Nitrate Problem

K

Kris82

Registered Member
Jan 15, 2006
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Hello, A rather long winded post about Nitrates in my tank:

I am having great difficulty keeping the Nitrate levels down in my tank. I have been testing 2x a week, and I am still having nitrates in the 40-60ppm range, even directly after a water change.

I do a 25% water change once a week religiously (I use Aqua-Safe as water conditioner), and just added Stress Zyme last week which has so far brought about no change.

Here is a little more info on my tank:

7.8 PH
180 TA
300 TH
0 NI (always at zero)
40-60 NA

-55 gal, been set up for roughly 6 months now.

-Top Fin 60 and a Penguin Bio wheel 320 as filtration

fish:
1 6'' pleco
1 4'' spotted catfish
1 5'' silver tip shark
3 3-4'' bala sharks
2 Buenos Aires tetras
2 Serpae tetras
4 black skirt tetras
2 3'' blue Gouramis
1 4'' gold Gourami
1 2.5'' paradise Gourami
1 2'' dwarf Gourami
1 3'' angel

Any ideas on what could be going on or how to remedy this? Just as a gauge, my water straight out of the tap reads at 20ppm nitrates. I only feed once a day, and there is very little waste in the tank when I clean/siphon weekly.
 
Well with that high a level of nitrates out of the tap it is little wonder that a water change doens't help much. 60ppm of nitrates, a 50% water chaneg with 20ppm nitrate water will leave you with around 40ppm. Even a 100% water change will of course leave you with 20ppm, the best you can hope for. 60ppm will not kill your fish but keeping them lower will be much nicer. Have you thought abotu live plants? Floating plants are great at sucking up nitrates.
 
well, your Bioload is pretty big and that could be the biggest part of your problem. and It is going to get even bigger, with the Pleco, Bala's and Angels, are going to get BIG, and definatly outgrow a 55gal.. and if your tap water has high readings, that just adding to the problem.
 
Are you drawing of of a private well? 20ppm nitrates is considered illegal. Usually the cut-off for municipal supplies is 10ppm.

I once thought that I had high nitrates in my water, then I discovered that I was gettign contamination from my water conditioner.
 
If you're using the test strips, buy a liquid test. The strips are very inaccurate when measuring nitrates, and tend to overestimate nitrate levels in my experience.

I think your stocking density is your main problem. With that kind of bio-load, I would be doing 50% weekly. Anything else is asking for trouble.
 
Thanks for the helpful replies, everyone. :)

Have you thought abotu live plants? Floating plants are great at sucking up nitrates.
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I've considered it, but I'm a little worried since some of my fish are plant eaters. I also do not have the equiptment for live plants, and am hesitant to buy all the needed if they're just going to be eaten.
well, your Bioload is pretty big and that could be the biggest part of your problem. and It is going to get even bigger, with the Pleco, Bala's and Angels, are going to get BIG, and definatly outgrow a 55gal.. and if your tap water has high readings, that just adding to the problem.
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Yeah, once the Pleco and the Balas get too large, I'll just trade them in for something smaller. I have a good LFS who accepts trades with no problems. Do you really feel the bioload is that large? The tank doesnt seem overly crowded to me.


Are you drawing of of a private well? 20ppm nitrates is considered illegal. Usually the cut-off for municipal supplies is 10ppm.

I once thought that I had high nitrates in my water, then I discovered that I was gettign contamination from my water conditioner.
Click to expand...
Nope, I'm on city water (city of Las Vegas). Funny thing is, I've noticed my nitrates spike all of a sudden within the last 6 weeks, so I'm wondering if there was a change in the tap water at some point.

Interesting on the contamination from the water conditioner. Do you feel that Aqua-Safe is a worthwhile product, or should I switch to something like Prime?

If you're using the test strips, buy a liquid test. The strips are very inaccurate when measuring nitrates, and tend to overestimate nitrate levels in my experience.

I think your stocking density is your main problem. With that kind of bio-load, I would be doing 50% weekly. Anything else is asking for trouble.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've been using the Jungle 5 in 1 strips, thanks for the info on the liquid tests.

I'll start by doing a 50% change 1x a week vs the 25% to see if that improves the situation.
 
You might consider purchasing Purigen.

Its made to help remove and control nitrates. just google the name.

My nitrates have been cut in half since using it, never climbs above 20 ppm in a weeks time, and I'm way overstocked at the moment.

:rant2: wheres that **** IRS direct deposit!

See if you can get a water report from your city water works, also ask why nitrates are so high. I'm guessing its bad test strips though.
 
A floating plant choice that might work for you is duckweed. It grows really fast under even low light when the food source is high. It is a but uncontrollable sometimes but even heavy plant eating fish won't be able to eat it all. The main drawback comes when you want it gone completely as that can take some time.
 
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