High nitrate levels

[kitbasher]

I bought my AP master test kit Saturday 5/27 and started testing my water. My results came back as PH 7.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 and Nitrates looked bad at 80. I freaked out, but figured I had not cycled the tank long enough a month ago when I upgraded from a 10 gal to a 20 gal. I did move the water over from the 10 to the 20. I had been cycling the 20 for two weeks with an HOB filter with aerated media rock, a heater and food in the garage.
Since Saturday I have been doing partial water changes daily of 5 gallons. Prior to this I had been doing PWC once a week.
Each day I have been testing the water, and I have been watching this come down some each day. Now I am just between 20 and 40 on the card. I still have work to do.
All this time I have been doing this my wife has been saying the reason its messed up is I keep messing with it. So I went in and tested her water in her 45 gallon tank, and it was between 80 and 160. I have been doing the PWC on her tank weekly as well. I will be moving her up to daily, but I have a few questions.
Her tank is over two years old and the fish seem to be doing well. The only losses we have ever had is some neons to a 8" pleco, and once he ran out of neons, he went as well. That was about a year ago. I would assume that her tank is cycled.
Both tanks have HOB filters, hers an emperor with the media buckets filled with matrix rock that has 2 airstones at the bottom of each basket, and the normal mechanical filters attached. She also has powerhead attached to an UGF.
My tank, the 20 gallon, has two HOB filters, one small penguin that is stock, and one Auquaclear with matrix rock and two stones in it as well. It also has a UGF, but that only has an airstone as the powerhead that came with the tank died and has not been replaced yet.
Also does anyone have any experience with Nitra-sorb media? The AP test kit mentions it to help reduce Nitrates.
Or should I consider low light plants to help? I would love to plant my tank, but I have limited lighting options, the tank really is almost too big for its spot. My wife's tank would need a new hood and all new lights if we were to consider any plants.

 

[SCFatz]

Well first off both tanks are completely cycled.

20 is not a bad nitrate number imo.

Also...some plants require very little light.I'm currently working on planting my 50 hex which is very deep and has very weak lighting @ .6 wpg.So far so good.Check the planted forum for ideas.

I'd be pretty agressive with the substrate vacs while doing the water changes.

HTH

 

[noncentric]

The nitrate test in the AP FW Master test kit can be tricky, so it has to be done exactly according to the instructions - shake bottle #2 hard for 30 secs, add drops, then shake tube hard for 1 min. I've heard that results can be different if it's not done exactly right.

Other than that, the PWC's will help - not sure about the Nitra-Sorb thing, as it's generally better to avoid using chemicals to control water parameters. What type of lighting does your tank have? If it's really low, then you could try some java moss - which will absorb a lot of nitrates and is very undemanding.

Good luck!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Stick with doing water changes. I do not believe in using specialty media. It's an unnecessary cost IMO. The UGF on your wife's tank may be causing high Nitrates. Waste gets trapped under the plates, builds up and causes high Nitrates. You may want to consider removing it permanently. While you are at it, you may want to remove yours also. Some people swear by the UGF, but they just are not as efficient as a hob or canister. If you want to have plants, you can't use an UGF anyway.