Nitrate High?

[Leaffan72]

:confused:Need help aded 2 new Discus last Saturday and my tank has since had issues with Nitrates being 20 or above but less then 50
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
PH 7.5
Done numerouse water changes and can's seem to get the nitrates down? Why or how can I get control of this and why is this happening?

Also how do I get the new Discus to eat my pellet food Spectrum Thera +A with garlic, or flake food to vary the diet? They will only eat when I put FBW in the Tank or Frozen Brine Shrimp?
Thanks a million


I have a 55 G Tank with Fluval 305 Filter, and a Hydro sponge
Temp 85
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 7.0
Substrate Gravel 2"
Fake Plants and rock
Fluval contains, Peat, Bio Reef Balls, just recently removed carbon

1 Pigeon blood
1 Red Cover x Spotted Eruption Cross
1 Blue Knight
2 Panda Cory's
1 Corydora Catfish
3 Harlequin Raspbora
3 Rummy Nose Tetras

[rickztahone]

the color of your text makes it very difficult to read your post. regardless, WC's should lower your nitrates. have you checked your tap water and made sure it doesn't contain nitrates in the first place?

[johnm]

adding some floating live plants should also help lower nitrates a tad, but are not a sub for the wc

[Leaffan72]

Been doing lots of WC this week and still high will check tap water to see if that is the reason. Thanks

[philip69285]

I would add some beneficial bacteria to the tank and calm down on your water changes for a while and let the tank settle down once again. The discus wont be harmed from not doing a water change till next week. I do water changes once a week and my discus grow big just like everyone else's. Plants are a good way to control nitrates but I would get java moss and attach it somewhere so it doesnt get sucked up. Its a good natural Nitrate sponge (I use it in my shrimp tanks). I have found that its easier is one discus tries the food first to show the others its yummy and good. Otherwise its hard to get them to try it. Some say starve them but I dont think thats very nice to do. Its like saying your child wont eat green beans so starve them for a few days and offer them green beans again and see if they eat it. Not the way to do things. Just keep trying it here and there and also try flakes and what not. Maybe they just dont want pellets. I know others will say other things but thats what i have done and it works. My water parameters are 0 Nitrites, 0 Nitrates, 0 Ammonia, 7.4PH... the water doesnt lie :). But its also a planted tank so they help with it as well but I use bacteria here and there after water changes.

[champak]

Nitates are sometimes high in tank despite of water changes, one of the reason behind it is uncleaned biofilters and hydrosponge, which trap food and they continously convert waste in to nitrate, second reason can be heavy feeding or the leftover food is not removed after feeding.
Deepesh

[Harriett]

Additionally, please consider that:
If you just added significantly to your fish load, you also just added to your fish poop load, i.e more nitrates. Your bacteria bed will catch up to the new load in a few days and nitrates will drop, if that is your issue. Clean up your tank bottom or substrate, clean your filter, do regular water changes of course.
Best regards,
Harriett

[mmorris]

:confused:Need help aded 2 new Discus last Saturday and my tank has since had issues with Nitrates being 20 or above but less then 50
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
PH 7.5
Done numerouse water changes and can's seem to get the nitrates down? Why or how can I get control of this and why is this happening?

Also how do I get the new Discus to eat my pellet food Spectrum Thera +A with garlic, or flake food to vary the diet? They will only eat when I put FBW in the Tank or Frozen Brine Shrimp?
Thanks a million


I have a 55 G Tank with Fluval 305 Filter, and a Hydro sponge
Temp 85
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 7.0
Substrate Gravel 2"
Fake Plants and rock
Fluval contains, Peat, Bio Reef Balls, just recently removed carbon

1 Pigeon blood
1 Red Cover x Spotted Eruption Cross
1 Blue Knight
2 Panda Cory's
1 Corydora Catfish
3 Harlequin Raspbora
3 Rummy Nose Tetras

You have two sets of water stats here. Are we looking at two tanks? Test the nitrates, do a 50% wc, then test the nitrates again. The second test should show a reduction of 50% in the nitrate level unless you have nitrates in the tap water, as Rick mentioned, or there is something wrong with the test kit. If you see this drop but the nitrates go right back up, then other problems mentioned above are coming into play. You didn't mention what your wc regime normally is. How often and how much?