natural that the more ammonia your beneficial bacteria has to convert,, the more nitrates also as a end result, and in your case "in constant nitrate generation".
Don't go mad water changing, 80 ppm is nothing,,, only the beginning of concerns if they were Tang cichlids,, bar the tuff frontys.
Just do 40% wc weekly.

Choose a cleaner pellet if you believe yours is messy, more waiste reduction tricks is slightly reduce feeding, feed your normal pellets but reduce by 40% and replace with Koi carp pellets.
Reduce pellets in total percentage and incorporate 20-30% sera-flora,,,, this should aid greatly in waiste and nitrate generation.......

[KyleOvens]

do you think the nitrate level will slowly break down the fishes immune system and make them prone to diseases ? thats all i worry about is my fishes health! and also what is sera-flora never heard of it??

[Maaxim]

Kyle,

what type of filter media are your canisters running with? How old is the filter media? Can you specify the brand/models of your filters? Is the tank planted?

[KyleOvens]

1500L/hr is a aqua nova has 4 trays with active charcoal, black not dense sponge for better flow, k1 media and bio balls

800L/hr is a via Aqua has 2 trays with dense sponges and one tray of white bio noodles

960l/hr Aqua one internal has 2 medium density sponges

And then I have the 2 internal bio sponge filters that connect to the air pump.

And no is not a planted tank, is half River gravel and the rest is just bare glass bottom, the only things in there are large rock (not limestone) large hollow drift wood and a large pvc tunnel pipe
I would post a photo but it tells me the file is to big to post?

[Maaxim]

do you think the nitrate level will slowly break down the fishes immune system and make them prone to diseases ? thats all i worry about is my fishes health! and also what is sera-flora never heard of it??

By Nitrate levels from 100 ppm fish will feel the impact and the stress caused by the high level of nitrates will make them more susceptible to a disease.

High Nitrates will also affect the oxygen levels and the low oxygen content in the water will stress the fish even more.

Edited by Maaxim, 24 March 2016 - 11:19 PM.

[chocky]

if it was me id just go ahead and do 80% water change (so long as your pH out of the tap and temp match).

other than adding lots of plants or make an algae scrubber, the only real effective way to remove the nitrates is to remove it.

[KyleOvens]

I'm doing the 80% water change now will let you know if the levels drop at all

[Maaxim]

If you always have this problem you should get yourself a RO water filter and use it for your water changes. It would definitely help in controlling the nitrate levels in your tank.

Another way to get those nitrates in check is to up your planting levels. Plants feed on nitrogen sources and can be invaluable in keeping the levels low but only as long as the plants have enough other food and are healthy. 

Edited by Maaxim, 25 March 2016 - 12:08 PM.

[sydad]

If you always have this problem you should get yourself a RO water filter and use it for your water changes. It would definitely help in controlling the nitrate levels in your tank.

 

 

I do not mean to hijack this thread, or to demean well intended advice, but I would really like to know the reasoning behind this recommendation. Are you suggesting that the prime source of nitrate in aquaria is from tap-water?

 

Syd.

[chocky]

I'm doing the 80% water change now will let you know if the levels drop at all

how'd you go ?

[Maaxim]

 

I do not mean to hijack this thread, or to demean well intended advice, but I would really like to know the reasoning behind this recommendation. Are you suggesting that the prime source of nitrate in aquaria is from tap-water?

 

Syd.

The prime source of high levels of nitrate in aquaria is overstocking, the rotting leftover food, rotting plants or dirty filters.

 

Depending on what part of Perth you live in, your source water may contain varying levels of chloramines, nitrate, phosphate, silicates, and other algal nutrients.Tap water often contains impurities that can cause problems when added to an aquarium. These include phosphate, nitrate, chlorine, and various heavy metals. High levels of phosphate and nitrate fuel aggressive algae growth, and copper, often present in tap water due to leaching from pipes, is highly toxic to invertebrates. RO filters remove practically all of these impurities helping to fight the nitrate levels.

 

It sounds very strange to me that after 4 days of water changes the nitrate levels are still so high...... the quality of tap water may be the reason.... 

