High nitrates

[Big John]

Hi I have had my tank up and running for 2 around 18 months now with no problems, it's a 55G tank with 2 external filters running a 1000 ltrs p/h each. It currently has around 15 Malawi in with 10 of them being only an inch long. I do a 40% w/c every five days which has always been fine but have just noticed them all flashing so I did a water change then an hour later checked the parameters and the nitrates are through the roof. Nitrites and ammonia are zero. The only thing different is that 2 weeks ago I added a bag of purigen to the filter, have I some how started the tank cycling again?

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[MICEY]

check your tap water it may be high in nitrates especially if you live near farms
did you check for a dead fish

 

[Big John]

There's no dead fish I've done a head count and I will check the tap water although it's never been a problem before thanks

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[SNorlin]

I would check the tap water and if it isn't the tap water, do another water change. Do you have real plants? ( I had my nitrates increase suddenly once when my plants were rotting or had a lot of dead material on them).


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[Big John]

I'm going to check the nitrates in tap and no plants, I haven't had plants in for over 12 months

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[Big John]

The tube on the left is straight out of the tap the tube on the right is out of tank so it looks like the tap water is to blame so what now, do I have to buy my water in. It has never been a problem before

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[dalto]

First, make sure you test kit is accurate either by comparing against a different kind or taking to your LFS to be tested.

If it is accurate than the best two options are either to buy your water or setup a RODI system.

 

[Big John]

Thankyou I will do that. My fish are flashing like mad it's a nightmare

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[mikem691]

If you are on city water I would call them. The maximum allowed by the epa is 10 ppm.

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[Big John]

I'm in the UK

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[Freakgecko91]

Also try and set out a sample of the tap water overnight, helps the gases settle and can change the readings


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[mikem691]

I'm in the UK

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I would think there are some guide lines there also

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[Big John]

I've looked into legal limits in uk and unfortunately it's a lot higher than over in the USA our limit is 50ppm. I've ended up putting some nitrtate minus in while I work out what to do next

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[MICEY]

I would get an ro filter that will filter out the nitrates before you put them in the tank