nitrate crisis

[stef25]

setup: 29G tank, 3 bala shark, 5 clown loaches, 2 flying foxes, 2 small unidentified algae eaters

hi everyone,

this is my first post and immediatly somewhat of an emergency. one of the bala sharks died recently and i did a check of the water

all seems well except the nitrates which are at a shocking 250ppm. nitrites are almost 0. following advise i found here i just did a 50% water change. i will keep doing this daily until the nitrate levels reach about 40ppm.

is that the right thing to do, or should i get a product that will speed things up? how many water changes should be required to reach comfortable nitrate levels?

since the tank is being moved within a week or two, i just want them to feel good until then.

- stefan

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Just keep with those water changes. The tank is already fully cycled, it probably just hasn't had a water change in a while. Should take 3 days or so to get the nitrates down to 40ish (changing 50% of the water cuts the nitrates in half), then keep up with weekly water changes and they'll stay down.

 

[stef25]

thanks!

to make it a bit more complicated: i changed the filter medium a few days ago. with hindsight i realise it was a bad idea

will this affect the situation in a negative way, like break the ongoing cycling process?

 

[cakelady204]

Hi, I too just went through a nitrate crisis. After losing my rainbow shark I checked the nitrates and mine too were shockingly high. I did 25% water changes for a week and now it is down to 40 ppm and still dropping. I hadn't done any water changes for a while and my water was "old".

 

[Seleya]

What is the nitrite reading? You said it was almost zero.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Generally you'd want to change the filter a few days apart from when you vacuum the gravel. However, because you are doing big water changes you won't notice a mini-cycle if there is one... the bacteria will grow back up within a few days or so.

 

[GIS Guy]

I tested the tap water I use for my aquarium for nitrates. The water tested at 20 ppm. My nitrates are very high and do not seem to come down with water changes. Now I know part of the reason.

I have been reading about live plants lately. Plants will help to reduce nitrate?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Yes, plants will help. You can get low light plants that will grow with the standard light in your hood.

 

[GIS Guy]

Sweet. I have been looking into lighting and haven't really wanted to dish out the $$ for new lights. So far the fish have not shown any adverse affects from the high nitrates. And my ramshorn seems to have stopped dissolving now that I have boosted the calcium.

I have recently planted the tank heavily with artificial plants. Can I get just a couple live plants and do a graduale thinning out of the artificial?

 

[wayne]

I think you'll find the bala sharks might be heavy on the plants.

 

[stef25]

seleya - my testing kit is not v accurate. "almost zero" or negligeble is all i can say