Hello Everyone,
I'm new to this forum, but have been in the hobby for years. I've been struggling trying to keep my nitrates below 5 ppm. I 'm currently running a 120 gallon tank with (1) Tiger Oscar 10 inches, (1) Green Terror 6 inches, (1) Red Devil 6 inches (1) Convict 3 inches ( he is to be rehomed this weekend going to my cousin)and a 8 inch Pleco. About a month ago these fish were housed in a 72 gallon bow front, but since I've upgraded to the 120. My nitrates never go above 20 ppm and usually are at 10 -15 PPM before W/C.
My feeding schedule is once daily whatever they could eat in about a minute. Sundays I don't feed .
Pellets , Flakes, Krill and very, very rarely minnows as a treat.
My water parameters are the following: I use API Master kit that is well within its expiration date.
Nitrites 0 ppm
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrates 5 ppm
PH 7.4
Water Temp 78.5
My tap water parameters are Nitrates 0 ppm, PH 7.2
Filtration is the following:
(2) Aquaclear 110's
(1) Eheim 2217 with adjustable spray bar
(1) Double sponge filter ( meant for up to a 55 gallon but I use it mostly for aeration)
These filters have been running for years and are fully established with BB
The canister filter is cleaned about every 4 to 5 months depending on the flow. Always in tanks water and basically just cleaning the detritus off the sponges. I do not use carbon (Sponges and Seachem Matrix , Fluval Bio rings and other bio media.)
The Aquaclear 110's sponges get squeezed out to remove detritus about every 3 months in tank water and never at the same time. I run the sponge with Seachem Matrix in one, the second 110 the same with one bag of Seachem Purigen.
W/C schedule is Tuesdays I do 30 % change and Saturdays I do about 40% change. Every Saturday or so I siphon the gravel depending on how it looks. I always use Seachem Prime to treat the chlorine and Stability when I feel its necessary, usually after a filter cleaning.
With all that said the best I could get my Nitrates down to is 5 ppm. I know this isn't a huge deal. Besides increasing the percentage of water during the W/C how could I get them down to 0. I would like NOT to use plants, I know they could probably eat the rest of the nitrates. My Oscar loves to shred any plants apart.
Sorry for the long rant just wanted to get as much info in the post as possible.
Does any one have any suggestions or am I striving for something that is driving me crazy and I should be happy with that level. I'm fairly confident that the answer is going to be larger percentage water during the change but just wanted to see if anyone had any little tricks up there sleeve.
I'm new to this forum, but have been in the hobby for years. I've been struggling trying to keep my nitrates below 5 ppm. I 'm currently running a 120 gallon tank with (1) Tiger Oscar 10 inches, (1) Green Terror 6 inches, (1) Red Devil 6 inches (1) Convict 3 inches ( he is to be rehomed this weekend going to my cousin)and a 8 inch Pleco. About a month ago these fish were housed in a 72 gallon bow front, but since I've upgraded to the 120. My nitrates never go above 20 ppm and usually are at 10 -15 PPM before W/C.
My feeding schedule is once daily whatever they could eat in about a minute. Sundays I don't feed .
Pellets , Flakes, Krill and very, very rarely minnows as a treat.
My water parameters are the following: I use API Master kit that is well within its expiration date.
Nitrites 0 ppm
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrates 5 ppm
PH 7.4
Water Temp 78.5
My tap water parameters are Nitrates 0 ppm, PH 7.2
Filtration is the following:
(2) Aquaclear 110's
(1) Eheim 2217 with adjustable spray bar
(1) Double sponge filter ( meant for up to a 55 gallon but I use it mostly for aeration)
These filters have been running for years and are fully established with BB
The canister filter is cleaned about every 4 to 5 months depending on the flow. Always in tanks water and basically just cleaning the detritus off the sponges. I do not use carbon (Sponges and Seachem Matrix , Fluval Bio rings and other bio media.)
The Aquaclear 110's sponges get squeezed out to remove detritus about every 3 months in tank water and never at the same time. I run the sponge with Seachem Matrix in one, the second 110 the same with one bag of Seachem Purigen.
W/C schedule is Tuesdays I do 30 % change and Saturdays I do about 40% change. Every Saturday or so I siphon the gravel depending on how it looks. I always use Seachem Prime to treat the chlorine and Stability when I feel its necessary, usually after a filter cleaning.
With all that said the best I could get my Nitrates down to is 5 ppm. I know this isn't a huge deal. Besides increasing the percentage of water during the W/C how could I get them down to 0. I would like NOT to use plants, I know they could probably eat the rest of the nitrates. My Oscar loves to shred any plants apart.
Sorry for the long rant just wanted to get as much info in the post as possible.
Does any one have any suggestions or am I striving for something that is driving me crazy and I should be happy with that level. I'm fairly confident that the answer is going to be larger percentage water during the change but just wanted to see if anyone had any little tricks up there sleeve.