Stable nitrate problem.

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kwaenz

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Sep 5, 2011
Messages
65
Location
CA
Its been 2 weeks since my BC14 finished the cycling process. i have a clown fish, a bunch of snails, and 2 macroalgae(chaeto & red gracilaria).

API Water Test Results:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 20ppm

Ive been doing 25~50% PWC for 4 days now sometimes twice a day, but my nitrates still stays at 20ppm. I dont use the bio balls, only Filter floss and a bag of carbon w/ zeolite. My tank has 15lbs of LS and 13lbs LR. Running it with koralia 425.

Its very strange, cos even how many times i do PWC it still wont go down. I'm getting skeptical about my API nitrate test kit, do test kits expire?:huh:

Also,

my clownfish acts strange sometimes. A few times during night time when the lights are off, he swims back and forth and sometimes headbutts the glass, like chasing something, i dunno. Is it normal for a clownfish to act like that or there's something wrong?:ermm:
 
I would take your water in to get tested as that's very odd that itr doesnt budge even after a series of water changes. :) And yep, test kits can and do expire. I keep some high end testing kits on hand for instances like this, just to be sure.

As far as the clown, mine do some very odd things as well so I wouldn;t worry too much. I have one that charges the glass for no apparent reason LOL
 
Test your water before you put it in the tank just to be sure there is no nitrates in that.
 
Ok I'll try to do that! thanks guys.

Ive just read from another forum that API's do give faulty reading on their nitrates i guess mine has expired. Im planning on getting Seachem multitest nitrate test kit. Any remarks on this test kit? :)
 
Still... :|

Ok i checked my replacement water before putting it in my tan and it reads 0ppm nitrate, guess my test kit is still working. After doing the PWC, waited for 24hrs then tested it again, still reads 20ppm. So probably the nitrate problem is from the tank itself. Ugh! I think my shroom won't survive, if my nitrate stays like this. :\

Anyway is there such thing as overdosing water conditioners/dechlor? I tried overdosing a 1g of water with Tetra Aquasafe, its nitrate dropped down from 40ppm to 5ppm. Kinda worried only if it has an effect on my livestocks.
 
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