CanNOT get my nitrates down

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
dont use alcohol it will kill your bacterial colony and this is a technique employed by reef keepers. the alcohol turns the nitrates into something that can be removed by a protein skimmer. if not it's just gona break back down into nitrates i imagine. damn people perpetuating this myth.
 
Do larger water changes.

but I agree with some of the others, once the fish is in there and nitrates start rising I don't see problems with it. I know some people that just top off mostly and rarely do water changes and their fish are great looking.
 
To all of you that are telling me not to worry, I would have agreed with you as of a few weeks ago. I do water changes about once every other month on my 120 with 2 oscars, a pleco, and 2 turtles. They are fine. I'm sure the nitrates in there are at least 60 ppm most of the time. But in my 90 my rtc is breathing heavily and starting to get gill curl. I think I will get a pothos plant and put it in my ac 110.
 
Jdj211 said:
To all of you that are telling me not to worry, I would have agreed with you as of a few weeks ago. I do water changes about once every other month on my 120 with 2 oscars, a pleco, and 2 turtles. They are fine. I'm sure the nitrates in there are at least 60 ppm most of the time. But in my 90 my rtc is breathing heavily and starting to get gill curl. I think I will get a pothos plant and put it in my ac 110.
Click to expand...

breathing heavily could mean poor filtration/surface agitation or even a nitrogen cycle happening.
 
I'll do a 50% wc clean my filter out add beneficial bacteria and continue to add the bacteria for a week and do a wc after week add more after wc. I won't feed until I do all that. This just what I will do. I put beneficial bacteria after each wc in all my tanks and I do at least a wc 2x a week. Hope this helps. Oh when you do a water change turn off your filters because you don't want to kill your good bacteria inside the filter. Once you add the chlorine clear then wait for a little bit then turn your filter back on.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
If you are really concerned with getting nitrates to near nil, do as close to a 100% water change as you can. That will also help you get a feel for how fast the nitrates rise and you can tailor your water changes / feedings / adding of plants accordingly.
 
Also, forgot to mention, if you've got a standard 90 gallon, that means you've got a 12" fish in a 48" tank. Don't you think that could also be contributing to the stress of the fish?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom