Nitrate help ASAP

[Southjerseycichlidz]

Have a 220 gallon and nitrates are reading blood red stocked with arowana and clown knife they get fed everyother day and I can't figure out why they are so high

 

[ehh]

You're probably not changing enough of the water.

 

[JohnTr]

My stock is 3 alligator gar. 7", 11" and 13". I feed them 3 smelts every 3 days. And the Nitrate still pretty high.

 

[Owens]

over stocked or not enough water changes. Probably a combination of both.

 

[JohnTr]

And I change 80% water every weekend to keep it low

 

[ehh]

My stock is 3 alligator gar. 7", 11" and 13". I feed them 3 smelts every 3 days. And the Nitrate still pretty high.

Man, what are you going to do with three alligator gar? Haha.

 

[JohnTr]

Man, what are you going to do with three alligator gar? Haha.

They are in 8' X 8' X 3' tank. And the tank can handle them forever.

 

[ehh]

They are in 8' X 8' X 3' tank. And the tank can handle them forever.

Dang. Have you posted pictures of the tank before? I'd like to see it.

Sorry to hijack!!!!

 

[slippery slimecoat]

Typically high nitrates would be from over feeding or not enough water changes as others have said. Just to rule it out I'd test your tap water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates as well. I'd probably do daily 30-40% water changes to bring it down and not shock the fish too badly with a sudden huge water change.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Collin, how much water do you change and how often? Do you vacuum the substrate and clean your filters out frequently?

Another anomaly can come from the nitrate test itself. Real common for people to not do the test properly. Shake the HECK out of bottle #2 before using it, then shake the completely test tube for atleast a minute then let the test tube sit 5min before reading.