I have a dilemma

[Brian123]

So I have a 45 gallon pentagonal tank that my nitrates recently shot up in because of to heavy of a bio-load. The nitrates are well over 100 now and I began a series of small water changes to bring it down gradually so as not to stress the fish. My problem lies in the 1ppm ammonia that my tap water has and the fact that my tap water is 8.2ph vs the 6.4ph my tank is normally at. If I continue doing small water changes every hour or so my ph will begin rising and I will be adding small amounts of ammonia back into the tank, which will turn to nitrites and then back into nitrates which I'm trying to lower!! If I don't do the water changes however my high nitrates will cause serious problems for the fish rather quickly potentially whipping out the whole aquarium. Any suggestions????

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[Hholly]

Did you just set this tank up? Why is the pH so low normally? The good bacteria shut down as the pH drops too low. Personally I would do a larger water change. Or do 2 changes one after another.

 

[Brian123]

No the tank has been established for several years now and usually never have any water issues by doing weekly 25% changes. I would guess that the ph is lower do to having some plants in the tank. I have read in several spots that decreasing the nitrates to fast will cause nitrate shock and by raising the ph to fast will also create a significant amount of stress in the fish. I am not going to feed them this evening and will reduce feedings over the next few days to reduce the bioload some.

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[Hholly]

The pH drops due to loss of buffers in the water, probably due to too little water being changed out. Once you get the nitrates down with several water changes, you should be able to routinely change out 50% weekly. Then things should be a bit more stable and healthy.

 

[Brian123]

Yep makes sense. So how do I get the nitrates down without reducing them to fast and putting the fish in nitrate shock or increasing the PH to fast and traumatizing them. I was considering doing smaller water changes say around 10-15% every 4 hours or so to give them a chance to acclimate a bit to both the higher ph and the lower nitrates. Does that sound like it would work?

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[Hholly]

I think you could do that safely, or maybe even 25%. Sounds like a good plan.

 

[Brian123]

Ty Holly! I appreciate the help!

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[Hholly]

You're welcome! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Mebbid]

Keep in mind that 1ppm of ammonia turns into approx 3.5ppm of nitrate. Its really not a huge deal. Just keep up with regular 25% water changes. If you do them daily it should give enough time to take care of the ammonia being added to the tank.

I would also get a dKh reading of the tank water vs tap water as well. That will tell you more about the ph.