nitrate

[erin14]

My nitrate is super high in my 50g....and when i say super high i mean super high:22_yikes:. I always thought it was okay and hadn't tested for a while and then today i just decided to check things out. my nitrate was 0 so that was ok. This would explan why i've lost 2 cories probably. :( i was just wondering...if i do like a...30% water change, will that bring it down or will it just be back up again in 2 hours??? help! :uhoh:

[Rbishop]

Your nitrate is super high, but reads "0".....

Liquid test kit or strips?

A 50% water change should cut it in half...

[erin14]

Hahaha ooooops....my nitrite is 0. And its a liquid. 50% is gonna be hard...especially since i have to carry the pales back and forth...ugh.

[Rbishop]

What is the nitrate reading...?

[erin14]

like as high as it will go...

[jm1212]

if your nitrate reading is over 80, then you should do 10% water changes every day until it gets to 40, and then go for 25% water changes until its down to 10. very high nitrates can cause deaths of a fish. although nitrate is not necessarily harmful as ammoina or nitrite, in high enough concentrations it can be harmful to the fish, which is why it is desirable to keep it under 20.

EDIT: 160 is pretty high...you may want to start with 25% water changes daily instead of 10%. Corydoras dying because of 160 ppm of Nitrates is very possible.

[erin14]

well i'm gonna do like a 20-30% one tonight...and i'll do one tomorrow too probably about the same amount, then thursday too (while testing too see what its at). How do i keep it down?? I do about 40% w/c's every sunday and i gravel vac while doing it?? I've never had this happen before and its been running for about 4 months. My 20g. has never had a problem and i don't know why now the 50 is. theres live plants in there too so they should absorb some of it shouldnt they?

[Rbishop]

You have a pretty hefty bio-load in the 50. Are you overfeeding? Healthy or dieing plants? Missing any fish? Major treatment with meds recently that may have affected your bacteria colony? Leaving veggies in too long? Swapped out too much media recently?

[iamgroovy]

Have you had any fish go missing lately or do you have alot of dead/dying plants or foliage?

[iamgroovy]

rbishop, Looks like we replied at the same time!

[Rbishop]

:clap:

[erin14]

i do have one amazon sword thats decaying pretty bad...was gonna take it out as soon as i got a different one...could that do it? and yes i have had a cory missing for about 3 weeks but i cant find it anywhere! i've looked in all the ornaments and took everything out (except the plants) and still couldn't find her! i have no clue where she went. I'm not overfeeding thats for sure. i spread out one pinch of food across the top for the platies, barbs, tetras etc and 3 algae wafers for the cories and BN pleco but the rams and platies try to eat them too thats why i drop 3 in. is that too many? i have to put a few extra in because they won't get anything if i don't. no flakes or anything is falling beneath the water, and there isn't hardly any algae in the tank for the cories to eat.

[wataugachicken]

cories don't eat algae.

[iamgroovy]

Your missing cory very well may be the culprit. It probably was eaten by it's tank mates by now but it would have caused a nitrate spike for sure.
And as wataugachicken said, cories don't eat algae. Try giving them shrimp pellets ot Hikari sinking wafers.

[southpaw]

cories don't eat algae.


My cories love algae wafers...

[erin14]

Alright well, i took all the decorations out...again...and no cory soooo she must have got eaten. Anyway, when i said there was no algae i didn't mean for the cories to eat, I just meant more for the needs of the BN. I know, it was worded wrong. It should have been "theres no flakes falling beneath the surface for the cories to eat and theres no algae in the tank". And just to set it straight before everyone starts saying "don't use the BN for eating algae cuz he won't"...I know. He gets lots of veggies but I do remove any uneaten stuff so theres none of that in there. The cories don't like the sinking shrimp pellets....they swim right over it, stop, "sniff" it but keep going, only to find the wafers...the other fish don't seem to eat them either. They just fall to the bottom, expand and never get eaten. They're Wardley...not a good brand?? Anyway, on the up side of things...I did about a 30-35% water change just a little bit ago and removed the decaying amazon sword (though now it looks really empty in that spot...) and did a gravel vac too. The other plants seem to be doing ok so I left them. I put some new fresh water in and then tested it about 15 minutes later for nitrates. So, I waited the 5 minutes for the results to show and the good news is that, instead of the water going a dark, rich, pink it just went to a lighter pale pink. It looks to be between 10-15 which is considerably better then it was before. Hopefully tomorrow when I do another water change it will be even lower! It was about as high as it could go i think! Just one question though, is the drastic drop in Nitrates harmful to my fishies?? I really love my cories and just lost one today, and lost a tiger barb yesterday probably because of the high level. I don't want to lose anymore and I know they're pretty sensitive to high nitrates. Thanks for all the help though. If you could just answer that one last question... i'd be a happy camper!

[echoofformless]

So many questions.

I can't address anything directly but from memory I'll just spout some opinions. Hope you get some worthy information.



Wardley - eh. Good algae wafers if you want pure vegetarian food. (The only available.) Great for feeding African cichlids. For corys you want more protein. Try a different shrimp pellet - I personally swear by Omega One for everything. Best ingredients list by far.

Better to drastically underfeed than to slightly overfeed. Generally you shouldn't feed so much that you have the slightest worry about having to remove uneaten morsels. On top of that you can get away without feeding for several days at a time - even weeks.

