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High nitrates


mark_82

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Hi all,

I'm running a 5x2x2 african cichlid tank and nitrates are currently at 40-80 (hard to tell the difference using the API test kit) after doing a 30% water change yesterday. 2 weeks ago I did a 90% water change as I had to replace the sump. I tested nitrates the following day and they were around 40-80.

Fish are fed once a day. Sump currently has 8 litres of matrix in the 2nd baffle. Any ideas as to why my nitrates are so high? Is there anything I can do to lower them?

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Id be checking your water source and see id your tap has nitrates present.

Also id increase water changes to 50% weekly and clean your filter media in tank water make sure there isnt a build up of poop or waste in there.

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Thanks Skippy and Bradc.

Skippy I'll test my tap water later tonight. I tested it before but I don't remember the result.

Bradc I'll increase water changes to 50% weekly. I cleaned the filter media with tank water when the sump was replaced. Not sure why nitrates were so high after doing a 90% change unless there are nitrates present in my tap water.

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Never clean your filter media in tap water mate its full of chlorine and will have killed all your beneficial bacteria and caused your tank to cycle again.

But id say your tap water has some present by your readings. If its next day.

Get onto youtube and watch a few of aquarium coops videos on tank maintenance and the nitrogen cycle etc you will be better for it. 

Also if you washed all your media in tap water id probably get something like stability or something of the such as your tank is probably going through a cycle again and you may loose some fish.

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How often do you gravel vac etc? 

Gotta be something somewhere lol.

And all good i seen you had a few posts and didnt think you would have but just said it incase you were new to aquariums etc you know the drill.

Lost fish latley? And what kit? Api kits are known for giving wrong readings or for fetched readings especially if out of date.

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Before you spend too much time chasing your tail on this one, do yourself a favour and take a water sample to a shop that uses a brand other than API and get them to do a test for you.  We are seeing this problem time after time after time, and the common denominator is API.

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I siphon the sand with every fortnightly water change.

Yeah I agree that it's gotta be something somewhere, just not sure what lol

Haven't lost any fish recently. I'm using the API freshwater master test kit which I just purchased and expires in 2021.

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5 minutes ago, humbug said:

Before you spend too much time chasing your tail on this one, do yourself a favour and take a water sample to a shop that uses a brand other than API and get them to do a test for you.  We are seeing this problem time after time after time, and the common denominator is API.

Thanks humbug I'll do that. What test kit do you use?

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Probably best if you use one of the brands that supplies one of the reagents as a powder.  Its that reagent which doesn't stay stable in solution in the API kit which is probably responsible for their lack of reliability.

I've been using JBL for the past few years, but for a while we haven't had a wholesaler bringing JBL products into Australia.  I've had to buy from overseas.  I heard the other day that one of the Aussie wholesalers has negotiated to bring these products into the country again.  They should start to show up on LFS shelves again in around 3 months time.  That's great news for the hobby, not only for the accessibility of test kits, but for a range of other products!!!! 

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We had this as a tip of the day a few years ago, they were never posted here but if theres interest they could be.....

 

 

My NITRATES won't go down!!

Keeping nitrates diluted below 40ppm is an excellent way to ensure long term health in established community aquariums. Many SPS reefers will aim for below 5ppm. Discus keepers often aim for below 20ppm.

Its a personal standard that you set by looking at your livestock.

It does take a lot of nitrates to kill a fish, although taking a fish from low nitrate water and then dumping it into high nitrates can result in shock deaths. In general though nitrates is more likely to increase aggression and stunt growth, rather than kill fish.

By testing and recording you can then work out a water change regime to keep the nitrates below the threshold you set for your aquarium.

But sometimes, water changes don't seem to lower nitrates, OR they bounce back by the next day.

We call this situation OLD TANK SYNDROME or OTS and it is very annoying!

* OTS was made famous by UGF (under gravel filters) where the bottom plate has a habit of trapping a layer of mulm (old/new bacteria colonies and organic crud) that rots and releases nitrates back into the water. This can result in many frustrating water changes with no detectable dilution of nitrates. The solution is to lift the plate and vacuum the crud at more regular intervals. Some tanks will have certain ornaments that trap crud under them, these can be a good place to lift and vacuum clean.

