high nitrate..

[GamerChick5567]

never heard of it and i dont think my nearby LFS have it.. any brands recommendation for nitrate filter pad?? thanks

I think most brands that make regular filter inserts have at least one type. Pothos (aka devils ivy) looks like this:

Very popular houseplant, you can grow it with the leaves out of the water, but most people just grow them in a flowerpot. I would bet you have a friend that has at least a few vines you can take clippings off! A nursery or home improvement store might have it as well. Oh, lucky bamboo and fresh mint may also work well if you stick the leaves out of the water. I would grow it on your new tank as well. Simply put a small light bulb above the vine that's rated as a daylight spectrum and you should grow it like a weed with that many nitrates!

 

[duanes]

Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) is not generally thought of as an aquarium plant, but can be found in almost any store that sells house plants. If you buy it rooted in soil, you don't plant the rooted part, you just break off stems and put them in HOB filters, or directly in the tank.
I like to place mine on floating pieces of driftwood where they will take root.
If you submerge the leaves it will rot and die, leaves should be keep above the water line.
It is native to Southeast Asia, but has been introduced to tropical climates all over the world. I find it growing wild in the forest where I live.


The roots of the pothos above are in my 150 gal tank, and about 20" long.
It will probably help a little bit, but there will be "no" substitute for constant large water changes in your severely overstocked tank.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Nitrate in the source water is a possibility, but it sounds like just a matter of not enough water changes per the bio load.

Changing water to reduce nitrates is simple mathematical equation. If you do a 50% WC, you are going to reduce your nitrates by 50%. The only thing that could skew that a bit is if your substrate or filtration media is super nasty. You'll drop it even less that being the case. Point being, if you're measuring 60ppm nitrates and you do a 50% WC, you're only down to 30ppm. Another 50% would take you down to 15ppm. Still too high since ideally you never go above 20ppm.