VERY high nitrate, no ammonia

[basketballqt]

hey guys! I have a guppy tank that I'm having horrible luck with lately. I am dealing with an anchor worm problem right now so half of my fish are in the makeshift hosital tank I have trying to treat them for that, but today I tested the water in my main guppy tank and there was no ammonia, but my nitrate was like over 160ppm high! Is this normal? My nitrites were registering at .25 ppm which is a little odd as well!

 

[Wy Renegade]

hey guys! I have a guppy tank that I'm having horrible luck with lately. I am dealing with an anchor worm problem right now so half of my fish are in the makeshift hosital tank I have trying to treat them for that, but today I tested the water in my main guppy tank and there was no ammonia, but my nitrate was like over 160ppm high! Is this normal? My nitrites were registering at .25 ppm which is a little odd as well!

Sounds like you have enough bacteria to convert ammonia and nitrites, but little to no effective means of removing the nitrates. What are you using for filtration and how are you removing nitrates?

 

[roydooms]

You would want to lower your nitrate ASAP. I'd do at least a 50% PWC to cut it in half an another one later. Then depend On that if you'll need to do another one. You'd want to lower your nitrate below 40ppm preferably around 20ppm. For the nitrite, with all the PWCs that you'll have to do to lower your nitrate will lower the nitrite as well or you won't even detect any.

 

[roydooms]

Sounds like you have enough bacteria to convert ammonia and nitrites, but little to no effective means of removing the nitrates. What are you using for filtration and how are you removing nitrates?

There is no bacteria that will remove nitrates. You'll get rid of nitrates if you have plants and when you do a PWC. I would do a 60% now and a 50% after. That will lower your nitrates to around 30ppm. Which is a much less toxic level than 160ppm.

 

[jimenezlee]

Agreed, for most people Nitrates are controlled through water changes. You prob need to get a weekly 25% or more regular water change schedule as part of regular maintenance. What is your pwc sched like right now?

 

[jetajockey]

There is no bacteria that will remove nitrates. You'll get rid of nitrates if you have plants and when you do a PWC. I would do a 60% now and a 50% after. That will lower your nitrates to around 30ppm. Which is a much less toxic level than 160ppm.

I don't think he was claiming that bacteria removes nitrates, although there is bacteria that does. It's anaerobic and denitrifying, converting nitrates to gas. I think he meant like there was no effective means to reduce nitrates whether it be through water changes or plants.

 

[Wy Renegade]

There is no bacteria that will remove nitrates. You'll get rid of nitrates if you have plants and when you do a PWC. I would do a 60% now and a 50% after. That will lower your nitrates to around 30ppm. Which is a much less toxic level than 160ppm.

I don't think he was claiming that bacteria removes nitrates, although there is bacteria that does. It's anaerobic and denitrifying, converting nitrates to gas. I think he meant like there was no effective means to reduce nitrates whether it be through water changes or plants.

Thank you jetajockey, correct on all points. My point was that the OP obviously has no effective means of Nitrate removal and needs to establish something, be it via water changes or the addition of plants.

 

[roydooms]

I don't think he was claiming that bacteria removes nitrates, although there is bacteria that does. It's anaerobic and denitrifying, converting nitrates to gas. I think he meant like there was no effective means to reduce nitrates whether it be through water changes or plants.

There is. I'm referring to the aquarium. Is this so called bacteria that converts nitrates present in an aquarium?

IMHO, a scheduled weekly PWC is the best way to rid of nitrates or that you base on your nitrates level if you'll need to do one.

 

[basketballqt]

weird... Actually I have quite a bit of java moss, hornwort, and there are some duckweed floating around on top too.. I didn't know that plants could remove nitrates tho...

As for water changes, I've been doing at least a 25% a day, usually closer to 50 a day because I have been taking most of my old treated water out of my hospital tank, and refilling that with my 10 gal tank water, and then putting new water in the 10 gallon.... I'll do another tonight tho =) hopefully it works!

 

[roydooms]

Thank you jetajockey, correct on all points. My point was that the OP obviously has no effective means of Nitrate removal and needs to establish something, be it via water changes or the addition of plants.

I stand corrected. I misread it.

 

[jetajockey]

Its all good, just trying to add clarification. Also about denitrifiers, yes they are present in tanks with deep substrate beds. I don't know enough about them to comment further, but I can say that nitrate control via water changes/plants seems much easier to work with.


@basketballqt- yup one of the 3 macronutrients used by plants is nitrates. In heavily planted tanks, aquarists actually add nitrates in controlled amounts through fertilizers.

 

[basketballqt]

Jetajockey - Thanks for the info.. Thank everyone else too! I think I'm just going to throw another giant wad of java moss in then to help it out. lol Hopefully that helps out a bit as well!

 

[Wy Renegade]

There is. I'm referring to the aquarium. Is this so called bacteria that converts nitrates present in an aquarium?

As mentioned, the nitrate converters are anaerobic, and are found deep within the substrate, or deep within porous rock. They effectively convert nitrate into harmless nitrogen gas. Anyone use the DSB menthod with a saltwater tank is employing this method of nitrate removal. That said however, you see little mention of the anaerobic bacteria on the freshwater side of things, and I'm not even sure they are found in freshwater. It is certainly not a method of nitrate removal I would recommend for freshwater. One the other hand, cyanobacteria (i.e. blue-green algae) is a bacterium that is present in both fresh and saltwater, and as a nitrogen fixer, it converts nitrogen gas into a form usable by plants.

 

[jetajockey]

Yeah, it's present in FW tanks also. It's noticeable in some deep potting soil substrates, by the smell of the organics breaking down, something I like to call 'stank tank syndrome'. It's one of the major reasons I go through the process of mineralizing the soil before I add it to my tanks.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Yeah, it's present in FW tanks also. It's noticeable in some deep potting soil substrates, by the smell of the organics breaking down, something I like to call 'stank tank syndrome'. It's one of the major reasons I go through the process of mineralizing the soil before I add it to my tanks.

Good to know, thanks for the clarification.