Typical nitrates?

[Hardgraf]

Hi all

I am growing out 8 4" tiger turquoise in a BB 60 gallon. I use a 250 gallon per hour cannister filter. I feed a varied diet with the staple food being beef/pork heart. I do 95% WC every day.

I went away for the weekend (1 day without WC & fed lightly before leaving). I returned on Sunday to the fish not looking well. Light colour, sluggish & yellow tired looking eyes (Much the same as I witnessed from an ammonia spike).

I immediately did 95% WC & fish recovered quickly. I tested the water prior to the WC. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites but high nitrate reading 50mg/l. There is a low amount of nitrate detectable in our tap water. Obviously it is good that the tank is cycled but is there anything I can do to keep nitrate down if I have to go away for the weekend in future? Presumably stop feeding the day before going away & then big WC just before leaving might help?

[AquaticNerd]

You could try looking into an algae scrubber - I know they're used quite a bit on reef tanks, but could be adapted for freshwater.

Another option would be getting some type of floating plant - duckweed, red-root floaters, etc. They are a pain to get rid of because they duplicate and grow so fast, but are good at soaking up nitrates.

[LizStreithorst]

I like to keep my nitrates at 5.

[14Discus]

Yes......algae scrubbers and a pathos refugium in sump do great. One can also use resin beds. I also use BioHome for my biofiltratration which fosters both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. The aerobic does the early nitrogen cycle part (NH3 to NO2 and NO2 to NO3)w the anaerobic doing the later part (NO3 reduction). I use all these w great success. Yesterday’s NO3 test results were around 8 six days after my last WC.

126770