Nitrates through the roof! Cycle done already?!

[thekeymaker57]

Hey everyone,

So after diving into the world of fish keeping without knowing a thing about it last year and ultimately waking up one morning to 6 dead guppies and 3 dead ghost shrimp, I am now trying again.

On Sunday I set up a 26 gallon tank with half of the water coming from a friends established tank. Caribsea super naturals gravel, Mopani driftwood, Java moss. Treated the water with the Aqueon Conditioner and threw in the bottle of Tetra Safe Start.

On Monday we bought two guppies and a cory to get the ammonia going.

On Tuesday night I tested the water with the API master kit. pH: 7.6 - Ammonia: 0 - Nitrites: 0 - Now with me being dumb, I thought it wasn't worth testing for Nitrates because there was no sign of Ammonia... (You can see where this is going)

Tonight (Thursday) I have tested the water again. pH: 7.6 - Ammonia: 0 - Nitrites: 0 - Nitrates: 160!!! Blood red water in the test tube!

Now I know this isn't safe for the fish at all, and will be doing a water change tomorrow as soon as Im home from work. I guess my questions are 1) How much water should I change? 2) Could it really be cycled in just 5 days?! 3) How can I keep nitrates down? Along with water changes of course.

Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Sounds like the nitrates came from the friends tank water. I would suggest you do enough water changes to bring it down to at least 20ppm. It will take multiple large changes

 

[Coyne]

It's all just basic math. A 50% PWC will reduce your nitrates by 50%. So, if you start around 160ppm, then you'll end up around 80ppm. It will take three 50% PWCs to go from 160ppm to 20ppm.

Are you sure about those readings though? I can't see how those few fish could produce that much nitrate in less than a week. If its due to your friend's tank water, then your friend needs to take better care of his/her fish.

 

[thekeymaker57]

Sounds like the nitrates came from the friends tank water. I would suggest you do enough water changes to bring it down to at least 20ppm. It will take multiple large changes

I think you're right. I'll keep doing water changes each day until Nitrates are 'normal'.

Should I then re-add a bottle of Safe Start? I'm basically starting over, right?

 

[strychix]

There's no way it's cycled in that few days. Starting with water from an established tank would help, but you'd be better off adding water squished from the filter media itself.

As for cycling with fish, I suggest Danios... They're way more hardy than guppies. Don't add too many fish at a time, do a lot of big water changes, and hope for the best? The goal is to grow beneficial bacteria in your filter.

 

[BBradbury]

Your 26 G Tank

Hello the...

Cycling a tank with fish requires daily water testing for ammonia and nitrite and changing out 25 percent of the water to bring the water back into the safe zone for the fish. The water change is needed when you have a positive test for either of these forms of nitrogen. You test and change the water until you have no traces of the two toxins. At this point, the tank is cycled.

Water from an established tank won't help your tank cycle. There are few if any beneficial bacteria in the old water. Old media, decorations, and old gravel will have the bulk of the bacteria. But, there's no bacteria that uses nitrates. Nitrates must be removed through a water change. So, you remove a good portion of the old tank water and replace it with pure, treated tap water. I prefer to change half the water in the tank. Do this every week or so and the water chemistry will be fine for your fish and plants.

B

 

[thekeymaker57]

As if there wasn't enough to worry about, I came home to find at least 4 guppy fry swimming around. I'm shocked as the two guppies didn't look pregnant at all!

Now I have to do large water changes without sucking up some fry in the process. Yikes!

 

[BBradbury]

Guppy Fry

As if there wasn't enough to worry about, I came home to find at least 4 guppy fry swimming around. I'm shocked as the two guppies didn't look pregnant at all!

Now I have to do large water changes without sucking up some fry in the process. Yikes!

Hello again the...

Guppies are very hardy and can tolerate marginal water conditions better than most fish. As for the fry, just cover the end of your vacuum with a piece of ladies' nylon hose and secure it with a rubber band. You won't have to worry about picking up the fry.

B

 

[thekeymaker57]

Its now been two weeks since I started the tank. I read on another forum that is using Safe Start, I should leave everything for two weeks so it can do its thing. Yesterday I did a 30% water change. Nitrates are still 160+ as I expected. But also Ammonia is 0.50 and Nitrites are 0.50, which I didn't expect.

Should I still go ahead with the large water changes to get the nitrates down? Or could that cause problems with the cycle? If so, how often should I do water changes and how much water at a time?

It's all got a bit confusing now.

I wish we never used my friends nitrate invested tank water now...

 

[Ian086]

I would suggest testing your tap water. It could contain medium/high Nitrates in which the 'basic' math rules becomes void. Mine is 40+, the only real way to reduce it in my case, is to use real plants. Also try and get some media off your mate, gravel or filter media would be best. Remember to keep both wet when transferring it to your tank. The water from his/her tank is useless, even if the Nitrates were low......

 

[thekeymaker57]

I would suggest testing your tap water. It could contain medium/high Nitrates in which the 'basic' math rules becomes void. Mine is 40+, the only real way to reduce it in my case, is to use real plants. Also try and get some media off your mate, gravel or filter media would be best. Remember to keep both wet when transferring it to your tank. The water from his/her tank is useless, even if the Nitrates were low......

Thanks for the response. I tested the tap water last week and thankfully it showed 0 nitrates. The high nitrates were definately from my friends water.

In terms of real plants, I have java moss in there but that's it. What other live plants could I put in there with just gravel and the basic hood light my tank came with?

 

[Ian086]

Thanks for the response. I tested the tap water last week and thankfully it showed 0 nitrates. The high nitrates were definately from my friends water.

In terms of real plants, I have java moss in there but that's it. What other live plants could I put in there with just gravel and the basic hood light my tank came with?

WaterSprite and Wisteria are two great low light plants and will soak up the Nitrates. They grow like weeds and can be planted or floated. I'm a noob with plants but I know they both work great. They do for me!!!!

 

[Ian086]

WaterSprite and Wisteria are two great low light plants and will soak up the Nitrates. They grow like weeds and can be planted or floated. I'm a noob with plants but I know they both work great. They do for me!!!!

Also they are VERY easy to look after. No Co2 or ferts needed. Just trim them as they grow....

 

[cookiedough]

I also agree with testing your tap water. Mine is also high, we use well water and have farmland completely surrounding us which contributes to nitrates in the ground water.
I'm also cycling a brand new tank (first one) and was confused because my nitrates were high from the beginning. Didn't even realize - duh - until I tested the tap water. My plan is to use half r/o water, half tap and depend on the plants in my tank to keep nitrates under control.

 

[cookiedough]

Just noticed that you've tested your tap, that's great that you have no nitrates! I'm green with envy

 

[BBradbury]

Nitrates

Hello...

If I'm not mistaken, nitrates are at the end of the "nitrogen cycle", so even higher levels aren't a problem. High levels, over a longer period may stress the fish a bit. Floating plants like Brazilian water weed (Anacharis) and Pennywort are two of the best for using added nitrates in the tank water. A company by the name of Acurel has a fiber medium that's specifically for nitrate removal. The combination is very effective in removing forms of nitrogen.

B