A little filtration issue.

[Juxtaroberto]

Sand beds? Really? How does this help?

Deep sand beds can harbor denitrifying bacteria, which are anaerobic. The basic idea is that the water percolates down, so aerobic bacteria live in the upper part of the sand bed, but they deplete the water of oxygen so that when it gets deeper into the sand it has no oxygen and the denitrifying bacteria can do their thing. Another byproduct tends to be hydrogen sulfide, though, which is toxic, can acidify the water, and is also flammable. I'd just use Pothos. It's a common household plant. You dangle the roots in the water and they suck up the nitrates.

 

[Egon]

What kind of maintenance are you doing on your mechanical filtration? The cartridges or sponges get full of crap that will make nitrAtes climb. Swishing and squishing isn't enough. Alternate which media you do weekly. Example: If you have two filters, bang one filter's mech really well into a bucket, and one week later, do the other filter's mechanical. You'll be amazed/appalled at just all the stuff comes out of there!

I'm sorry if you have answered this already. Are you vacuuming the substrate (I am pretty sure you do, but this is another thing that will cause your nitrAtes to be high.)

I agree with the above!

I have extra filters that I replace the dirty filters with. Then I soak the dirty filters in bleach/water then rinse and let dry out. I swap these out every so often, maybe every other weekly water change.

Also I bet your over feeding just a little.

 

[KaiserSousay]

Welcome to the joy of an overstocked tank.
Nitrates and a bunch of growing fish go hand in hand.
WC is your most effective way to deal with it, other than going to a larger tank.
Larger tank gives you more water volume to dilute the nitrate.
You can add as many filters as can fit on your tank and will still have high nitrate, since none of your basic filtration methods deal with removing nitrate.
Good advice already given, watch your feeding and keep your filters clean.
Keep up the WC.
Give some thought to a larger tank. At least double your present size.
I would not recommend any of the more exotic nitrate control systems. Deep sand beds, coil denitraters, resins, algae scrubbers and the like.
Not for someone new to the hobby.
Stick with the simple and effective WC.
Good luck.

 

[Liz Sagara]

Oh yes I declog the filters on alternating weeks. This week it's the sponge. I take it and get a bucket of my hospital tank water when I do water changes on it and swish it around take it out and squish it together and twist... soak up some water and bang it against the side of the sink until the water coming out isn't mud brown anymore. Then I stick it back in and add a bacteria dose to it.

I will look at getting a Canister filter for the tank in addition to the filtration I have on there now. One is an Aquaclear and the other is a Marineland Penguin 350.

Yes I vacuum the substrate cant really do much if you don't vacuum the substrate.

 

[Liz Sagara]

Deep sand beds can harbor denitrifying bacteria, which are anaerobic. The basic idea is that the water percolates down, so aerobic bacteria live in the upper part of the sand bed, but they deplete the water of oxygen so that when it gets deeper into the sand it has no oxygen and the denitrifying bacteria can do their thing. Another byproduct tends to be hydrogen sulfide, though, which is toxic, can acidify the water, and is also flammable. I'd just use Pothos. It's a common household plant. You dangle the roots in the water and they suck up the nitrates.

Ha ha ha I have Golden Pathos in there! The whole plant. I'll get another though. The algae eaters love grazing on them.

 

[Liz Sagara]

Welcome to the joy of an overstocked tank.
Nitrates and a bunch of growing fish go hand in hand.
WC is your most effective way to deal with it, other than going to a larger tank.
Larger tank gives you more water volume to dilute the nitrate.
You can add as many filters as can fit on your tank and will still have high nitrate, since none of your basic filtration methods deal with removing nitrate.
Good advice already given, watch your feeding and keep your filters clean.
Keep up the WC.
Give some thought to a larger tank. At least double your present size.
I would not recommend any of the more exotic nitrate control systems. Deep sand beds, coil denitraters, resins, algae scrubbers and the like.
Not for someone new to the hobby.
Stick with the simple and effective WC.
Good luck.

Not really that new to the hobby actually. Returning to it after 5 years off but I jumped into it with a head full of knowledge collected from hours and hours of study from books the internet and asking questions. I can't get a larger tank because There's nowhere in my house that can fit a 110 gallon tank. I would love it... trust me... I've wanted a tank with a 2ft width for a long time now. My grandmother wouldn't allow a larger tank unless it was the ONLY tank. I eventually want one large enough that I have to put a wetsuit on and climb in to clean.

 

[Juxtaroberto]

Ha ha ha I have Golden Pathos in there! The whole plant. I'll get another though. The algae eaters love grazing on them.

Perhaps because it's immersed? All the people I know who've had success with this method have only immersed the roots and kept the leaves emersed.

 

[doug_sa]

Deep sand beds can harbor denitrifying bacteria, which are anaerobic. The basic idea is that the water percolates down, so aerobic bacteria live in the upper part of the sand bed, but they deplete the water of oxygen so that when it gets deeper into the sand it has no oxygen and the denitrifying bacteria can do their thing. Another byproduct tends to be hydrogen sulfide, though, which is toxic, can acidify the water, and is also flammable. I'd just use Pothos. It's a common household plant. You dangle the roots in the water and they suck up the nitrates.

I'm liking the idea of flammable liquids and fish tanks!!!

 

[Liz Sagara]

Perhaps because it's immersed? All the people I know who've had success with this method have only immersed the roots and kept the leaves emersed.

Ah okay I'll stick the roots in my filter then.

 

[Liz Sagara]

I'm liking the idea of flammable liquids and fish tanks!!!

LOL That's going on my Sig