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Thread: High Nitrates

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    Question High Nitrates

    Hi, hope everyone is doing well. So I have a 60 gallon tank that has a few corydoras, kuhli loaches, neons, and rummynose tetras. I am planning on getting 2 new discus for this tank soon but my nitrates are around (60-75 ppm) which I know is not good for discus since they like their water very clean. Any suggestions on how to get my nitrates to a good level? Tank is planted an cycled. I have been doing a water change once to maybe twice a week. Should I do 50% water changes until I get down to around 5 ppm? And would this affect any of the fish I have now. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks!

  2. #2

    Default Re: High Nitrates

    I to am battling high nitrates and can tell you what I have been doing, first off

    I would check the nitrates of your water change source, and I have incorporated seachem matrix in my filters which seems to be helping and I am also going to try biohome and I am doing 50%WC twice a week, anything over 50% I would check your ph from tank to water change source to make sure you don't get any wild ph swings

    Jeanne

    And also I would go with a minimum of 5 discus in that tank rather than 2
    Last edited by Sturiosoma; 05-29-2020 at 07:00 AM.

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    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    Quote Originally Posted by lucasbuck2826 View Post
    Hi, hope everyone is doing well. So I have a 60 gallon tank that has a few corydoras, kuhli loaches, neons, and rummynose tetras. I am planning on getting 2 new discus for this tank soon but my nitrates are around (60-75 ppm) which I know is not good for discus since they like their water very clean. Any suggestions on how to get my nitrates to a good level? Tank is planted an cycled. I have been doing a water change once to maybe twice a week. Should I do 50% water changes until I get down to around 5 ppm? And would this affect any of the fish I have now. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks!
    Hi Lucus, start with 30% daily and work up to 50% or so until the nitrates are down to about 5. Your existing fish will appreciate the cleaner water. Testing your source water for nitrates as Jeanne suggested is also a good idea as a baseline.
    Pat
    Your discus are talking to you....are you listening


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    Platinum Member fljones3's Avatar
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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    I would also look at your feeding regiment (too much?) along with testing your tap water. Sounds like your fish load is not much and your changing water up to twice a week, where are the high nitrates coming from? If it’s planted, what is your substrate? How long has the tank been running?

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    Silver Member Iminit's Avatar
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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    High nitrates!! Ok I’ve never bought into this. 20yrs ago we never tested for nitrates. Are either of your fish showing signs of stress? Lucas how much water are you changing now and what kit are you using? Sturiosoma how high are your nitrates? I have both matrix and bio-home. Yes I like both yes sponge is just as good. What matrix and biohome say they can do is just not true or only true if you go to the extreme. Both hold and grow bb and have a great surface area. But for either to denitrify nitrate they need to be in a dark oxygen free environment. Like a canister filter that never gets cleaned. Even than they won’t eat A ton of nitrate. The best way to remove nitrate is water changes. What Pat says is best. Start with smaller water changes of 30% than go up to 50%. Know your water supply! Keep your tank as close as you can in water quality to your tap water. Lucas for your nitrate to be that high there has to be a different reason. You don’t have much in that tank. Is that a new or old tank? Pictures will help.

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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    The question is more basic. Under current conditions, the tank is running 60 - 70 ppm nitrates. Two discus, each of which will be larger than any other fish in the tank, will be added. When you add the discus, nitrate levels will increase, and increase at a much faster rate, afterwards.

    Like other Amazon fish, discus is fairly sensitive to nitrate. To keep nitrate level at 20 ppm, you'll need a plan to make more frequent, and larger, water changes. I think having this plan worked out is more important. Otherwise, it's going to be a waste of money.

    Willie
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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    Agree with all and some degree of skepticism in re your test is warranted, so good idea to validate the nitrate value prior to "fixing" what may be a bad test strip.
    Also what filtration are you using?, canister or HOB or in fact any mechanical filtration can become a nitrate generator when detritus stays and breaks down into nitrates and phosphates, may need to clean/replace your medium more frequently. This phenomenon spelled the end of undergravel filter systems: crystal clear water but sky high nitrates or frequent difficult cleanings of substrate to avoid.

  8. #8

    Default Re: High Nitrates

    Quote Originally Posted by Iminit View Post
    High nitrates!! Ok I’ve never bought into this. 20yrs ago we never tested for nitrates. Are either of your fish showing signs of stress? Lucas how much water are you changing now and what kit are you using? Sturiosoma how high are your nitrates? I have both matrix and bio-home. Yes I like both yes sponge is just as good. What matrix and biohome say they can do is just not true or only true if you go to the extreme. Both hold and grow bb and have a great surface area. But for either to denitrify nitrate they need to be in a dark oxygen free environment. Like a canister filter that never gets cleaned. Even than they won’t eat A ton of nitrate. The best way to remove nitrate is water changes. What Pat says is best. Start with smaller water changes of 30% than go up to 50%. Know your water supply! Keep your tank as close as you can in water quality to your tap water. Lucas for your nitrate to be that high there has to be a different reason. You don’t have much in that tank. Is that a new or old tank? Pictures will help.
    I can say that my nitrates were thru the roof but mine are caused from a high bio load and the seachem matrix has helped and I also agree with Pat about water changes, but you first have to know what the nitrates are of your water change source, and also Lucas does not seem to have a high bio load so what it is that it causing the problem, sometimes I think it's a process of elimination

    Jeanne

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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    Quote Originally Posted by dspeers View Post
    Agree with all and some degree of skepticism in re your test is warranted, so good idea to validate the nitrate value prior to "fixing" what may be a bad test strip.
    My thoughts as well. Strips aren't that reliable and regular test kits can go bad. I would re-test and if it's still high I would look for another possible source. I have a pretty high bio load and feed heavily and with every day or other day water changes my nitrates are rarely above 5.

