High Nitrates

[Grumpy]

Hello,

I am at wits end. I have three tanks. One 55 gal with four tiger barbs, One 55 gal with a calvus and another chichlid, and 1 29 gal with one catfish. All three of the tanks have high nitrate. Like really high levels. I have been changing the water for weeks and the values havent come down. Another issue, even with all the water changes and the PH of my tap over 8, my ph is below 7, around 6.6. I have cleaned the gravel and the filters and nothing. I have checked the tap water and there are no nitrates at all. It is driving me crazy. Any suggestions? Is it possible to have too much bioloigical filtration? Doe anyone have any success stories with any of the nitrate removal products. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I want to add more fish to the tanks but not until the nitrates are under 10. Not 300 like they are now.

Grumpy

 

[punkrockfish]

300? what test kit are you using?

 

[LtGtR2]

Yeah the type of test kit would be a start, how old is the test kit. Could be faulty but that is a rare occasion. My first question would be What kind of filters are you running on these tanks! Your tanks don't seem to be over stocked and if your doing water changes like you say you are there should be no reason it should not come down! To much biofiltration i don't think that would matter unless you are over feeding your fish producing a lot of waste and if a lot of food is left un-eaten. This would cause the "High biofiltration" (which i don't think is the problem) to rapidly break down all this extra waste causing a high Nitrate level. I would keep up with water changes and continue to monitor the nitrates and hopefully they will come down naturally. But i would provide the following, Exact nitrate levels for each tank, the test kit you are using, exact species of fish in each tank and i am sure some one else might be able to give you there opinion as well.

 

[LtGtR2]

I almost forgot welcome to the tank Grumpy! You'll find a lot of opinions and answers here, everyone has helped me learn a lot as well!

 

[TAL]

Yea...something is amiss with the reading of 300 and your fish aren;t all dead.

 

[MatthewLaw]

hmmm...regarding the fish in their respective tanks, how long have they been in there?

Ex. Did the 55g with the 4 barbs originally have a lot more fish in it (causing the high nitrate levels)?

What are your amonia and nitrite levels?

 

[brian1973]

Have to agree with what has already been said...what test kit are you using? My API master doesnt go up past 160..matter of fact it goes from 80 then 160 so my guess is anything close to that high will probably leave a tank of floating fish.

 

[Grumpy]

Okay....i am a little exasperated. i am using the API nitrate test kit. The highest reading is 160. All three of my tanks are at least 80. I tested the tap water and it is 0 to 5. I am using a Rena xp2 filter on the 29, a xp3 on one 55 and HOT Pro system on the second 55 gallon.

History - Over the summer some of the fish in the 29 gallon died. I took water to the pet store and they told me my water was bad. I was really mad at myself because i had two catfish in there that i got in the 90's and i lost one of them. But after the pet store visit, i changed all my tanks daily for a couple of weeks. Bought some more fish and they died again. Got a nitrate kit and the nitrates have been high ever since. Somehow the second catfish has lived although, he is in trouble now. I have four tiger barbs surviving somehow in a 55 gallon and 2 fish in the other 55 gallon. I try and clean and change the water every three weeks.

How much water should i change and how often should i do it to try and get problem under control. I will take suggestions, try it, and report back progress.

I feed the fish every other day.

I appreciate all the suggestions and help so far.

Grumpy

 

[sombunya]

I do 25% water changes in all my tanks every week. I asked the very professional owner of a local fish store how often she does water changes in her tanks (marine and fresh, over 100 tanks). She does her's once a month. I told her I do mine once a week and she said that's also good.

My tanks are all cycled and the fish are healthy. However, while most of my tanks have Nitrates in the 5-10 ppm range my Sculpin tank, 20 gallon, was running about 40 ppm. I'm not sure why that one was higher but I did a 50% change right there.

I check Nitrites and Ammonia about three times a week. Always good. I check Nitrates once a week. Only way to get them down is with a water change.

I think I'll check everything tonight...

 

[sombunya]

Quick follow-up. If your filters are set to maximum flow you should be very good there.

The API Master test kit is the best, I think. I really can't see being without it. I paid $25 at my LFS. Probably the same at this link with shipping.

That would be my first step if I was dealing with water problems.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

I use some floating hornwort to control nitrate levels. It's pretty easy to come by, and it's a low-light plant.
My nitrate levels are typically around 5ppm or lower when I have hornwort in it.

 

[Pure]

How many water changes are you doing? If there aren't any nitrates in your tap water and unless you have a human corpse in your gravel, water changes should lower nitrates. If they aren't coming down then they are climbing at higher rate than you are removing them ergo not enough water is being changed.

 

[LtGtR2]

Water change this blah blah blah! know what i think it could be WHENS THE LAST TIME THOSE FILTERS GOT A Cleaning?! this is a wild guess but if those filters do not get the Proper cleaning and replacements they need could this not cause the nitrate spike i think it could! check back and tell everyone if you have or not! cause that's the only thing i can think of... its 1am were i live this is all jibberish soooooo BYE! haha

 

[MatthewLaw]

Why are you not testing amonia and nitrite too?

Since I have not dealt with cannister filters, the follow question may/may not be relevant. If you change the filters then will you essentilly force the tank to re-cycle?

When your LFS said the water was bad, did the representative say what was wrong with it??

 

[LtGtR2]

I don't mean change the filters i mean to clean them and make sure they are up to snuff and not clogged with crap and other materials that could potentially keep the nitrate level to stay high cause your never really getting it out of the water?

 

[Grumpy]

The Rena Canister filters were actually replacements, although i dont remember when i put them into service as compared to my lingering nitrate issue. But, when i changed filters, i did keep all the filter media from the old filters. I have never tested for nitrites. Didnt know they could be an issue. For amonia, i have one of those continuous monitor things from seachum that is supposed to be good for a year. It says the amonia is okay. Maybe these dont work.

At lunch today, i started the process of trying to get my tanks back. I will log what i do and let you know if i have any success. today, i took 5 from my 29 and added 10. From one 55, i took 10 and added 10. From the second 55, i took 10 and added 15. in addition, i took out half the gravel, rinsed it out and replaced it. I will do the other half in a week or so.

Grumpy