# NitrAtes!



## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

I have 3 piranha tanks and my nitrates are fine in my two newest ones. My 38 gal with 5 RBP is giving me some problems.

First of all, my cycle took ages to finish because of extreme ammonia I am guessing. My nitrates are always extremely high, for example they were at least 160ppm and I did a 60% change, and then another 60% change the next day and they went down to approx. 40 ppm.

Since then, I have been doing 30% changes 1 to 2 times a week. I just checked and my nitrates were off the wall over 160ppm.

I feed my RBP well and I know my tank is small, but is this normal?

I am thinking my gravel must have something stuck in it making tons of ammonia?

Any suggestions?


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## MR HARLEY (Aug 12, 2003)

I think its the 5 p's in the 38 gallon and how much waste and or dead un eaten food that is causing the prob, 
~Edited for Stupidity , wasent thinking clearly ..


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## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

MR HARLEY said:


> I think its the 5 p's in the 38 gallon and how much waste and or dead un eaten food that is causing the prob, not enough bacteria to handle all them fellas in the tank .
> [snapback]1090210[/snapback]​


Harley, I am talking about NitrAtes the product of the bacteria. I think thats why my tank took so long to cycle cuz of the large amount of P's but the bacteria has definately developed by now. My ammonia and nitrites are always at 0.

Should I remove all decorations and do a full cleaning?


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

You cycled your tank with your P's in it?

Harley is correct. You are way overstocked. The end product of all the bacteria is what...??? nitr*A*tes. So if you have a high bioload for a small amount of water, you are going to have lots of ammonia and nitrites being consumed, thus the high nitrates.

If you are maintaining your tank correctly, IE regular gravel vacs, a "full cleaning" is not needed.


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## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

doctorvtec said:


> You cycled your tank with your P's in it?
> 
> Harley is correct. You are way overstocked. The end product of all the bacteria is what...??? nitr*A*tes. So if you have a high bioload for a small amount of water, you are going to have lots of ammonia and nitrates being consumed, thus the high nitrates.
> 
> ...


You are pissing me off man read the thread

He said NOT ENOUGH BACTERIA. There is clearly enough bacteria if i have NITRATES. I am maintaning my tank correctly as stated in my original post.


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

MR HARLEY said:


> I think its the 5 p's in the 38 gallon and how much waste and or dead un eaten food that is causing the prob,
> [snapback]1090210[/snapback]​


That part of his thread is correct. If you have high bioload in a small amount of water, you will have high waste, which equals high ammonia, which gets converted next to nitrite, which gets converted next to nitrate.

What part of it is so hard for you to grasp? Your high bioload is causing your problem.


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## MR HARLEY (Aug 12, 2003)

> So if you have a high bioload for a small amount of water, you are going to have lots of ammonia and nitrates being consumed, thus the
> high nitrates


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## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

doctorvtec said:


> MR HARLEY said:
> 
> 
> > I think its the 5 p's in the 38 gallon and how much waste and or dead un eaten food that is causing the prob,
> ...





> I feed my RBP well and I know my tank is small,


I guess I already knew this u ******* ***** (Post cleaned up)


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

You ask us what is wrong, and when we tell you, you argue then call us names?


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## MR HARLEY (Aug 12, 2003)

Aaronic said:


> doctorvtec said:
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> > MR HARLEY said:
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Take it easy Aaronic


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## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

doctorvtec said:


> You ask us what is wrong, and when we tell you, you argue then call us names?
> [snapback]1090281[/snapback]​


You are telling me something I already know, I was asking about any other possible reasons because the nitrates were so extreme


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

Aaronic said:


> doctorvtec said:
> 
> 
> > You ask us what is wrong, and when we tell you, you argue then call us names?
> ...


There is none, that is your reason.


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## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

doctorvtec said:


> Aaronic said:
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> > doctorvtec said:
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So I am supposed to do 30% changes daily or what?


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## MR HARLEY (Aug 12, 2003)

Aaronic said:


> doctorvtec said:
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> > Aaronic said:
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Well IMHO with that amount of fish in that tank , I would do at least a 10% gravel vac daily , if not every 2 days at 15 %


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

Well lets stop bickering and look at the obvious. You have a nitrate problem, a big one.

I can't tell you what to do, it is your tank and you are going to do what you want.

What would I do? Get a bigger tank. Sorry man but I think that is your remedy. You can try doing 20% a day with good gravel vac's to keep them down..


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## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

doctorvtec said:


> Well lets stop bickering and look at the obvious. You have a nitrate problem, a big one.
> 
> I can't tell you what to do, it is your tank and you are going to do what you want.
> 
> ...


thank you


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

Yup


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## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

MR HARLEY said:


> Aaronic said:
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> > doctorvtec said:
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thanks harley


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

Awesome way to work things out fellas. This is one of the first shows of maturity in P-fury's recent history.









Aaronic,
As they mentioned you can either do water changes daily to keep your bio load down or upgrade your tank. If you don't have the money then just take the extra half-hour each night and change the water. good luck man and keep us posted.


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## Aaronic (Apr 22, 2005)

Genin said:


> Awesome way to work things out fellas. This is one of the first shows of maturity in P-fury's recent history.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I have taken all decorations out of the tank and did a 60% change with full gravel vac. I am now going to do a 25% change bi daily until I can get a better tank for them.

I am goign to aquire a 67 (48x18). Should I put the rhom in there and the RBP in the 55 or put the RBP in the 67 and leave the rhom as he is?


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## Genin (Feb 4, 2003)

leave the rhom as is and put the reds in the 67.


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## shutter13 (Jun 23, 2004)

piranhas produce quite the bioload for 2 reasons.... 1) they eat a LOT 2) they're messy eaters

when i had my P's even at 6" in a 55 i had to do 2 large water changes a week... now with my cichlids i only have to do one and my nitrates stay very low


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## doctorvtec (May 15, 2004)

The rhom is fine where hes at. No need to put the stress of a move on him if it's really not needed.

Good gameplan, you should be good to go till you get your new fish. Just keep and eye on your Nitrates, and adjust your plan accordingy.


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## P-Power (Jan 23, 2004)

OK...

I have a thought about what some other possible reasons you have high nitrates.

Because all of these different chemicals are all inter-related, when they swing, they affect the others.. ammonia, nitrite, nitrate etc... and when they swing, would they not also occasionally cause spikes?

so this just might be a spike, right?


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