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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    Quote Originally Posted by Sturiosoma View Post
    I to am battling high nitrates and can tell you what I have been doing, first off

    I would check the nitrates of your water change source, and I have incorporated seachem matrix in my filters which seems to be helping and I am also going to try biohome and I am doing 50%WC twice a week, anything over 50% I would check your ph from tank to water change source to make sure you don't get any wild ph swings

    Jeanne

    And also I would go with a minimum of 5 discus in that tank rather than 2
    Great! Thanks Jeanne!

  11. #11
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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    Quote Originally Posted by fljones3 View Post
    I would also look at your feeding regiment (too much?) along with testing your tap water. Sounds like your fish load is not much and your changing water up to twice a week, where are the high nitrates coming from? If it’s planted, what is your substrate? How long has the tank been running?
    I have tested my tap water and there are not nitrates in it. Part of my substrate is sand and the other is some Fluval aqua soil. The tank has been running for about three months now. Thanks

  12. #12
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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    Quote Originally Posted by Willie View Post
    The question is more basic. Under current conditions, the tank is running 60 - 70 ppm nitrates. Two discus, each of which will be larger than any other fish in the tank, will be added. When you add the discus, nitrate levels will increase, and increase at a much faster rate, afterwards.

    Like other Amazon fish, discus is fairly sensitive to nitrate. To keep nitrate level at 20 ppm, you'll need a plan to make more frequent, and larger, water changes. I think having this plan worked out is more important. Otherwise, it's going to be a waste of money.

    Willie
    I agree. Thank you so much!

  13. #13
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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    Quote Originally Posted by dspeers View Post
    Agree with all and some degree of skepticism in re your test is warranted, so good idea to validate the nitrate value prior to "fixing" what may be a bad test strip.
    Also what filtration are you using?, canister or HOB or in fact any mechanical filtration can become a nitrate generator when detritus stays and breaks down into nitrates and phosphates, may need to clean/replace your medium more frequently. This phenomenon spelled the end of undergravel filter systems: crystal clear water but sky high nitrates or frequent difficult cleanings of substrate to avoid.
    I have been using a HOB Filter. I’ve heard people say that the sponges in the HOB filter can get clogged up with detritus and stuff and cause nitrates. It’s probably been over a month since I have changed the sponge. Do you think that could be the problem. Thanks, Lucas

  14. #14
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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    Siphon 3 gallons from your aquarium into a 5 gallon bucket. Remove your HOB filtration and rinse off in the bucket, you can reuse the sponges after cleaning, in fact you want to to maintain your nitrification capability, that's why you don't rinse in tap water. If the water is heavily fouled you have your answer. Just like nitrates will tell you how much/often to change your water, how cloudy the water is tells you how often you need to clean your filter elements. You also need to siphon clean your substrate and see how much crud has accumulated there, you might be stunned.

    You simply do not have enough fish to explain your nitrates, therefore you either
    1. Have a bad test
    2. Are adding too much crud aka overfeeding
    3. Not getting rid of the previously processed food, aka fish poop in the substrate and/or filter that bacteria will break down to nitrates and phosphates (unless you missed a deceased fish, absolutely wonderful nitrate source)

    Biochemically bacteria "eat" detritus and generate nitrates and phosphates, in addition carbon metabolism generates organic acids and CO2, all of which drop pH so I also agree with more frequent less volume WC, understand that 25% every 12 hours removes the same nitrates as 50% every 24 with less pH fluctuation. Have you been following your pH changes just before and then 30-60 min after water changes? You definitely want to solve this because a group of 5 discus is better if you want them happy, unless your goal is a breeding pair.

    Finally since we are discussing water quality, you also need to measure your carbonate hardness as kH measures your water's buffering capability aka ability to absorb acids without wide pH swings.

  15. #15
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    Default Re: High Nitrates

    Quote Originally Posted by Iminit View Post
    High nitrates!! Ok I’ve never bought into this. 20yrs ago we never tested for nitrates. Are either of your fish showing signs of stress? Lucas how much water are you changing now and what kit are you using? Sturiosoma how high are your nitrates? I have both matrix and bio-home. Yes I like both yes sponge is just as good. What matrix and biohome say they can do is just not true or only true if you go to the extreme. Both hold and grow bb and have a great surface area. But for either to denitrify nitrate they need to be in a dark oxygen free environment. Like a canister filter that never gets cleaned. Even than they won’t eat A ton of nitrate. The best way to remove nitrate is water changes. What Pat says is best. Start with smaller water changes of 30% than go up to 50%. Know your water supply! Keep your tank as close as you can in water quality to your tap water. Lucas for your nitrate to be that high there has to be a different reason. You don’t have much in that tank. Is that a new or old tank? Pictures will help.
    Two of my corys seem to be breathing a little harder then usual. I’m usually doing 25% water changes one to twice a week and I’ve been using an API Master Test Kit. The tank has been running for about 3 months
    I have a HOB Filter and haven’t replaced the sponge in awhile. Could that be the issue because I detritus can build up in the sponges if you don’t replace them. Thanks Lucas

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