My discus arrived! But concerned.

[lipadj46]

For simplicity and low nitrates many discus tank sumps only have a filter sock and then a chamber of air driven moving bed filter with kaldnes k1 media with poret foam dividers.

[MKD]

can it be from your soil bleaching ? how long have you set this tank up and what is your soil?

[strawberryblonde]

can it be from your soil bleaching ? how long have you set this tank up and what is your soil?

What he said! =)

I had high (20ppm) nitrates in my planted tank for 4 months...drove me nuts. And then I switched from Eco-Complete type soil to pool filter sand and bingo, nitrates dropped just like that. I use all low light plants and they didn't mind the switch to sand one bit, so I could have saved myself a lot of aggravation if I'd just used sand right from the start, huh? LOL

[dkeef]

Tank is a month old. I have safe t sorb. 400lbs in it.
When it was cycling i didnt see any nitrate in beginning. After end of fishless cycle nitrate shot up to 80ppm.

[GrayLadyPat]

Are there any other fish in the tank besides your discus? I am curious about your bio load. My planted tank depends on a balance of fish and plants. Depending on the params, I add or remove plants (rather than fish) according to whether or not there are too many or not enough nutrients in the tank. With a higher nitrates, I would hazard a guess as there are either not enough plants or too many fish, but only if everything else is correct. In a heavily planted tank, it is easy to put too many fish in, as there wouldn't be a way to place enough plants to carry the load.

Just a thought from one who has always had planted tanks, but relatively new to discus.

[trungnguyen]

i wouldn't put them in 20ppm nitrate. do you put fertz in planted tank? why it's too high?

David every time you hydro vac or disturb the bottom nitrates will rise, lights off and don't bother them, give them a few days

my tank has gravel, would the nitrates rise if I vacuum the bottom when I do water change?