More filtration to help nitrates?

[Oughtsix]

Incorrect, purigen does not remove nitrates, ammonia or nitrates. It prevents the creation of all three by binding the organic compounds.

from Seachem

Seachem - Purigen

www.seachem.com

There are other resins/chemical filtration that will remove either ammonia or nitrate

Correction noted. For the original posters problem Purigen could be very helpful in keeping his nitrates levels lower if more water changes, terrestrial plants or other common nitrate reduction systems aren't possible are aren't effective.

 

[fishhead0103666]

I don’t think I’ve seen this asked yet, why only 50%? Is there a reason behind it? I’m assuming there is. Perhaps you’ve been told that 50% is the way to go, maybe to never change out more than 50% (I don’t know how much experience you have, forgive me), or maybe time constraints?

 

[Shane templar]

Fish head good point I didn’t even think of that!! ? I’ve always done 50% because the 2 tubs I use are exactly that amount! I could just get another tub! I think I will still go ahead and clean the filters out more regularly as I think with the more fish I’ve added plus the fact of having no plants in there plus more food going in this would help a lot! I’ll test my tap water too!!
Thanks everyone for all your help much appreciated

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Just a quick note here. 2/3 of my tanks are dedicated to breeding and raising plecos. They do not use lights, do not contain plants and some are bare bottom. Most of them use large foam type filters including Mattenfilters. I have no issue with nitrate. Massive foam filters will promote the bacteria which denitrify. It takes a bit of time for them to become established, but it does require more massive types of media than typically fit in filters. They will work in sumps.

 

[Oughtsix]

I don’t think I’ve seen this asked yet, why only 50%? Is there a reason behind it? I’m assuming there is. Perhaps you’ve been told that 50% is the way to go, maybe to never change out more than 50% (I don’t know how much experience you have, forgive me), or maybe time constraints?

My daughter does 100% water changes on her bare bottom axolotl tank every 2 weeks. This has been working very well for her for the past several years. Our planted tanks are much harder to do 100% water changes. Anything more than about 75% on the planted tanks really messes up the landscaping so we do about 75% water changes on them.

We use a long hose and venturi siphon to do our water changes so 100% water changes aren't really any more hassle than 50% water changes. On our new 180g tank is being plumbed into the household plumbing. I think our chlorine free well water helps immensely with water changes and minimizes the stress the water changes place on the fish.

 

[Shane templar]

At the mo I just fill up two 140 litre tubs with tap water to the right temp and add the seachem safe and whilst that’s filling I siphon all the crud out of the tank to the outside drain! Once that’s done I pump new water back into tank! Adding another won’t be to much of a problem! I’m gonna start cleaning my filters maybe once a month from now on

 

[iridescence]

IMO, more frequent 40-50% water changes . It's better to do more smaller, frequent water changes than to do one massive water change that can cause a shock. Some people I've seen do 70-90% water changes and their tanks are fine like the dude above, but personally I think it's a huge risk because that can shock your bacteria and fish.

Edit: Have you ever thought of running a drip system? that will help out immensely.

 

[Rocksor]

IMO, more frequent 40-50% water changes . It's better to do more smaller, frequent water changes than to do one massive water change that can cause a shock. Some people I've seen do 70-90% water changes and their tanks are fine like the dude above, but personally I think it's a huge risk because that can shock your bacteria and fish.

Edit: Have you ever thought of running a drip system? that will help out immensely.

If you shock your fish through osmotic shock when doing over 50% water changes then you weren't doing enough water changes to keep the TDS levels within 50ppm of your tap water.

 

[Cardeater]

I think it's all been covered already. I read a bunch of threads about nitrates here a two years ago. There are complicated nitrate reactors or algae scrubbers but that stuff is more for saltwater changes where it's harder to change water regularly.

The best solutions seem to be limited. Plants work. Since they can't be in the tank bc of the silver dollars, you could grow plants in a sump or people have done pothos in a HOB filter. (FYI, pothos is deadly to cats, which is why I can't use that solution).

Water changed are the best way unless you have high nitrates in your water. I'd want to do enough water changes to keep nitrates under 20ppm(some recommend under 40ppm, some like even less than 10). If you do water changes regularly, then you dont have to worry about PH shoc from a large change (this happens if nitrates were allowed to build up too much which reduces the PH). I'd work towards 70-80% changes and more often if necessary (testing is only way to figure this out precisely). I do larger water changed since I figure I might as well get as much out as I can since it takes only marginally longer to take out more water (glad I bought a python after avoiding it for years).

Along the water change theme, there are ways to make that less labor intensive and automatic. People use drip systems or auto water change systems. I plan to do this is a future tank upgrade. This allows people to do fewer large water changes since water is being diluted every day.

In a future tank, I'm thinking of also going with the Ultima filters. With large tanks 350g+, people talk about draining 300 gallo a backflushing the filter. Makes maintenance so much faster.

Finally as mentioned, keeping filters clean helps. Feeding quality food helps as well (junk like warleys and tetra generate more waste than feeding New Life Spectrum or Northfin). Probiotics like Bioclean (there's a whole thread RD has on this topic) can help.

 

[Shane templar]

Hi guys just an update I’ve just tested my treated tap water and it seems my nitrates are between 40 and 80!!! I’ve cleaned out all the filters too! I’ll test my tank water in a couple of days and see what’s going on then!! I’m not sure if the bigger water changes will work or make much of a difference to my nitrates!
the only thing I could do is just chuck live plants in and keep replacing every couple months!