50% wc, nitrate still high?

[quinnmquinn]

Nitrate was at 60 so I immediately did a 50% water change, waited till the water settled and did another nitrate test with no avail, why is this?

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[lemphotos]

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Luis

 

[MICEY]

2 things to check
1 did you check your tap water for nitrates
2 what did you test your nitrates with some of the tests will tell you that amont when it is much higher
if your tap water is high you will need to use some ro water to do water changes
or use a resin that absorbs nitrates

 

[quinnmquinn]

My tests go up to over a hundred, I haven't tested my tap water, if it's high, what kind do I use?

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[MICEY]

chempure will work or purigen , your tank will look empty overnight after using ether of these products

 

[icydeath]

MICEY is right but if you don't want to use chemicals, you could always make an algae scrubber paired with a sump . Algae scrubbers tend to destroy nitrates so that should help.

 

[BBradbury]

Nitrate Levels

Nitrate was at 60 so I immediately did a 50% water change, waited till the water settled and did another nitrate test with no avail, why is this?

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Hello quinn...

I wouldn't worry about nitrates as long as you're removing and replacing at least half the tank water every week or so. Just get some floating plants into the tank. I like Hornwort, but Common Water Weed (Anacharis) and Pennywort are good too. These plants will take in the nitrates just about as fast as they become available.

If you don't want to do the plants, then invest in some nitrate removing filter medium like the product from Acurel.

B

 

[quinnmquinn]

I was going to start a planted tank any way, thanks for the suggestion

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[quinnmquinn]

Did another test,a little better....

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[BBradbury]

Your Tank

I was going to start a planted tank any way, thanks for the suggestion

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Hello again quinn...

Good idea to get some floating plants into the tank. They're natural water filters and will help steady the water chemistry. I have large, heavily planted tanks and change out a lot of tank water every week. I admit to relying on the plants and large weekly water changes to maintain pure water conditions in the tank. I figured if I kept the tank water pure, there was no reason to test for forms of nitrogen, because there wouldn't be any. Possibly low nitrates, but that's all. I haven't tested the water in several years, so the plants and I must be doing our jobs.

B