how to lower nitrates??

[dudeofrude]

Just did a water test and everything is fine except the nitrate, well into the 70-100mg/l. How do I sort this? Is it just a case of water changes or do I need treatments of some sorts? Also my ph is 7.6 is that on the high side?

 

[Bettababe1011]

Water changes should do the trick.

About the ph, fish will most likely adjust. That isn't very high. Just leave it. It can cause more damage to try to change the ph because of the changes in the water.

 

[dudeofrude]

Ok thanks

 

[Bettababe1011]

No problem

 

[Coleallensmom]

Bettagirl is right on the money. PWCs are quite often the best solution to any water quality issue. Chemicals/treatments will usually just get you into trouble. If you find that you are having nitrate issues quite often and you are doing weekly PWCs, then you might consider adding some plants to your tank as they use nitrates in their growth process.

 

[McLumpy]

Welcome to my world! lol I just had an issue w/ high Nitrates too. This is a good read w/ lots of great advice... http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/high-nitrates-during-ich-treatment-139756.html

To sum it up... yes, do many water changes!

 

[dudeofrude]

Cole: I've git 7 live plants in there at the moment but haven't had them long do we'll see how they pan out
:mclumpy thanks for the thread, to be fair I have just changed a load of stuff in my tank so probably that causing it but I shall see.
Anyways thanks for the inputs

 

[Coleallensmom]

Great! As long as you have appropriate lighting/ferts for them, they should help!

 

[dudeofrude]

Ah well... the ferts and lighting.. that's a whole other kettle of fish lol I've already been through the lighting part in another thread but ferts, haven't gone there yet. Can you recommend a good one that won't harm my fish?

 

[fort384]

what kind of plants are you growing, and what kind of lighting do you have? This will determine what you may or may not need to dose.

 

[dudeofrude]

Well I have a few that I have recently discovered were not aquatic so they ate comin out in a few days then ill just have 'elodea' until I buy some new ones. As far as lighting goes I have a 60cm 20w sun-glo tube in there, have no idea if that's any good it not as it came with the tank lol

 

[fort384]

elodea, I am assuming you are talking about the anacharis variety of elodea?

Anacharis shouldn't require dosing much of anything, depending on the lighting. It can suck up nitrates when it is growing quickly, but if it is all you have plant wise, and you have a decent bioload, that helps.

How many gals is your tank? This will help determine the sufficiency of your lighting. Also, what kind of bulb is it? T8 florescent? Compact Florescent? T5 florescent?

 

[dudeofrude]

It's a Ts fluorescent and the tanks a 3ft wide 26 UK gallon, I'm lookin at adding some small plants for the front and also some kind that grow on the rocks.

 

[fort384]

Ts? not sure what that is. Guessing it is T8 if it is stock? Thats about 30 US gal... so 20W over 30 US Gal... probably not enough to grow much anything (a few low light plants would survive). With that lighting I wouldn't worry too much about dosing much. Some root tabs may be beneficial, or a little bit of a trace element mix, if you start to see some deficiencies that aren't light related.

 

[dudeofrude]

So what sort of light would you suggest I get?

 

[fort384]

It depends what you want to do. If all you want to do is keep your anacharis alive, you may not need to get another light at all. Is there a color temp printed on the bulb? You would at least want to make sure that the bulb you have is somewhere between 6500K-10000K.

 

[dudeofrude]

No I've checked for that but dosent say anything. Like I said I'm planning on having some plants that sit at the front of the tank and I read the other day about some that attach to rocks and since I have loads of rocks in my tank I figure I'll take a look at those

 

[fort384]

ok... what kind of plants are you after? You could try some low light crypts or anubias, or java ferns... you might get them to live under that light. Check out
PlantGeek.net - Your Aquatic Plant Resource

They have a great plant guide that you can sort by lighting requirements. Pick out some varieties of low light plants that interest you and give it a try... you can always come back to the drawing board and talk lighting upgrade should they not work out.

Or if you know you want to get into the plants and make an investment, you can look at lighting upgrades... like to a dual T5HO or something similar.

 

[dudeofrude]

Well thanks for all the info fort, I'll do some research into what plants will work best and upgrade my lighting to suit. Cheers