High nitrates

[dragon14]

Could have faded off.

You're welcome, best of luck!

My test kits I think are good till 2017 or 2019, purchased this year.

So yeah, yours are in all liklihood expired!

 

[Solarris]

I took a water sample to the local fish store and they said it had really high nitrates too. I came home and did another 50 percent water change, my third in 48 hours, and vacuumed the gravel really good. I then tested again and got the same result, 160 ppm. I then tested my tap water to be sure and got 0 ppm. The person at the los suggested I replace the filter sponges. I'm not sure how much that would do. I have extra here so it's no problem but I always make sure to rinse them out really well when I do my water changes. Is it possible that my nitrates are so high that after 3 big water changes in 2 days it's still reading at max?

I also have a 10 gallon tank with 1 betta, 3 corys, and some mts. I just did water tests on it. Ammonia and nitrites are 0 but nitrates are 160 with it also. I did a 50 percent water change on it and put a new sponge in the aquaclear filter. After that I tested again and nitrates were again at 160.

 

[Brookster123]

How is that possible? ! Maybe your nitrates are actually 500 and you'll have to do 10 wc's to get them to 50??

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[Luananeko]

Very strange... There's gotta be something in your tank that's generating nitrates on top of your stock. Two separate test kits reading the same thing and your tap reading as zero is too many data points to suggest otherwise.

I'd check the filter as recommended by your LFS then. Rinse the biomedia in dechlorinated water to make sure there's no gunk build-up, replace (not just rinse) the sponges and all around give the filter a good scrubbing and rinsing with dechlorinated water. It also may be a good idea to recharge the purigen too just to be on the safe side. That should remove anything that could be turning your filter into a nitrate factory.

Once that's all done, do your large water change and test the water. Keep changing the water until the nitrate levels start dropping. With 0 nitrate tap water it WILL drop once you change enough water. Once you've got the nitrates down the freshly recharged purigen and cleaned filter SHOULD keep it that way until they get gunked out again.

 

[Luananeko]

How is that possible? ! Maybe your nitrates are actually 500 and you'll have to do 10 wc's to get them to 50??

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That's exactly my suspicion... The nitrates must be so sky high from something that you just really have to overdo the water changes to get them back under control... Something had to have generated so many nitrates that the purigen got overwhelmed far earlier than it should have. Only thing I can think of that would generate so many nitrates is a gunked up filter and/or something died or fell into the tank...

 

[Brookster123]

If that's the case dropping them so fast could do.more harm than good??

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[dalto]

Hmm....it would be pretty odd for nitrates to get that high in normal circumstances.

What was your normal water change schedule and how much were changing each time?
What is in the tank and how big is it?
Are you dosing any fertilizers?
Have you tested your tap water for nitrates?

 

[Luananeko]

If that's the case dropping them so fast could do.more harm than good??

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It's possible, but I'd think having them that high would be a bigger problem than the shock of changing it... As long as all the other water parameters are the same (temp, ph, hardness, etc), just changing the nitrate levels shouldn't shock them that much I'd think...

 

[Angela1108]

I know it was brought up a little bit about rainfall changing- but have you actually tested the tap for nitrates? If you have nitrates in there it will take it a long longer to go down and will only go down to as low as the water you are adding.

( sorry if this was suggested already- I was sort of just skimming through as I chase around a toddler)


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[Solarris]

Tap water has 0 nitrates, I checked this morning. How long do I have to wait between water changes? Would it be ok for me to do another this evening even though I did one this morning? I have to go out of town tomorrow. I will do one tomorrow morning but won't be here to do another till Sunday afternoon.


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[dalto]

It is fine to do two a day.

I would try to wait at least a few hours between changes.

 

[jennandjuicetm]

Could ypu move the fish to a bucket with fresh dechlorinated water and do a 100% wc?

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[Luananeko]

Could ypu move the fish to a bucket with fresh dechlorinated water and do a 100% wc?

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That would be the most surefire way to remove the nitrates, but as mentioned earlier it has the potential of shocking the fish... If you match all other parameters closely other than the nitrate level, it may be ok, but I've never done such a drastic change so I'd hesitate to recommend it...

 

[jennandjuicetm]

Maybe you could drip acclimate them to the clean water for an hour or so with the possible concern about shocking them.

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[jennandjuicetm]

If I had this issue I also might put my filter media in a bucket with clean declorinated tap water and let it sit for 10 minutes and then test the water. Mostly just curiosity but if the water is nitrate positive then you know at least one source. However if its negative I'm not sure you could count it out.
Nevermind, if its bith tanks it probably isn't your filter. Has to be something that recently changed in both tanks.

Another thought, test your tap water for ammonia and nitrites! If your tap had an ammonia or nitrite spike your BB woyod change it to nitrate. Maybe that could cause this large spike.

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[militantpotato]

When i had a cycle crash i was doing 3 80% changes a day. As long as you do big changes frequently you're fine. Issues come up when it's been weeks or months and you do a large water change due to change in tds and chemistry.
If you've done several 50% changes, a very large change of 80% or more would be fine. Rinse all your filter media out in old tank water, and clean out the gravel well.

Be sure the water you add is close to the tank water temperature and you treat with dechlorinator before adding tap water.

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