* A gravel vacuum is an excellent way to remove concentrated waste from the gravel without the stress of removing all the gravel and water. Done weekly with a 25% water change it provides a proven routine to keeping most freshwater fish. Avoid big clean outs if at all possible. Clean things in stages staggered a few days apart. Remember if you remove anything with a large surface area (all the gravel, filter sponge, rocks) it will throw the bacteria balance out for a while. Smaller more frequent water changes and tank cleans are the secret to tanks that never look like they need a clean.

* With a sand base waste can be sucked off easily enough with a normal hose. Run fingers through sand beds every now and again to prevent bubbles of gas building up. Use a fish net underwater to separate gravel or grit out of your sand if the vacuum disturbed your layer effect. Of course if this is a deep sand bed in a marine aquarium there are definite benefits to leaving it undisturbed.

* If you have lots of algae in the aquarium, then you have a lot of nitrates in the aquarium. The water test may show very low nitrates BUT algae is basically nitrates made solid that you can see. So, if you kill all the algae, it will release the nitrates into the water and nitrates will spike. This is especially noticeable,

~ in freshwater aquariums when a pleco is added and it eats all the algae overnite.

~ in ponds when an algaecide or a UV are added.

~ in reefs when a macro-algae goes asexual.

So, if any of the above happen, its a good idea to partial water change to dilute released nitrates before they can be sucked back up by algae and the cycle continues.

* Canister filters can also build up with mulm, a high nitrate reading can sometimes be taken as a cue to give the filter media a good clean out in buckets of water from that aquarium. Don't be too thorough though; the aim is to clear the sponges to prevent them clogging flow. It's not to get everything spotlessly clean! We want some of the brown sludge microbes in there. THEY are the true keepers of aquariums. We humans look after them and they look after our tanks. Bacteria farming is the essence of fish keeping, just as keeping soil life healthy is the essence of gardening. Do not use tap water to clean. The aim is to reinvigorate the bacteria colonies not kill them all!

* With the rise of aquaponics the use of plants to remove nitrates from fish tanks/bowls/ponds has become mainstream. It can be as subtle as a few sword plants or duckweed in an aquarium, or as extreme as epic grow beds of vegetables. In this case nitrates are seen as a resource and not a problem. Its an interesting way to look at them

*If you notice your pond has evaporated be sure to REMOVE MORE WATER before you top it up. By removing the concentrated dirty water and then adding clean water you will dilute the dissolved stuff in the pond water. If you just keep topping it up, nutrients will concentrate and algae will bloom.

* Marine aquariums with OTS are a bit of a nightmare as the algae can just look so terrible. There are though many different options on the market these days for dealing with it. A good first step in many aquariums is to remove the old coral sand. This can be leaching nitrates and phosphates from its internal surface area. Sand is cheap compared to GFO!

* If you have a good skimmer, carbon dosing is a modern way to really monster nitrates using bacteria. There are many commercial options these days. You have the bio pellets that are placed into a reactor. The liquids that are dosed daily, and the cubes that can be just placed into a bag in the sump.

* Or you can instead employ macro algae style sea weeds to consume the algae for you. These aggressive algae are a good option IF you have enough room to setup a good refugium in your sump. The addition of marine iron supplements and the use of 6500K spectrum lighting creates good conditions for rapid macro growth.

* Another algae option is the algae scrubber. Once again a very old school method making a bit of a come back in the hobby.

* If you can go deep enough, a deep sand bed or DSB remains a method that can get good results. It takes a lot of sand though, and the maturation can take 6 months. Not the best method if you are in a rush.

*If you have an old reef consider 'cooking' some of the live rock to purge it. Cooking is far from an exact science but shows promise in treating OTS is old reef tanks. Its considered an old school technique now, but still has many fans.

* Get good at water changes and filter cleans, that way you can impress female fish geeks with your skills on their tanks. Nothing impressing girls more than someone else doing the water changes if ya do it right. Also comes in handy if you want to put tanks in shops, near computers or on expensive floors. The easier you make it, the more likely you will do it! So make it easy.

* If you just can't win no matter what, test the tapwater! Perhaps it is heavily contaminated with nitrates. The test the test. A false high reading can be caused by reaction between tank supliments and test kit reagents, with improper test technique and even because of a faulty test kit!

TLDR ~> If you partial water change and the fish are refreshed and swim around more happily.... then you need to partial water change more frequently. Dilute waste before the water becomes bad enough to effect fish behaviour. Don’t get too lazy with your tank. While not messing with stuff is what brings success in many cases (benign negligence) don't let too much nitrates build up in the system. A good clean up of mulm prevents nutrients being leached back into the system after a water change.

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