I AM GOING INSANE!!!!!
- Thread starter TankBuster
- Start date
First off, I'm no expert. With that said...it sounds like you have tried:weekly water changes, substrate changes, regular testing all to no real change. It sounds like the fish in your tank are producing lots of waste, or possibly not all of the food is getting eaten(does not sound like this is the case).
If this were my tank I would definitley increase mechanical filtration, to remove waste more often. I would also use fine filtration in canisters and change weekly. And also do regular water changes 5-7 days. If these are not viable options, maybe cut back on feeding or remove some fish. BTW plecos are mass waste producers.
I have a largely over stocked 220g, that gets a 40%+ water change on average every 4 days, and I change out mechanical filtration every two days. With this process my nitrates stay below 40ppm, but if I fail to keep up the routine, the nitrates sky rocket.
Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.
If this were my tank I would definitley increase mechanical filtration, to remove waste more often. I would also use fine filtration in canisters and change weekly. And also do regular water changes 5-7 days. If these are not viable options, maybe cut back on feeding or remove some fish. BTW plecos are mass waste producers.
I have a largely over stocked 220g, that gets a 40%+ water change on average every 4 days, and I change out mechanical filtration every two days. With this process my nitrates stay below 40ppm, but if I fail to keep up the routine, the nitrates sky rocket.
Good luck and keep us updated on your progress.
There is a lot of rubbish posted in this thread but also a lot of good stuff.
The facts are:
1) adding any extra filtration is a waste of time, if your nitrates are high it is because you have efficient filtering.
2) your fish produce a lot of waste, you need to be doing large, weekly water changes.
3) don't ever clean out both filters at the same time, even if you use tank water, always rotate / alternate to protect the bacteria.
4) you will not get anaerobic colonies of any significance in a normal filter environment, it is VERY hard to produce the correct environment even in a nitrate reactor, we are talking drips per second at first and feeding with carbon based food (vodka) dosed daily.
You could run an ion exchange resin which would need to be recharged in salt weekly as well as large water changes.
The refugium would need to be pretty vast to have any significance.
Keeping the tank and filters free of detritus really helps but you have got ammonia machines as fish and large, significant actions are all that will work.
Trust me, I am the arch enemy of nitrate and I have pretty much tried everything.
My Rays solution is 50% wc with an extra auto wc during the week, with nitrate free supply water plumbed to the tank along with waste plumbed under the floor. I am just adding a deltec nitrate reactor with redox probe to monitor the anearobic environment. My water cress refugium grew really well but had zero impact. I also run an ion exchange resin nitrogon on the sump to bring levels under 10ppm.....it is up to 100 within 1-2 weeks without all of this.
The facts are:
1) adding any extra filtration is a waste of time, if your nitrates are high it is because you have efficient filtering.
2) your fish produce a lot of waste, you need to be doing large, weekly water changes.
3) don't ever clean out both filters at the same time, even if you use tank water, always rotate / alternate to protect the bacteria.
4) you will not get anaerobic colonies of any significance in a normal filter environment, it is VERY hard to produce the correct environment even in a nitrate reactor, we are talking drips per second at first and feeding with carbon based food (vodka) dosed daily.
You could run an ion exchange resin which would need to be recharged in salt weekly as well as large water changes.
The refugium would need to be pretty vast to have any significance.
Keeping the tank and filters free of detritus really helps but you have got ammonia machines as fish and large, significant actions are all that will work.
Trust me, I am the arch enemy of nitrate and I have pretty much tried everything.
My Rays solution is 50% wc with an extra auto wc during the week, with nitrate free supply water plumbed to the tank along with waste plumbed under the floor. I am just adding a deltec nitrate reactor with redox probe to monitor the anearobic environment. My water cress refugium grew really well but had zero impact. I also run an ion exchange resin nitrogon on the sump to bring levels under 10ppm.....it is up to 100 within 1-2 weeks without all of this.
What kind of filtration are you running? I would try a dry/wet sump setup, they filter larger amounts of water . I heard your tank water should cycle itself 3-4 times an hour .sumps have lots of room for biological growth to help remove amonina and nitrates. They also usually have protein skimmers which help lower nitrate levels too,
try adding an air pump since nitrogen-fixing bacteria that convert nitrite to nitrates and such require it. also, plants take in nitrates and produce amino acids. i would add some live plants to your fish tank.
(urea)
(fish)-------->NH3 (ammonia)-------> nitrifying bacteria (nitrosomonas)
Nitrosomonas---->NO2 (nitrite) ------>nitrifying bacteria (nitrobacter) ---
--->NO3 (nitrate)
N2 (from air)---> (nitrogen fixing bacteria)---> NO3 (nitrate)
NO3------> plants-----> amino acids----> fish
see the cycle above is from my anaytical chemistry book called exploring chemical analysis by daniel harris 6th. ed. 2009 pg. 133.
this is the goings on in fish tanks. nitrate NO3 requires nitrifying bacteria AND N2 (nitrogen gas) from the air to con form nitrate. the nitrate is then metabolized into amino acids by plants. so, which one do you think you should add? no, the answer is not to add more urea...!! it's live plants man!
(urea)
(fish)-------->NH3 (ammonia)-------> nitrifying bacteria (nitrosomonas)
Nitrosomonas---->NO2 (nitrite) ------>nitrifying bacteria (nitrobacter) ---
--->NO3 (nitrate)
N2 (from air)---> (nitrogen fixing bacteria)---> NO3 (nitrate)
NO3------> plants-----> amino acids----> fish
see the cycle above is from my anaytical chemistry book called exploring chemical analysis by daniel harris 6th. ed. 2009 pg. 133.
this is the goings on in fish tanks. nitrate NO3 requires nitrifying bacteria AND N2 (nitrogen gas) from the air to con form nitrate. the nitrate is then metabolized into amino acids by plants. so, which one do you think you should add? no, the answer is not to add more urea...!! it's live plants man!
