I have two gulper cats in a 55 gal, and they are both still small, and Ive done 50% water changes for the past 3 days but my nitrate levels are still at 40 ppm. This is ridiculous. I have two AC 50's on the tank. How often should I clean out the filter sponges? One of them is pretty gunky, but I only setup this tank about 2 weeks ago. If the sponge gets filled with too much crap will it start producing more nitrates?
how do you control nitrates?
- Thread starter yemista
- Start date
You could have let it cycle a little longer BUT...
Don't over feed.
Keep doing water changes.
Test your tap's Nitrate level, is somehow it's showing any that could be the issue too.
It might just be spiking as the cycle completes. Keep doing water changes.
Don't over feed.
Keep doing water changes.
Test your tap's Nitrate level, is somehow it's showing any that could be the issue too.
It might just be spiking as the cycle completes. Keep doing water changes.
Do you have anything dead in there somewhere? I'm surpirsed at 2 weeks amonia and nitrites aren't your problem
amonia and nitrites were my problem but not anymore. i took the AC 50's off my my cycled 90 gal tank. how fast should i expect nitrates to build up? i dont see how two fish can produce so many nitrates so fast.
I'd say your filtration needs to be increased. For a quick fix you can try going to your lfs and pick up some top water live plants and throw them in there until your levels return to normal. Plants work great to suck up harmful nitrates. Goodluck
Since you tank is a fairly new set up I would avoid the 50%water change. Its a great way to kill any of the bacteria thats in the tank. Maybe do 10% changes. You also may want to check your water source as it may have high nitrates. You can use plants to help with the nitrate issues or use drinking water from a store.
Need more information on your setup - what kind of filtration are you running, do you clean the gravel, how much do you feed and how often, have you tested your tap water for nitrates, do you still see nitrite and ammonia - if not when was the last time you saw nitrite and ammonia, what temperature is the tank, are you aerating the water?
plants yes, only if they get light. otherwise useless. and will take time to begin there job. clean your filters as often as needed, if it looks dirty it is clean it. gulpers eat n crap in equal amounts. alot!
dirtyblacksocks;2164124; said:
I have two AC 50's, no gravel, I have a power head running but its not blowing air bubbles, just circulating water, last time i saw nitrite was a few days ago and there was no ammonia. Why would I need more filtration? It just seems like the fish are extremley filthy. I feed one or two market shrimps a week. One of them still hasnt eaten