# high nitrate battle



## upgradepc

truthfully i havent checked my nitrate level in months. the other day i noticed 2 of my reds flashing. so i did all my tests and decided to do the nitrate test. everything read zero, ph 6.5 and nitrate was at 50ppm. my tap water is reading about 5ppm. my ac110 was due for a cleaning and was pretty dirty. so i cleaned it and did a 20% water change. i just started to feed my reds every other day. my tank is now reading about 30ppm. i have plenty of live plants in my tank so why would my nitrates be so high? here is a pic of my tank with all the plants in it. should i get more plants?


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## dirtrider_24_7

Dude,
50 ppm of nitrates isnt really that bad. I mean yeah, you do need to change some water out but nothing to loose sleep over. From the looks of it you have a nice tank happening there. I have had my battles with nitrates as well. Try and keep them under 40ppm and your fish will be fine. 
From what I have learned in this hobby, piranha's are actually pretty tough fish. Doesn't mean you should abuse them or anything but yeah nitrates that are a little on the high side aren't that bad. 
Keep changing the water (20% per day) until the nitrate goes down to where you want it.

Peace


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## upgradepc

piranha are very hardy fish but when they start flashing its not a good sign. i forgot to add i have done 2, 20% water changes this week and the nitrates continue to climb. i do not overfeed. i have found that if its not one thing its another when keeping fish. i guess there is nothing i can do except do 2 water changes a week. or add a crap ton of plants.


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## db04ph

could be something rotting


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## cobrafox46

What size tank?....I doubt you can get enough plants to consume the nitrates that are being produced with all those P's.


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## Dr. Giggles

Your nitrates as mentioned were not really to much out of acceptable levels. Also regarding the plants/nitrates relationship you will probably need another 50 plants in there to make a difference...


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## upgradepc

i have 4 in a 75g. could it be driftwood? my nitrates were at 30 the other day now today somewhere between 40-50. i removed a rock that was laying next to my driftwood and found some poop but not enough to do any harm. i added my fourth rbp maybe a couple weeks ago and had an ammonia spike of .25 for a day or 2. im going to start monitoring my nitrates from now on. my fish havent flashed since i cleaned my filter out and started the water changes. but i think its more of a dirty filter and the new addition of the piranha which has caused these high nitrates. my other 75g with my rhom is reading all zeros and about 15ppm nitrate


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## NegativeSpin

You can do a 40% water change every other day and after the 5th time you do a water change you should be down to like 25 PPM nitrates max and you can keep up that routine with a python hose to minimize work. You can do up to a 40% water change per day without causing to much of a pH fluctuation.


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## cobrafox46

4 that size in a 75 will probably always have higher nitrates.


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## CLUSTER ONE

50 isnt all to bad, but under 40 and preferably lower is recomended. I would just start with a water change, gravel vac and a quick cnage of mech media or clean it. The nitrates arnt bad, but i would test for things like ammonia or nitrites b/c reds flashing could be a sign of something being off.Then just do a waterchange in every couple days then when levels lower go back to once a week. Also visually cheack tank after feeding then remove any food that hasnt been eaten.



cobrafox46 said:


> 4 that size in a 75 will probably always have higher nitrates.


no nessisarily, all it means is he has to do more water changes to keep up with the higher bioload. ex. if a same sized tank has a rhom instead of 4 reds assuming the same size, the reds tank could acheive the same nitrate level as the rhom tank, but they just need more maitnence and waterchanges since they are creating roughly 4 times the waste.


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## upgradepc

ok well i changed 12 gallons last night and today im reading somewhere between 40-80ppm nitrate. its really hard to distinguish between 40-80ppm. . i still have 0 ammonia and nitrite. i have sand as substrate so its not like i have decaying material in gravel. im about to pull up my driftwood and check under that and and recently cleaned my canister filter a few weeks ago. about a month ago i had a crash in my ph and it was reading as low as my chart went at 6. i added crushed corals and have kept a steady ph of 6.5 and my tap is 7.2. so if something didnt manage to get its way under my driftwood what am i doing wrong or do i need to remove 1 piranha in which i would rather get a bigger tank than lose any of them. oh the only other thing that i totally forgot about is i havent cleaned my canister tubing in almost 3 months.i keep forgetting to order a long brush to clean it. could there be a build up of crap that could be causing these nitrates? i think i covered it all.


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## the_w8

Do you jus change the water or do you actually do gravel vacs. You could have some debris deep in the sand rotting too. Having 4 reds in a 75G I'd definitely be doing weekly-2 times a week water changes especially if you plan on feeding ur reds everyother day. it's definitely a bigger bio-load adding the extra P and upping the feeding amounts. Keep up on the water changes and the nitrates should drop over time. I don't even think my nitrates are ever below 10 ppm, for the most being between 10-20.


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## upgradepc

I vacuum the sand. How often should I be feeding my reds?


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## CLUSTER ONE

upgradepc said:


> I vacuum the sand. How often should I be feeding my reds?


 depends on their size, small ones can eat daily, but large ones could eat once or twice a week, but just larger proportions. Small portions more often would probably be best, but just feed as much as they consume in one sitting and if they dont eat it all, reduce the portion or frequency , so food isnt wasted. I usually feed my adult reds half a fillet or equivilent mayby every 4-7 days depending on their stomach size.


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## upgradepc

So I have been overfeeding. My p are 5-6". So I can feed them every 3-5 days. I always thought they needed to be fed once a day to every other day


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## Piranha Dan

Back off the feedings and you'll see less nitrates for sure. I've been slowly weaning my Reds off every other day feedings and now that I'm only feeding once a week I've seen a major drop in maintenance.


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## upgradepc

ok im going to try feeding once every 3 days and see how it goes. thanks.


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## the_w8

yea every 2-3 days should be fine and once they hit like 8" range ( 1 year old ish) you could prolly drop it down to once every 4-5 days.


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## Piranha Dan

upgradepc said:


> ok im going to try feeding once every 3 days and see how it goes. thanks.


I would start with every 2 days first. You don't want to suddenly deprieve them of food or they might eat each other lol. What I did was add one day between feedings every week. First week was every 2 days, 2nd week was ever 3 days and so on.


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## upgradepc

i just fed them after 3 days. i have done little water changes everyday and im still getting darkish red color on my tests. im using the api nitrate test, but tommorow im going to buy a new test set. the manuf. date is feb-apr '08. i heard they go bad after 2 years. these tests just dont seem right to me.


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## Piranha Dan

Anything above 20ppm is really hard to distinguish for me. The only reason I know my tank's nitrates were at 20ppm before is do a water change is the test after the change comes up the brighter orange color of 10 ppm.:laugh:


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## Pat

This may sound weird...
Perhaps your filter is too efficient regarding nitrate conversion. I know some shy away from bio wheels and other wet/dry filtration because they consider them nitrate factories.

Also...
I'm at work so I haven't read in detail your earlier comments so forgive me for asking... what % of your water are you changing?

EDIT:
I'm back home. I read your water changes are 20%. There were a few comments about max 40-50% water changes. I wouldn't fear going more. I'd start 50%... and work your way to 75%. By then you'll be very low ppm and that will give you a good starting point. Discus breeders often do up to 100% daily changes and there fish thrive. My big rhom gets 70% twice a week.


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