Nitrates are brought to the tank by way of the bacteria that consumes nitrite. The byproduct is nitrate. That is why we need to do water changes, as nitrate will generally linger in the tank if not consumed by anaerobic bacteria (which you don't want much of in your tank since it fouls the water) or plants. But plants prefer to get their nitrogen from ammonia and nitrite rather than nitrate. So although plants will happily uptake nitrate, they won't do so fast enough or in enough abundance unless the tank is very heavily planted.

Your gravel or sand bed, if not properly cleaned regularly will become a nitrate factory. As will old filter media that has not been cleaned or replaced.

Your tap water could be high in nitrates. Test it and make sure.



It is safe to do as much as an 80-90% water change if done very slowly and properly. That is to say, when introducing the new water be very careful to make sure it is properly treated/dechlorinated before being added. And add it VERY slowly. That means only by a trickle - best way would be to position a bucket higher than your tank and let airline tube siphon be the means by which it is introduced. Yes it will take you a long time but if you secure the tube properly you can go about your day; watch TV, eat, call your friends over for drinks...even take a nap. All you have to do is refill the bucket with fresh water whenever it empties. Repeat until the tank is full. You will have just reduced your nitrate by 80-90% and did it without the least bit of stress to the fish since they were as good as drip acclimated to the new water. Sounds tedious but you completed the entire task in just one day instead of leaving your fish exposed to high nitrate for several weeks. According to Stan and Debbie Hauter on about.com this method has been used on salt water fish many times with great success - and if it is safe to use on salt water fish, which are far less adaptable to chemical changes in their water than freshwater fish, then it is certainly safe for you to try.


In a properly running system a dead fish should never spell any worrisome increase in nitrogen wastes.

Finally, it seems your tank is a bit overstocked from the list I see on your signature. Like feeding it's best to understock drastically than to overstock slightly. If you plan to keep the tank that heavily stocked, go with lots of plants and lots of mechanical filtration which you religiously maintain and keep very clean. And remember - underfeeding is the best way to go.


Hope I was of some help.

[nickmcmechan]

erin,

what is your maintenance routine for the tank?

how often do you gravel vac?

[erin14]

So many questions.

Wardley - eh. Good algae wafers if you want pure vegetarian food. (The only available.) Great for feeding African cichlids. For corys you want more protein. Try a different shrimp pellet - I personally swear by Omega One for everything. Best ingredients list by far.

Finally, it seems your tank is a bit overstocked from the list I see on your signature. Like feeding it's best to understock drastically than to overstock slightly. If you plan to keep the tank that heavily stocked, go with lots of plants and lots of mechanical filtration which you religiously maintain and keep very clean. And remember - underfeeding is the best way to go.


Hope I was of some help.

Yeah, that was awesome help! Thanks. I use the wardley wafers because they're the only ones i can get around here other then Hikari ones. I have omega one super color flakes but can't find any pellets by omega one... and yes it is a little over stocked but now that i got the nitrates down (tested again today, down to 5!!) i think it will be okay. I really do believe they were so high because of the decaying sword. it was pretty bad but i didn't know that decaying plants made the levels go up. Oops. All the fish are healthy though so even though it is a bit overstocked, they all seem to be okay, which is my main concern. I do have quite a bit of filtration, well atleast i think i do. The tank is a 50g. and i have a penguin bio-wheel 350 on which is rated for up to 75g. so i think its ok. The water is never cloudy or dirty looking or anything like that, so it seems to be doing its job. I also change out the filter pads like once or twice a month, whenever i notice they need to be changed

To nick, every thursday and sunday i do a gravel vac. and a 40%(approximately) water change. I usually change the filter pads once or twice a month, as noted above.

[nickmcmechan]

imo, i wouldn't change out filter pads so often, i would cut that down to half the pads once a month at most

[echoofformless]

Rinse out the pads in a bucket of freshly drawn tank water during changes and put them back. I have had pads last a few months before they needed to be replaced.

Personally I would add another filter. I like having two filters like i always say; for a failsafe on case one kicks out and also to maximize cleaning capacity. Plus you can rotate the cleanings so you never lose too much of your good bacteria with media replacements. Well worth the extra twenty or thirty dollar investment. In my opinion it's always better to have two filters rated at x GPH than one filter rated at 2x GPH.

[erin14]

imo, i wouldn't change out filter pads so often, i would cut that down to half the pads once a month at most

I know, i agree with that except for that the pads get dirty and then it starts to backflow and i don't want that. When it first started doing that i thought the filter was dirty or something so i cleaned it without changing the pads and that made no difference in the backflow. Then i changed the pads and it stopped back flowing. They have carbon in them too and after a while the carbon kind of "fades" right? Also I have tried just rinsing them off like stated in the previous post but it didn't really work.

[dreadboy113]

Each time you change your filter pads you are losing good bacteria. I have 2 filters running and i lightly rinse one (not both) in old tank water. Also i check my water regularly to be on the safe side. Any organic matter when decaying will contribute to the nitrogen cycle.

[erin14]

I don't take them out right away though, my filter can hold 4 pads at a time but i usually only have 2 in there at a time so a 4 or 5 days before i plan on taking out the old pads i put 2 new ones in the empty slot. then after like 5 days i take the old ones out.