# Pain in the a$$ Nitrate problem...



## xpac (Apr 29, 2004)

I've had my 125 gallon up and running since last May, currently it houses 7 pygos ranging from 5.5" - 8.5". Up until recently they were being fed once daily, not extreme amounts of food: for example, one day maybe a few (2-3) cat fish nuggets, another day a few slices of tilapia, another day one or two jumbo shrimp, enough so that they all got some and it was all gone within 5 minutes - not overfeeding in my opinion but I may be mistaken.

Anyway, for a long time I was doing weekly 25-35% water changes, until one day I decided to test nitrates. Imagine my suprise when they were off the friggin chart (chart goes up to 160 ppm). There was no food in the tank, I always make sure nothing is left over and I checked to make sure I didn't miss anything. After a week and a half of daily water changes (25%) and continuing daily feedings, and there was absolutely no change in nitrates. Finally I was advised to do some HUGE water changes so I began doing 50% water changes about every other day which helped, I also starved them a bit during the process. Well after I finally got them down (I THINK around 20 it was a few months ago), I decided to switch to doing 3 weekly 50% water changes (WAY higher than anyone here that I know of does on a regular basis). Well, I continued once daily feeding until about a week and a half ago, when again the nitrates were off the chart.

So, last week I decided to switch them to every other day feeding. Last week I did a 50% water change on Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri., Sat., AND Sun.
I match the temp and the pH is identical in the tank and straight from the tap so it's no problem and the fish don't mind at all. Today I test the water, and it's at 40 ppm....WTF??? There are no food particles whatsoever in the water, the pads are fairly new and there is no food trapped in the filters. The only thing I have are some live plants (which are going to be the next thing to go as I'm fed up with this problem, although I don't think they are to blame), no driftwood nothing else....

Does ANYONE have a clue as to what is going on?? I also checked the tap water which I use, and it sometimes barely registers on the nitrate chart, and sometimes tests as high as 10 ppm nitrates, but still, something f'd up is going on in this tank. I'm tempted to drain the entire tank (and put the fish in buckets with tank water), and then fill it back up with 100% clean water (of course making sure the temp and everything is right before putting the fish back in)...Can anybody think of anything else to do? I mean 6 50% water changes in 8 days should've been more than enough to bring the nitrates down below 40, right? Or am I missing something here....

P.S. I forgot to mention that ammonia and nitrites are zero so there is no re-cycling going on


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## Soldat (Aug 28, 2004)

What kind of filtration do you have? Did you mention how often you gravel vac?This would help in figuring out your problem.


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## NegativeCamber (Nov 29, 2004)

ya, I currently have your same problem... I mean off the chart nitrates.... Still doing water changes (not as much as you were though) and it still seems not to change a bit..


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## xpac (Apr 29, 2004)

kevinhaeb said:


> What kind of filtration do you have? Did you mention how often you gravel vac?This would help in figuring out your problem.
> [snapback]892975[/snapback]​


I've got 4 emp 400's on it, the media cartridges are full of ceramic rings so it has plenty of mechanical and biological filtration.

I use a python for water changes so I do gravel vacs like once a week....


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## sccavee (Feb 11, 2003)

Test your tap water. For example where I live its acceptable for the city water to have 10-15 PPM nitrate in the water.

Also even feeding every other day maybe too much. I feed every 4 days. You do have 7 decent size Ps in a 125 so your bioload is pretty high.


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## xpac (Apr 29, 2004)

sccavee said:


> Test your tap water. For example where I live its acceptable for the city water to have 10-15 PPM nitrate in the water.
> 
> Also even feeding every other day maybe too much. I feed every 4 days. You do have 7 decent size Ps in a 125 so your bioload is pretty high.
> [snapback]893116[/snapback]​


Tap water's barely 10 ppm, I'm gonna try to switch them to feeding every 3 days and see how that works out. The only culprit I guess is that they are eating too often....


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

xpac said:


> sccavee said:
> 
> 
> > Test your tap water. For example where I live its acceptable for the city water to have 10-15 PPM nitrate in the water.
> ...


I believe we had this conversation in the summer. Yea, definitely skip a day between feedings. 3 times a week is plenty. You may even need to do 40% water changes every 3 days for a while. Just match the temp and PH as close as possible. If still the nitrates are persistent after adjustment it may be time for an upgrade or downsize stock.


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## BruceLee420 (Nov 19, 2004)

me 2 man i have not that high of nitrate but a very high one and i have a huge powerfilter(one for up to 160 gallons) and a biowheel for up to to 120 or so gallons..i jsut dont understand it...i have live plants to but i have no clue and also i have 3 red bellies one kinda large and two mediums


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## xpac (Apr 29, 2004)

jerry_plakyda said:


> I believe we had this conversation in the summer. Yea, definitely skip a day between feedings. 3 times a week is plenty. You may even need to do 40% water changes every 3 days for a while. Just match the temp and PH as close as possible. If still the nitrates are persistent after adjustment it may be time for an upgrade or downsize stock.


LOL, yeah we did. I switched to doing multiple 50% water changes weekly, but it still doesn't keep the nitrates down. I'm going to try to ween them to 3 weekly feedings, and see how that goes...


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## Fido (May 21, 2003)

> The only thing I have are some live plants (which are going to be the next thing to go as I'm fed up with this problem, although I don't think they are to blame),


umm if anything i would get more plants. I have been told by many that they reduce nitrates very well.


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## xpac (Apr 29, 2004)

Filo said:


> > The only thing I have are some live plants (which are going to be the next thing to go as I'm fed up with this problem, although I don't think they are to blame),
> 
> 
> umm if anything i would get more plants. I have been told by many that they reduce nitrates very well.
> ...


Nope, I used to have a TON of live plants (I bought special lights, fertilizer, etc.), including some that are supposed to be know for their nitrate reducing ability. All they really did was cost me lots of $$$ and time, live plants are a pain to maintain


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

I dont think filtration is the issue when dealing with nitrates. Have you taken a sample to a lfs to check it? Just to make sure your test kit is ok? That is where I would start. Doing water changes when your tap water has nitrates will not be as effective as someone with no tap nitrates...but it should still lower the levels....especially with the amount you are doing.


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