nitrate

[kane]

hello,
I keep getting high nitrate readings regardless of water changes and would like to know what else i can do to bring them down.
I just tested a few minutes ago and the reading was about 40.
I have a 50 breeder with 14 africans im using a whisper 60 and a whisper 30 for filtration.the ammonia and ntrites are both 0.
thanks in advance!

Erik.

 

[Lotus]

Have you tested your tapwater for nitrates? How often and what percentage of water are you changing?

 

[kane]

I change 25-40% 1-2 times a week.
I have not tested my tap water .

 

[kane]

Ok, I just tested my water from the tap and it shows thats its between 0.5 and 10.
Am I overstocked or do i not have enough filtration?
I don't know if this has anything to do with it but I have dolomite for substrate. 2-3"
I vacum when i change the water.

 

[wayne]

You have plenty filtration, but the end product of your filtration is nitrate.

You are heavily stocked, and if you want to get that nitrate down you need to either shift more water, or try to grow plants in there.

 

[kane]

shift more water??
would a air stone do this?

 

[wayne]

No I mean more water changes. Nothing in your setup will remove nitrates as it stands, so you must do it. Everything is setup to PRODUCE nitrate.

Bear in mind if you have 50 ppm nitrate in your systyem , by doing a 20% change you will only go down to 40 IF your tapwater contains no nitrate. So partial water changes will never reduce you to a really low level, unless they're large and frequent. By commiting yourself to a setup like you have now, with a lot of large fish deliberately overcrowded to reduce aggression you are also commiting yourself to a lot of water changes.

 

[kane]

ok, I will do larger water changes.
should i do them more frequently or keep my current regimen?

 

[Fish Friend]

to remove NitrAtes...you can use R.O water (Reverse Osmosis, that will also bring your phosphates down) or Nitra-Zorb...my lfs have it in stock, all it simply does is just absorb all youre nitrates
It definately worth a try, i use it along with my phosphate remover
More water changes will not do anything to it, especially if your tap water is full of nitrates

 

[wayne]

'More water changes will not do anything to it,' - you might want to clarify, explin that.

The other advantage water changes have over nitrate removal resins apart from cost , practicality ( you can use a LOT of this stuff if you have high levels to begin with) is that not all fish waste enters the nitrate cycle - most does, but a significant amount of nasties (hormones, phenols, other wastes) do not, and jsut build up unless removed