Water cleaning / nitrates

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Bleeding

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 14, 2006
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KC, Missouri
Ok, so i asked the question earlier about my higher nitrate levels. I just got this tank set up (55 g) about a month ago, and these fish came out of a 20 (overstocked with livebearers) with horrible water conditions (3+ ammonia, etc).

All that is under control, but nitrates are a little high still, and the consensus is that water changes are basically the only ideal way to control nitrates without spending a bunch of money on other stuff....

So, the question is - If many fish and thier waste are what increases the nitrates, and i have a sand bottom, is it the water changing that is the most important, or making sure most of the "crap" is sucked up from the top of the sand?

When i would do a gravel vac in the old tank, the water that came out would be gross, brown, etc. Now its just slightly discolored because im not cleaning gravel. I do try to hover the gravel vac over the sand to collect the waste, but it does not appear to be the same as actually sticking the tube into the substrate and sucking up stuff.

I had also been advised to get snails (trumpet snails) to help stirr the sand and mix things up, but what if the waste gets buried in the sand and i cant clean it out by "hovering" over the sand?
 
It doesn't settle in the sand like it does in gravel. Instead it floats around and gets grabbed by the filters. The water changes remove nitrates in the water and the gravel vaccing removes wastes before they break down and make nitrates.
 
The water changes are the most important if you have a sand bottom . about once a month do a good cleaning of bottom but just do your once a week water changes and nitrates will come down to a good level . know this all really depends on the fish you have ? if you are over stocked or have big preditors than clean bottom more but in a 55g i dont see you have large preditors so you should be fine just doing water changes .
 
mostlycichlids;656413; said:
water changes definately I would add more filteration to harbor more good bacteria. Also have you checked your tap water for nitrates. Mine has 10ppm at the tap on a regular basis.
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Our tanks aren't going to be able to break down nitrates at a rate which is sustainable to a good tank environment, but more filtration can't hurt. Good point on the nitrates from the tap. You goal is to have tank water that has the same parameters as your tap water so even if you pH is 6 and nitrates are 15ppm. That is what you want to shoot for. Don't mess with the pH and don't think you are going to get nitrates down any lower, unless you have a planted tank.
 
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