well its not really a problem but it may get out of hand. my nitrates are constantly staying on the high end of the safe parameters between 30 and 40 ppm. its a 56 gallon tank with 2 small GT's a small grass cutter catfish and a 4 inch albino oscar. i know its a bit much but i am bringing home my 125 in a week to cycle so i dont for see a problem. heres what i am maybe thinking.
i do vac my tank once weekly and perform about a 30 gallon water change along with that.re test and still high nitrates. so i testeed the tap water 0ppm. i tested the tap water with conditioner(just to be safe) 0ppm. i dont wanna add chemicals. the oscar tears up any live plants. the tank is an established tank its been up and running for about 9 months. i have an AC 50, an AC70, and a penguin 350 w/ biowheels. i am pretty sure its probably not a filtration problem since nitrates are the last stage in the cycle correct? well i was reading a post in the newbie forum and the question was about how much substrate needed for a new set up well i have about 3 to 4 inches of gravel in the bottom of my tank. is it possible that the gravel vac just isnt cleaning the the gravel well enough? shall i maybe try to remove some of the gravel? and if so can i leave the fish in the tank while i do so or should i remove them into buckets? any suggestions here would be greatly appreciated. thank you guys in advance.
i do vac my tank once weekly and perform about a 30 gallon water change along with that.re test and still high nitrates. so i testeed the tap water 0ppm. i tested the tap water with conditioner(just to be safe) 0ppm. i dont wanna add chemicals. the oscar tears up any live plants. the tank is an established tank its been up and running for about 9 months. i have an AC 50, an AC70, and a penguin 350 w/ biowheels. i am pretty sure its probably not a filtration problem since nitrates are the last stage in the cycle correct? well i was reading a post in the newbie forum and the question was about how much substrate needed for a new set up well i have about 3 to 4 inches of gravel in the bottom of my tank. is it possible that the gravel vac just isnt cleaning the the gravel well enough? shall i maybe try to remove some of the gravel? and if so can i leave the fish in the tank while i do so or should i remove them into buckets? any suggestions here would be greatly appreciated. thank you guys in advance.