am i the only one who feels like my nitrates will never be low?

[jagsandpits]

daam I feel like my fish crap wayyyy too much lol I do a 35 or so percent wc every 3 or 4 days maybe n I feel like they will never be low cuz I got like 8 cichlids in my 125, maybe I misread the test everytime lol I feel like a little nitrates looks the same as a lot on the test so that's pretty much useless lol

 

[fishrlife]

No your not alone and i'm not afraid to admit it. There are many products out there that can get nitrates under control. If you don't want to use such products i would get more tanks so you have less bio load in each tank. Personally I have to many tanks to get any more so I just do a lot more water changes its literally like having a second job that I dont get paid for lol well I do get paid a bit but it is mostly because I love the hobby.

 

[fishman09]

Best advice with heavy stocking like that is do more WC. With that stock I would be doing a minimum of 2x70% and a couple 10-20% changes a week also. Getting nitrates low with heavy stocking is as simple as either lowering the stock or just change more water. Not a difficult concept IMO.


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[E.C.]

Best advice with heavy stocking like that is do more WC. With that stock I would be doing a minimum of 2x70% and a couple 10-20% changes a week also. Getting nitrates low with heavy stocking is as simple as either lowering the stock or just change more water. Not a difficult concept IMO.

+1
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[jagsandpits]

Best advice with heavy stocking like that is do more WC. With that stock I would be doing a minimum of 2x70% and a couple 10-20% changes a week also. Getting nitrates low with heavy stocking is as simple as either lowering the stock or just change more water. Not a difficult concept IMO.


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your a little loopy but I like ur input, thank u lol. what about like 1/3rd water change every 3 days? does that sound sufficient orrr?

 

[fishman09]

your a little loopy but I like ur input, thank u lol. what about like 1/3rd water change every 3 days? does that sound sufficient orrr?

Before I installed my drip that's about what I was changing weekly and my stocking is single/pairs only so not loopy. It's all about providing fish with the best possible conditions and not trying to do the bare minimum. A good rule of thumb IMO is trying to change out 100% weekly+


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[INTHECOWBOYSWETRUST]

No you are not alone, I have 12 tanks set up right now and no matter what I do I can not get my nitrate levels down for nothing... I have been doing 40% wc every other day and it still won't go down. I put live plants in a few of my tanks and that did not help any.. So then I tested my tap water right out of the sink and it is super high right out of the tap, So what can I do about that? Water changes do not help me any...

 

[cichlidfish]

IMO the 2 best ways to reduce nitrates: clean out your filter often (w/ tank water) and feed your fish less. The less that goes in the less comes out


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[jonclark96]

I would do larger water changes. There was an article somewhere (I can't seem to find it) that stated you don't start to effectively reduce nitrates until you change about 50% or more of the tank volume. It makes sense, though. If you have a tank that has a set amount of nitrates at a given time, the more you dilute it with clean water, the lower the concentration will be immediately after the change. If you are already committed to doing frequent changes, the extra 20% of water you remove won't add that much time.

Plus, reducing your feedings will help. I've seen several talks from successful fish keepers over the past year or so who only feed adult fish 4-5 times a week.

 

[dogofwar]

+1

In order to make it easy to clean my tanks, I don't have much substrate (lots of gravel harbors all sorts of nastiness) and clean my filters at least every two weeks (replace fluff in box filters).

If you use canisters, use a pre-filter and clean it frequently.

You need to get your nitrates low before you can maintain them at a low level. A couple of 60-70 percent water changes per week wouldn't be out of line.

Matt

IMO the 2 best ways to reduce nitrates: clean out your filter often (w/ tank water) and feed your fish less. The less that goes in the less comes out


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