Newly Planted tank Nitrates Still to high

[davidsnew]

As some of you may remember this is my first effort at a planted tank. I soon discovered everyone one has an opinion as to what is ideal, so I read everything I could find and bought some plants that I could find here locally.

I have a 55 gal tank with mixture of flourite and gravel, an hob filter and two 40w 6700K tubes with a reflector. It is stocked with 6 small cardnal tetras, 6 spotted cories, 1 male Betta, 4 sailfin mollies and a recent addition 2 SAEs about 1.5 in long. I know they get pretty large but they are most likely a temporary resident. I do weekly water changes of about 40%. So far I do not have a lot plant build up on the substrate and when I do the water change I vacum and stir everything up to try to get rid of as much as possible. I use our tap water which is well water from a 350 ft deep high mountain well. I don't get any readable nitrates when I test the tap water but when we have it tested every year, it is high in iron and what they call disolved solids. When I started my planted tank efforts about 1 month ago my water was as follows; no detectable ammonia or nitrite, nitrate 40 -50 ppm, ph 7.6, kh4 and gh 11

I have planted 1 Giant Hygrophila (hasn't died, but hasn''t really took off)
8 Green Cabomba (have since about double the number)
6 Water Wisterian ( now have about doubled them)
1 Assorted Sword (shouldn't be living but it is. Jury still out)
2 Large pieces of driftwood (hasn't lowered the ph any)
All of my water peramiters are essentially the same as before except the nitrates are now about 20-30 ppm. I also have some alge starting to grow, not anything major but it is starting to show up and the glass and some of the plant leaves. So far I have not used any type of ferts for fear of my nitrates going up but it seems like I am missing something here. Does anyone have some ideas on how to lower my nitrates and still control the alge :read:

[plah831]

how much lighting do you have? If you don't have enough light, plants won't photosynthesize very much, hence they will not be able to use up all that nitrate. The best way to reduce nitrates, then, is to do more water changes. It won't hurt to do another 40-50% water change in a week, if you really want to reduce nitrates. I personally maintain 5-10 ppm nitrates in my tanks, which takes 50% WC's twice a week in my most highly stocked (and most planted) tank. After the initial hard work, you'll probably work out a schedule that will allow you to keep nitrates at a desirable level :)

Good luck!

[jemanser]

I've been there but things will improve. Your lighting is low(<2watts/G) and if you really want to reduce your nitrates, also boost your plant growth with co2. Although you're at the limit with a 55 gallon tank, a simple DIY water/yeast/sugar system will help with this problem.. This site (AC) is full of C02 & lighting options/recommendatios from very knowledgable sources. goodluck-jeff

[Phrag]

Depends what type of plants you have too. Some plants are naturally good waste suckers (Java Moss, Water Wisteria, Java Fern to a lesser extent) while others aren't going to back an impact on your nitrates.

[phanmc]

You have the right idea by doubling the plant mass, the giant hygro and wisteria are good nutrient sponges and cabomba isn't bad either. I'd increase even more by adding more giant hygro.

CO2 will help boost plant growth, even in a low light setup like yours. Boosting plant growth may mean you'll need to add some ferts. If you're afraid of increasing nitrates, only buy the ferts that do not contain any. Look micro nutrients like Flourish or Tropica MasterGrow, and macros like Flourish Potassium and Flourish Phosphorus. Read the sticky about ferts and learn what your plants need in order to grow.

The best way to deal with algae is to have alot of healthy plants.

[plah831]

oops, sorry. I missed his lighting specs in all that info :o

[davidsnew]

The best way to deal with algae is to have alot of healthy plants.

That was my original thoughts, lots of healthly plants, algae under control.The trouble is these aquatic plants are kind of like tropical fish and babies. They don't come with any :rant2: instructions. Well my babies and most of my tropical fish have survived, maybe there is hope for the plants. I just discovered that I had planted my anubis nana way to deeply. I buried the rhizome several inches deep. Go figure, the leaves started turning yellow and even started to look black around the edges. I don't know if they will recover but I have replanted them correctly, cut the worst of the leaves off and said a few words over the rest.

My goal is to have a tank that only requires an hour or so several time a week to maintain. I would like it to look great, very minimal amount of algae and be the eny of every fish keeper around. I would like to accomplish this without mega dollar lights or having to add co2. Don't know if my wishes are compatable with what I am willing to do but I'm going to try. I guess the next step is to try the ferts and and see what if any difference that makes. Thanks for the input, it is all welcomed and very probably, needed.

[Goatman]

If you're willing to commit an hour a week to your 55, than you can go full steam ahead into hi-tek country. Look into EI (estimative index) dosing and get your ferts through Greg Watson, shipping included will cost about $20. Strap another couple 40w tubes (or go ODNO, check here: http://www.gwapa.org/articles/ODNO/), you can put PLENTY of light over your tank for about $35 more. Then, get ready to drop a nut on a CO2 system, trust me, it's worth it. Red Sea's paintball system is great, refills every 3 months that cost $5, and can easily be dialed in to a very specific level... It costs $100 through thatpetplace.com, plus $25 at Wal-Mart for a tank, $5 to get it filled). So for $200 you can make your tank workable for literally anything (sans perhaps tonina sp.) that you want to put in. EI takes about 30 seconds of time per day, plus a 15 minute water change, perhaps 20 minutes of trimming and rearranging... Less than an hour invested, minimal algae, and luscious, green (or red) plants.