I AM GOING INSANE!!!!!

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T

TankBuster

" I feel violated "
MFK Member
Feb 19, 2006
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Glendora, Ca
250g. fresh tank. TSN 20" and spotted Gar 14" bare bottom, driftwood and fake plants. Nitrates 100 ppm. I changed 50% 2 weeks ago and it is sky rocketing. I feed the TSN 8 large shrimp a week and the Gar gets 4 scallops a week. I mix it up a little here and there but thats about it. Why do the nitrates get so high so fast. I have 2 XP3's. Anyone have any ideas. I have asked this before but the problem is getting worse. Do XP3's create an amount of nitrates if not cleaned more often than once every 3 months? Help me out here anyone.
:nilly: :nilly: :nilly: :nilly: :nilly:
 
go buy a bunccha purigen
 
Fish pump ammonia out the gills.
Have you tested your tap's nitrate level?
Cleaned the filters lately?

Purigen is nice, but IMO it's pushed way to much. It's better to get the nitrates low, consistantly, then maybe get them a little lower by adding some purigen
 
I do 25% wc every 2-3 days on my bigger tanks. I know that sucks but you gotta do what you gotta do.

A filter doesn't remove anything until you clean it out. Sure it converts stuff, but it is still in your system until your filter is cleaned.
 
I will be runing a refugium on it once I convert it over to Salt. Bass Pro Shops wont even take the TSN as a donation. Too big they say. The tap water is nitrate free. I clean the XP's once every 3 months, but I will clean them today. I used to do 50% water changes once a week and the nitrate still spiked. What could be causing this. I have a friend with a 300 g. with 6 red tail catfish at about 25 inches each, (I know it overcrowded) but he doesnt even have nitrate issues like this. This si insane. There has to be something creating these nitrates that I am not seeing.
 
i think the 50% water change every two weeks is not enough . i would do 15 % water changes every 3/4 days it is the only way untill you get it fiquered out . i do 15 % every three/four days and everything is fine . very rarely does it go wonky on me . give it a try . also test your water coming out of the tap
 
bump those water changes up to 50% twice a week to keep those nitrates down. As for the person who said to add a wet/dry, that doesn't decrease nitrates at all. And, add some purigen.
 
I iwll try the purigen and I used to do 50% water changes every 5 to 7 days sometimes more often but there is no reason that I can see that my nitrates would go from 5ppm after a massive water change all the way up to over 100 ppm in 2 weeks. Tap is o nitrates. I just cleaned the 2 XP3's with tank water and they are good to go now. I will test the nitrates tomorrow morning and if they are high again, I am going to throw my tank in the street and run it over with my Super Duty... I said duty.
 
Remember that the Bacteria (Biological) that eats ya Nitrates is Anaerobic and if your tank is highly oxygenated and this highly oxygenated water is going through your xp3's then you have almost no wear for the anaerobic bacteria to grow, you say you have no gravel well that is another place this bacteria could maybe grow but you have none. now a days external power filters are so effective at changing Ammonia and Nitrite to Nitrate that the anaerobic bacteria doesn't get a chance to grow at the same rate as the aerobic bacteria because of these huge flows through filters. also i have heard and found that to a certain extent anaerobic bacteria is slower at colonising a area of suitable media to effectively work on an aquarium.

in a S/W system a Refugium will help. The Organic way, i.e. through absorption by Plants and algaes. maybe a Nitrate Reductor/Reactor would also help. i here from my sources that Deltec is soon to be launching a new version of one, and in the trial stages it has been very effective.

but i reckon there will be others who know more and better than what i do on here lol
Hope it helps mate, Good luck:)
 
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