For some reason my nitrate levels stay at about 100, even after a 1/3 water change. I have test strips so I dont have an exact number, but they are roughly 100 before and after the water change. this doesnt make any sense to me. any suggestion?
problem with nitrate levels
- Thread starter yemista
- Start date
If it was my tank I would do a 50% water change then test the tank. If the nitrate levels didn't change then I would take a sample of tank water to my local fish store and have them test it. I would also get a new test kit, not the test strip type. Test your tap water also to see if there are any traces of nitrates, if there is then you'll have to do more water changes to compensate for this.
first test your tap water, make sure it only has a small amount of nitrates and is not adding a significant amount during W/Cs.
Now as said above do a 50% W/C, this will reduce your levels by 50%. You test kit may be too broad at high range to see any difference, so you may need to do daily 50% changes until the levels come down.
Large frequent water changes will not harm your fish, unless you have gone long periods of time without a W/C. If this is so let us know, we'll get ya through it and on to a healthy tank.
Now as said above do a 50% W/C, this will reduce your levels by 50%. You test kit may be too broad at high range to see any difference, so you may need to do daily 50% changes until the levels come down.
Large frequent water changes will not harm your fish, unless you have gone long periods of time without a W/C. If this is so let us know, we'll get ya through it and on to a healthy tank.
i got a nitrate test kit from API and my tap water seems to have nitrate between 5 and 10, so i dont think thats the problem. recently i removed all my gravel and added a canister filter, but i dont see why this would make a difference. before i did this after a 1/3 water change the test strips always showed 0 nitrates and i thought that beneficial bacteria broke nitrite down into nitrates, so if i have less bacteria than before, i should have more nitrite rather than more nitrate, and my nitrite levels are 0. do you think removing the gravel could have affected nitrate levels?
Unlikely the removal of substrat would increase nitrate levels. Are you using the test strips properly, I believe you have to wait a certain amount of time before reading.
What was you water change schedule previous to removing the gravel?
What was you water change schedule previous to removing the gravel?
before removing the gravel i changed the water every week and still do. the only difference i can think of is i included crushed coral in the canister filter to raise my pH but i dont see how that would affect nitrates. i have a cichild tank with a red tailed catfish and my water was extremley soft and acidic. my fish never seemed to be bothered by this but i figured it was better to have balanced water so i added the coral. do you think that could be it?
personally I think the problem is/was with your test strips. It may be that your 33% was not quite enough and your nitrate levels kept rising or the strips are giving a inncorrect reading. Obviously something was wrong if you were reading zero nitrates during earlier testing.
I would bump your W/Cs up to 50% and have your water checked by a good LFS or by a good master test kit and see where you are at then.
I would bump your W/Cs up to 50% and have your water checked by a good LFS or by a good master test kit and see where you are at then.
Before we go any further ( as the song goes ) what is the bioload in your tank and feeding regime?
ok, my tank is overstocked, but it has been and the test strips were always giving a reading of no nitrates after water changes. maybe they were just innaccurate the whole time though. i have a 90 gal with 2 oscars about 7 inches, 2 red devils about 6 inches, a 7 inch red tailed cat, a 14 inch spotted gar, and a 5 inch jack dempsey. i feed every day, though not that much of pellet food, and i feed the catfish and gar a total of 3-4 shrimps every two days. i was thinking of giving away some of my fish. which do you think are the messiest? the catfish and the oscars i will not get rid of, but out of the rest.