High Nitrates!....bummer

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ozpkchris

Candiru
MFK Member
Aug 15, 2008
584
2
46
Cape Coral,FL
so it tested my nitrates for the first time today( the tank has been up and running 6mnths) the link 2 the setup is in my signature

its 180 gal

30 gal w/d appx 5 gallons of bioballs/some scrubbies-700 gph return

2 ac 110 - say 600 gph between the two

and a cheapo 500 gph canister

so about 10 x turnover

i do weekly 40 % water changes

my stock

1 12'' oscar

3 3-5" jd

2 green tex 2 6-7.5'' 1 3 in

2 3'' firemouths

2 1.5'' clown loaches

1 8'' com pleco (that i saved but i still hate

my nitrates are 80 PPM WTF

man am i over stocked or under filtered?

i guess im gonna beef up the water changes (btw this was right after a 50% wc)

maybe by a new test kit, but i never tested cause i figured i was fine.. man should i add more filtration

oh i feed bid
bout 1/2 a tea spoon in the am
and a table spoon at night
of cichlid gold

its just frustration
i just added some more sand yesterday 20lb of black moon sand maybe thats it

any way ill be retesting over the next couple days

:swear:
 
Not underfiltered, just need to increase the volume and frequency of your water changes.
 
well... test yer tap water... and then do more water changes..


plants will also help
 
FlamingFury5;2723217; said:
add plants. they help take out nitrate. yea and more frequent water changes
Click to expand...

yeah and your oscar will just love them too:ROFL:
 
ozpkchris;2723140; said:
so it tested my nitrates for the first time today( the tank has been up and running 6mnths) the link 2 the setup is in my signature

maybe by a new test kit, but i never tested cause i figured i was fine.. man should i add more filtration


:swear:
Click to expand...

If your ammonia and nitrite readings are 0, then your tank is cycled and you do not need more biological filtration. Your nitrates are high because you are not changing out enough water. It is a condition called nitrate creep.

Say that in a week's time nitrates build up to 30 ppm, and that you do a 50% water change every week. This is what will happen:

Week------Nitrate before WC------Nitrate after WC
---1-----------------30---------------------------15
---2-----------------45---------------------------22.5
---3-----------------52.5-------------------------26.5
---4-----------------56.5-------------------------28.25
---5-----------------58.25-----------------------29.12

You can see that by the 5th week, the nitrates are going to be close to 60 ppm.

You are probably going to have to do two water changes a week, changing out enough water to eliminate nitrate creep. The frequency and amount of water changed out will depend on the nitrate reading. You should probably test your water more often, until you have a good feel for how the nitrate rises in your tank. Keeping a log of your water parameters and water changes will make it very easy to know what's going on in your tank. I kept a log for a very long time, and I still check nitrates on a regular basis.

WaterChangeRecord.jpg
 
thanks alot for the info
especially the chart (a was daydreaming today of setting up a maintenance list on my tank, cleaning times wc ext. this is sad that im daydreaming about my fish tank and not some easy hooters girl....damn you MFK)

i was doing the bucket Bridget for a while but i went to lowes today and bought 30 feet of clear vinyl tubing and and on/off valve so now i can just put the vacuum in the tank and let the water drain right out to the lawn.as i day dream of ...hot ..easy..big bre.....aw who are we kidding probably just more fish stuff

i tried a python /a diy one and it really drained the tank sloooow and i have good h2o pressure so i scraped that

its really a motivational thing lugging 5 gal buckets back and forth 10 times isn't much fun

but i think if i go 60% twice a week for a while, then back to once a week it might level the nitrates down

are you guys sure im not under filtered i really need an excuse to buy an fx5:D
take your time on this one ~~~ooooo~~~~~ an fx5 might fix all my problems ~~~~ooooo`O~OOO~~~~ i has tring to hypotize you did it work? :D

no but really i need to make time to better care for my little monster fishies
 
Nitrate creep as mentioned before just step up the water changes. Also a new test kit considering the cost/importance of proper testing. Also test 24 hour aged tap water. Mine comes out of the tap with 20-40 ppm nitrates.


Thanks all some good info I didn't get in my thread about this I am working on getting planted.
 
ozpkchris;2723386; said:
are you guys sure im not under filtered i really need an excuse to buy an fx5:D
take your time on this one ~~~ooooo~~~~~ an fx5 might fix all my problems ~~~~ooooo`O~OOO~~~~ i has tring to hypotize you did it work? :D

no but really i need to make time to better care for my little monster fishies
Click to expand...

You have enough biological filtration if your ammonia and nitrite readings are 0. Adding more filtration will not lower your nitrates. However, something like an FX-5 will give you more mechanical filtration (depending on the media you use). You know what they say---you can't have enough mechanical filtration. You can always justify an FX-5 for redundant/back up filtration. That's what I use mine for. It came in handy when I added a UV sterilizer to it to clear up a green water problem in our tank. It definitely gives peace of mind knowing you have backup filtration should you ever need it. It could also be used to quickly set up a hospital tank.
 
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