Dumb theory on why my nitrates are so high ....please help !

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
flamenco-t;519139; said:
So I have been frustrated with my nitrate reading for the past 4-5 months. My problem is keeping it down. I have tried Seachem purigen, which brought nitrates down to 20-40 ppm, but it spiked back up to over 80-100 ppm within 3-4 days.

I do have a lot of bio load on 100 gallon tank with 2 Rena XP3 and 1 Emperor 400. I maintain 50 % water changes weekly in which I have tested the Nitrates after every single WC and I get about 60 ppm and spiked back up to 100 ppm within 2-3 days.

So I thought, it's the damn gravel bed...too thick and it's a breeding ground for bacteria...

I took all the gravel bed, simpel flush and lay down about 1/4" - 1/2" of gravel versus 3" I had before.

I tested my nitrates and it's still at 80-100 PPM. I dohave some plants, not very much

At this point, I am stumbled and came up with a dumb theory IMO.

Since I have a tight glass lid to keep my Aro and CK from jumping,

COULD IT BE THAT BY HAVING A GLASS LID, I AM NOT ALLOWING NITRATES TO BREATHE ? therefore it's sat around the tank for a long time ?

I know this may be dumb, but I am running out of option. my fish seems to be normal in behaviour but they don't grow as quick as they were before which is a good indication that they're surviving rather than thriving.

Thanks

Stan
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Just so you know, water can evaporate, Nitrates do not. A tight lid will not affect nitrates in any way.
 
Howdy,

You should either think about getting a bigger tank or install a drip system... the lid has nothing to do with it.

HarleyK
 
Ok, so I looked for the results of the source water and still didn't find it...Was it tested? If your tap water is coming from a source that flows through old pasture land or farm land, you should expect high nitrates.

You can not expect a HOB filter to do the job on a 100g tank. You need to move up to a sump and/or wet/dry to handle your bio-load.
 
HarleyK;522568; said:
Howdy,

You should either think about getting a bigger tank or install a drip system... the lid has nothing to do with it.

HarleyK
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We have a winner!
 
CHOMPERS;522651; said:
Ok, so I looked for the results of the source water and still didn't find it...Was it tested? If your tap water is coming from a source that flows through old pasture land or farm land, you should expect high nitrates.

You can not expect a HOB filter to do the job on a 100g tank. You need to move up to a sump and/or wet/dry to handle your bio-load.
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Hey Chompers, I'm at a loss with this one. Can't figure how his HOBs are keeping the ammonia & nitrites at zero with that bio-load, yet it acts like it with the nitrates up so high.

He did say the tap water tested 0 nitrates. post #5

Acts like he's using chemicals to negate the ammonia, but he didn't say anything about chemicals.

Somethings missing...

If the chemistry is true, a W/D wouldn't be the answer either. Only WCs would help and a drip system the best way to handle it. A GOOD de-nitrator is only 10-15% effective and would never keep up with this prob.

Curious...

Dr Joe

.
 
Dr Joe;522695; said:
Hey Chompers, I'm at a loss with this one. Can't figure how his HOBs are keeping the ammonia & nitrites at zero with that bio-load, yet it acts like it with the nitrates up so high.

He did say the tap water tested 0 nitrates. post #5

...
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Thanks for the help finding the missing info. I am a walking zombie right now. I am dealing with a pretty good sleep disorder and staying up all night with homework is not helping. (When I sleep, I stop breathing and wake up every three minutes. No REM for me.)

I ran the numbers for someone else in another thread and it worked out that the filter cartridge area by volume for a small HOB is like .012 gallons. That did not take into consideration the likelihood of having a bio-wheel since there are many manufacturers that make HOBs without them. The guy in that thread had a 20g sump on a 90g tank. Interestingly, if he had a ten gallon tank with a sump of the same proportions, he would have a 2.2 gallon sump. That is 180+ times the volume that HOB manufacturers think we need. At that point I lost all respect for HOBs. I am not throwing mine out though. My new phish philosophy is that any tank sizeable enough to hide a sump or wet/dry in the stand should have one or both.

I think the HOBs here possibly could be keeping up with the bio-load without chemicals as long as he is feeding lightly and if his bio-wheels have a healthy coating of goo on them.

And I have to agree that the best system in the world for any tank is a drip system. There is no substitute.
 
rallysman;522674; said:
We have a winner!
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Yeah, Neo installed a cool drip system. Someone else did, too, but I cannot remember who it was...
:ROFL: ;)


Hasi;522623; said:
A sump filtration system will make a big difference too
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:grinno: that doesn't break down nitrates at all.
 
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