I am new to Monster fish although I have been keeping fish for about 20 yrs. Mostly New World Chichlids. I now have a 55 that in witch I have a Oscar, Pacu and Pleco. Oscar is about a year old and the Pacu around 6 months. The tank has been set up for about 10 yrs. It has a undergravel filter with 2 large power heads, a small in tank uv sterilizer, and a canister filter. I have never been one to check or stress over water testing other than ph and amonia. I recently added a new canister filter because my old one sprung a leak and decided to check my water with the new dip test strips. Every thing is perfect except the nitrates are through the roof. Tap water (well water) is perfect. I have a rechargable nitra-zorb pillow in the canister filter however it hasnt seemed to make a differance. My fish seem to be fine but I have to wonder why this is happening. I tried to call my local big box pet store, cause thats all thats left localy, and the person I talked to was of no help. Probably younger than the length Ive been keeping fish. Why would my nitrites, amonia, alkalinity and ph be perfect and nitrates be so high. 200+. Any help would be apreceated.
Nitrates through the roof.
- Thread starter mrkanders58
- Start date
big messy fish in a small tank will do it.
very frequent water changes will help short term, but getting rid of some of those beasts because they are in such a small tank is necessary for long term. a pacu does not belong in a 55g let alone some of the others.
very frequent water changes will help short term, but getting rid of some of those beasts because they are in such a small tank is necessary for long term. a pacu does not belong in a 55g let alone some of the others.
the only way to get rid of nitrates is by doing water changes. make sure you arent over feeding aswell
but you can't keep plants with these fish. I've that heard that under gravel filters build up a lot of nitrates
water changes would be my suggestion.
i dropped a 150 ish ppm to 40 ish ppm in three days with three 50% - 60% water changes. i also have read bad comments about the strips in comparison to drops. maybe you could invest in a liquid drop test kit.
what cannister filter are you using and what media did you put in it? i have nothing other than bio media in my cannister and the bacteria has always taken care of the ammonia and the nitrIte. the water change has dropped the nitrAte every time.
dave
i dropped a 150 ish ppm to 40 ish ppm in three days with three 50% - 60% water changes. i also have read bad comments about the strips in comparison to drops. maybe you could invest in a liquid drop test kit.
what cannister filter are you using and what media did you put in it? i have nothing other than bio media in my cannister and the bacteria has always taken care of the ammonia and the nitrIte. the water change has dropped the nitrAte every time.
dave
x2 on these suggestions. Nitrates are removed by water changes, anaerobic sand bed, plants, or denitrator coils and other fun tricks. Pothos in your lids will become a nice jungle-army against nitrate build-up, but you'll still need regular water changes to maintain stability.
Your problems are highlighted in red. Too many monster fish in a 55g. Your pacu will outgrow a tank 5 times the size of what you house him in now. Your oscar is probably way too small for the 55g, a 75g or bigger is recommended to house 1 oscar. An oscar can grow to well over a foot in length, and a standard 55g is only 12" wide...& the reason I highlighted the pleco in red is because I'm guessing its a common pleco, which can grow to well over a foot also.
Undergravel filters are crap. Get rid of them. Once you lift them up to remove them, you will see a large cloud of detritus arise...this is because they trap all that detritus underneath. You might think those powerheads are cleaning underneath them, but really they aren't, but instead they're only creating surface agitation/current