Edited by Maaxim, 25 March 2016 - 04:59 PM.

[sydad]

 

The prime source of high levels of nitrate in aquaria is overstocking, the rotting leftover food, rotting plants or dirty filters.

 

Depending on what part of Perth you live in, your source water may contain varying levels of chloramines, nitrate, phosphate, silicates, and other algal nutrients.Tap water often contains impurities that can cause problems when added to an aquarium. These include phosphate, nitrate, chlorine, and various heavy metals. High levels of phosphate and nitrate fuel aggressive algae growth, and copper, often present in tap water due to leaching from pipes, is highly toxic to invertebrates. RO filters remove practically all of these impurities helping to fight the nitrate levels.

 

It sounds very strange to me that after 4 days of water changes the nitrate levels are still so high...... the quality of tap water may be the reason.... 

 

 

Hmm, you sure have an interesting take on the water from our taps. I'm not saying that all the impurities you list are never encountered, but rather that significant levels of most are seldom if ever seen. I have spent many hours over many (50+) years analysing water samples, and have seen few problems, with the exception of chlorine and aluminium (you missed that one ). Nitrate is more often a problem if ground water is being used: this caused me some, though minor, problems when I lived on a rural property in Baldivis, and all our water came from either a bore or rain. The bore water was hard enough to make it impossible to use normal soap, but the nitrates, probably from a combination of over-fertilising and seepage from deep septic systems, was a bit of a nuisance. However by judicious mixing of bore and rain water, I managed to create a mix that enabled me to breed several hundred species of fishes, including discus.

 

It is no mystery to me why the OP has high nitrates. As I said, I did a lot of work on water, and one thing I discovered was that there was no such thing as a reliable nitrate test. Even the best rapidly became totally inaccurate within days of opening the kit so I made my own test kits. Even these were unreliable unless run against known nitrate levels. I wonder how many aquarists use standards or controls to ensure test kit readings are meaningful?  If it comes to that, I wonder why most aquarists bother to do nitrate tests at all.I used to do them as an exercise, but I always regarded the results as a virtually meaningless unless they were extreme (in excess of 150 mg/L). Nitrate itself is seldom problematical, particularly in hard or buffered waters. In soft and unbuffered waters, nitrate occurs as nitric acid, and the concommitant pH drop associated with levels above 60 mg/L is far more easily detected by a pH test kit.

 

Syd.

[KyleOvens]

My tap water tests at 5ppm nitrate and amonia 0 and nitrite 0 and a 8.0ph
Tap water isn't the issue that's why I can't figure out why it's happening all of a sudden.
Also use prime to detoxify all the Nasty tap water stuff
I think I'm going to let the water settle for a few days now before the next water change, I will test it and then take water to aquotixs for a secondary test to make sure mine is accurate.

how'd you go ?

Will give the water a test again in a couple days because I heard that water conditioner can give false readings if tested less then 24 hours after being added

Edited by KyleOvens, 25 March 2016 - 05:45 PM.

[Buccal]

Read that last post that Syd gave you,,, read it over and over.
If your truly doing the correct regimes your saying, then the problem your saying you have just doesn't exist,,, I don't see any problem.
I've had many people seek advice from me, and just about every time that someone has tested their nitrates to be high, I've tested their water at half the nitrate readings,,,,, this is because of people's perception of color shades, crappy kits and a very common mistake by most is leaving the vial with water and indicator to sit to long which increases the final readings.
If your fish are showing no signs of stress, stop worrying.
Besides, you've got tank full of super hardy fish.
As Syd mentioned, harder water will reduce your limitations,,, get your KH and GH around 8 minimum.
If your not over feeding, not over stocked, no waiste build up in substrate, keep filter maintenance on time and water change weekly then every thing should remain in reasonable check.

Get a brand new api liquid test kit and test your water again and after you've added indicator wait for exactly one minute then read the color,,,,, and that's your true reading as best your going to get from a fresh test kit.
Wait a few more minutes and your readings will show your nitrates much higher which will not be accurate as it's the mistake your probably making right now.

Edited by Buccal, 25 March 2016 - 09:26 PM.