Nitrate Difficulties

[Discuslover593]

Hi everyone, i'm new to the discus community.

Anyways, i have been having some nitrate issues with my tank,so i would like some advice, here are my tank specs:

60 gallon planted tank (no co2, only liquid ferts, amazon swords mainly and crypts plus micros swords)
eheim canister filter 2215 with course plus fine filter pads, purigen,and ceramic bio balls and rings.
Fish:
15 cardinal tetras
5 serpae tetras
3 bristlenose plecos
10 corydoras
pair of apistogrammas cacuatoides
4 discus from kenny's discus (will get 3 more later)

i have been having some nitrate issues with the tank. the nitrates get somewhat high (up to 10 ppm) and this may have been due to overfeeding, so i have cut back on feeding. I do 5-10 gallon water changes weekly with a combo of dechlornated tap water and rodi water which i premix in a storage tank beforehand.
I would appreciate some feedback, and fishes are OK for now but can tell are breathing more rapidly at times, especially with mouth open. pretty sure this isn't normal.

[wild4discus]

I am surprised your nitrates aren't much higher than what you stated. IMO, your tank is overstocked and definitely not enough water changing. How much and how many times a day do you feed? What size are your discus? Also, plecos add a lot of bio load since they poop a lot. If I were you, I would hold off adding any more fish to your tank until you fix your water quality issue. Discus require frequent W/C's; so the 5-10 gallons a week isn't going to cut it especially if they are young discus and want to grow them out properly. If they are juvies, a bare bottom tank is the way to go.

[MendoMan]

I would say with his load 10 ppm is excellent. At 10 ppm nitrates are not your problem.

[Discuslover593]

hey thanks for your feedback. Yeah, wild4discus, i do see that the tank is overstocked, so i'll try removing 2 of the plecos, they aren't difficult to catch, and maybe the serpaes if i can catch them. It really all is a matter of catching the fish, as i have a quarantine tank also running where i can place the other fish in. and yes, i am not adding the other discus until later, and i do have the quarantine tank on hand as well. I feel that as a fish owner, i have a great responsibility in owning these fish so i am always trying to fix a problem if one comes up. so yeah.

[ericNH]

Change.
More.
Water.

[Discuslover593]

And i also want to mention, i am planning to do multiple water changes weekly, 2-3, 10-15 gallons each, starting tomorrow. I also got all of my plecos out of my tank along with a few other fish. bit of a task, but well worth it to ensure my discus will be happy in the long run.

[ericNH]

Your discus will thank you for the water changes.