Consistently high nitrate

[AbbeysDad]

My first thought was high nitrates in the source water, then a bad test kit, but both have been ruled out. Clearly there's some unseen evil in the tank making it a nitrate factory. When all else fails, it's time for a tear down.

 

[Kannan Fodder]

When all else fails, it's time for a tear down.

Kinda drastic. I set the tank up in October, so it's only been running about 6 months.

 

[tanker]

What kind of substrate do you have? Plain washed gravel? Any additives?

 

[Kannan Fodder]

Substrate is black Petco brand aquarium sand. I did vac some debris last night and hit the areas with no plants. Also pulled the filter and cleaned it as best I could, and got a bunch of crud out of the pump housing. Changed filter media, took out about 8 gallons, and the nitrate dropped to around 20.

 

[fishorama]

Yay! that's what we like to see! You've found the issue!! Keep it up!

 

[Kannan Fodder]

Nitrate climbed back up, but I tested after feeding. Going to do a water change tomorrow (today) after work. Interestingly, the ammonia stayed under .25 after messing with the filter. Zero nitrite, as usual. Fish still highly active and eating heartily, and Archer and Lana are chasing each other all over the tank. I don't know anything about breeding BNs, so I'm wondering if changing out so much water is triggering something.

 

[tanker]

Nitrate climbed back up, but I tested after feeding.

Back to what?

 

[Kannan Fodder]

It had dropped to 20, then was between 20 and 40 when I tested last night. But I had fed frozen bloodworms and a few shrimp pellets within an hour of testing.

 

[fishorama]

Well, I think you may be overfeeding if it jumps up that much. It seems a lot.

 

[tanker]

How much of a cube of Blood worms are you feeding? With your fish load, should be about half. Who are you feeding the shrimp pellets to?