High nitrate level in planted tank...

[FishyInDallas]

Tank has been planted for about 2 months, and have about a 50/50 success rate in plant survival. The Java ferns seem to be doing very well while the swords just died off.

I have an NO2 injector that seems to be doing its job although not all plants are reacting very well.

I think that I have a low-light problem in general as far as the plants go, but I don't have the cash right now to massively upgrade my lighting system.

I have recently seen a large increase in "brown" algae growth all over the tank.

I am thinking that the plant "remains" and other things have eventually led to a high nitrate level.

Any advice on how to get this down?

Nitrate: 80 ppm
Nitrite: 0
Hardness: 150
Alkalinity: 120
PH: 7.4

 

[FishyInDallas]

Update:
Just completed a 50 percent water change with the python. It's become a pain now that I have to go "around" the plants when vacuuming...

Stats after water change and vacuum:
Nitrate 50 ppm (Still high)
Nitrite 0
Hardness 150
Alkalinity: Jumped high to around 280 (ugh)
PH 7.6

My water quality has usually been pretty good before going to live plants, and I haven't added any more fish...

I had the standard lighting system that came with the tank.
Two ballasts using 18in bulbs. Currently using 2 15 watt Aqua-Glo bulbs, which light the tank and fish just fine for normal use.

As far as the light timing, the light is kept on from 8 AM to 10-11 PM every day, so there is about 14-15 hours every day.

Just about 30 minutes ago I came back from Lowes with 2 clamp on directional workshop lampd with 60 watt bulbs. I have them mounted a bit above the tank to keep them away from any spray from the filters.

Hopefully this will solve my light problem and maybe (cross fingers) help with the nitrates...

Any other ideas out there?
(Especially to lower the nitrates more over the short term...)

 

[aquabillpers]

Hi,

If I read you right, you started with 30 watts for a 55 gallon tank. That is fine for viewing the fish but it is far from enough to maintain your plants. The high nitrate reading probably came from rotting plants.

Now you have 120 watts of light. You should be fine with that unless the shop light reflector is really bad. But note: The amount of light available to the plants depends very much on the distance that the light source is from them (a "law of squares" thing, I think). You might consider getting a plain glass cover and resting the shop light on it.

I'd suggest that you remove the dying plants and replace them with healthy ones. And, a high nitrate level in fresh water tanks is not the worst thing in the world, within reasonable limits, of course.

Good luck!

Bill

 

[djlen]

Have you checked the nitrate level of your tap water? If not, let a container of it sit, open, for a few hours and test. If you have a phosphate test kit, that would be a good thing to test as well.

What kind of bulbs are the 60watt bulbs in the shop lights? Incandescent or Fluorescent?

Len

 

[happychem]

Looks like the lights may be on a bit long too, try cutting back to 8-10hrs per day. You can stagger your timer so that it's on when you get up, turns off some time after you leave for work and on again for a while at night. That is, if that's why you have the lights on so long. I just set mine for a straight 10hours.