Need help! I've recently bought a water testing kit and begun testing my 4 year-old aquarium's water. pH turned out alright, ammonia and NITRITE all sit nicely at 0 ppm, but my NITRATE (NO3-) levels are at a lousy 160 ppm!!! I did a major water change immediately, and added the nitrate detoxifier, but the levels remain the same after a whole week!!! I just did ANOTHER water change this morning (~ 10%), but the levels remain the same!!! Any suggestions? THanks
High nitrate (NO3-) levels
- Thread starter meng-chieh
- Start date
Sounds like your nitrate levels are way above 160ppm... is that the max the test will give a reading for?
Anyways, do partial water changes every few days until you get the nitrates under control and please stop using the chemicals... (sorry, I have a 'thing' about putting chemicals in the water to try and control a situation.. much prefer to go after the source).
Anyways, do partial water changes every few days until you get the nitrates under control and please stop using the chemicals... (sorry, I have a 'thing' about putting chemicals in the water to try and control a situation.. much prefer to go after the source).
Hi there, welcome to AC 
The first thing I'd do is test your tap water for NO3. If the levels are very high, that may be part of the problem. If your tap water is low in NO3, the solution to high levels is pretty simple, if not easy to accomplish - large volume (~50%), frequent water changes. It may take daily or twice daily 50% water changes for a week to get the levels down to where you're comfortable, but from then on things get much easier; all you'll need to do is change some of the water when levels get too high (I'd aim for 25% once a week, that should keep things pretty stable - you can use your NO3 kit to fine tune the water change schedule).
HTH
The first thing I'd do is test your tap water for NO3. If the levels are very high, that may be part of the problem. If your tap water is low in NO3, the solution to high levels is pretty simple, if not easy to accomplish - large volume (~50%), frequent water changes. It may take daily or twice daily 50% water changes for a week to get the levels down to where you're comfortable, but from then on things get much easier; all you'll need to do is change some of the water when levels get too high (I'd aim for 25% once a week, that should keep things pretty stable - you can use your NO3 kit to fine tune the water change schedule).
HTH
Thanks for all the replies thus far. I've tested the tap water for NO3 and the result in no - there are NO NO3 in the tap water...and yes, the max reading that the test will give is 160 ppm, so the actual nitrate concentration may be much higher - a very scary thought.
Don't freak out, Meng, you can fix this. I let my tank go over the summer last year and when I finally got a nitrate test it was very very high as well. Frequent large water changes did the trick. It took a while, but now all is well and I do a water change only once a week now to keep it low. Just be patient and do those water changes!
Before you noticed the high nitrates how long had it been since you had done a water change? Since there are only two ways to get rid of nitrates (water changes and/or lots of plants) I am guessing you hadn't done a change in quite some time. If this is true then doing major water changes is going to stress the fish horribly. There have been some studies recently that say that Nitrates are less toxic than previously thought so my recommendation would be to do 15% to 20% water changes every two to three days until the levels get at least under 50 ppm. You didn't mention anything about losing any fish, so I would take this slow and easy.
Also the advice on checking out your test kit to make sure its ok is an excellent idea.
Also the advice on checking out your test kit to make sure its ok is an excellent idea.
Karnaaj, you have a point, I didn't consider that this tank may have OTS. meng-chieh, if the tank hasn't been getting regular water changes (maybe just top-offs), you do need to start slowly and work your way up to larger water changes. Shocking the fish could really harm them.
Do a 50% water change every day for about 5-6 days, that should sort the problem, i currently in the exact same position as you mate i know how you feel, ive lost tetras and platys over it aswell :mad2
It can't be said too often: Don't do major water changes if it has been a long time since the last one!!!!!
