Everything has been going very well in my tank the fish look healthy everyone is swimming around and look like they are in good health when I checked the status of the tank everything looked great except my nitrates are out of control plz help me with ways to reduce the nitrate lvl. I just did a 25% water change should I be doing this more regularly or what??????
Very high nitrates!!!
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wildroseofky
Aquarium Advice Addict
How high are the nitrates? Do you use a liquid test kit like API master test kit? If the nitrates go above 40 then you need to do a 50% water change to get the down. Clean your filter media very well by beating it on the side of the water bucket. Use tank water or clean treated water. Check under decorations to see if any gunk has built up. Vacuum the tank. Check to see if your filter itself has any build up and clean it if needed. That should get the nitrates down.
threnjen
Aquarium Advice Addict
You asked if you should be doing it more regularly - how often do you usually do it?
The "standard" recommended is a 50% water change each week.
You might need to do it more often if your stock is heavy. Beyond cleaning your filters occasionally in old tank water, the way to keep nitrates down is manual removal (water changes). There is nothing else that take them out.
The "standard" recommended is a 50% water change each week.
You might need to do it more often if your stock is heavy. Beyond cleaning your filters occasionally in old tank water, the way to keep nitrates down is manual removal (water changes). There is nothing else that take them out.
Well I never heard 50% a week in fact I've always been told to never do a 50% unless absolutely necessary. I usually do 25% every other week. But I guess I should do one because when I checked it yesterday it was about 100 ppm but like I said after I saw that I changed about 25 to 30% or the water cleaned out the gravel and took the filter apart and cleaned that with tank water what should I do now??
Super_Blueberry
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Water changes are the best way, but not the only way. If you get live plants they feed on nitrates do that will help to a point.....
threnjen
Aquarium Advice Addict
Woah, that is very high.
Who told you that you can't do a 50% water change? I'm quite curious.
Don't fix this all at once. It can actually be a shock to the fish if the nitrates plummet very abruptly.
Do another 30% every 2nd day until the nitrates are at 10.
From there, you should change at LEAST 30% weekly. You should actually be guided by how much your nitrates go up in one week's time. You want to keep them under 10ppm.
Your levels tell you that the WC rate is insufficient. Your weekly WC needs to drop you under 10ppm every time. You can use your testing kit to determine what is the correct % for your tank to accomplish this.
Who told you that you can't do a 50% water change? I'm quite curious.
Don't fix this all at once. It can actually be a shock to the fish if the nitrates plummet very abruptly.
Do another 30% every 2nd day until the nitrates are at 10.
From there, you should change at LEAST 30% weekly. You should actually be guided by how much your nitrates go up in one week's time. You want to keep them under 10ppm.
Your levels tell you that the WC rate is insufficient. Your weekly WC needs to drop you under 10ppm every time. You can use your testing kit to determine what is the correct % for your tank to accomplish this.
threnjen
Aquarium Advice Addict
Oh are you still cycling fish-in?
If so, the nitrates aren't going to be your most important stat to watch. You don't want ammonia or nitrites to get too high when you have fish in there if your tank isn't cycled.
If he just meant on a regular basis that's just... wrong. You cant just let your nitrates accumulate =/ I find it strange that someone would recommend that to you.
However without really knowing their context I'll try not to judge them too harshly.
If so, the nitrates aren't going to be your most important stat to watch. You don't want ammonia or nitrites to get too high when you have fish in there if your tank isn't cycled.
If he just meant on a regular basis that's just... wrong. You cant just let your nitrates accumulate =/ I find it strange that someone would recommend that to you.
However without really knowing their context I'll try not to judge them too harshly.
Old Scales
Aquarium Advice Addict
Put me with Threnjen's camp on the 50% weekly water change. IMO 40-50% weekly WC's should be done as standard operating procedure. More often if special circumstances apply. OS.
wildroseofky
Aquarium Advice Addict
Even if you are still cycling a large water change will not harm your cycle. Sudden change in tank conditions that fish have become accustomed to can hurt fish. If you just got the fish when you started your cycle than you have to do enough of a water change to get the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate down to a safer level. I sometimes do a very large water change and do at least a 50% once a week to reset my tank. I am using dry fertilizer and that is what is recommended. You should do at least a 30% water change once a week when your tank is stable. Here is a link to the fish in cycling article on this site Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice
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