Is this wise? Decor cleaning

[Maridia]

Can we get a full tank shot, as well as a full list of all the fish (even the "africans", if you don't know the species, post pictures). This will help a bit

I'm not home at the moment. But I will later tonight.

 

[mikem691]

I'm not home at the moment. But I will later tonight.

Check my post on page 2 (last one) we posted at the same time so not sure if you saw it

 

[Caliban07]

There's just too much waste in the tank.....you'd have to have BBradburys water rates and free time to make that tank work.

Tap water nitrates arn't helping either.


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[squirrilah fish]

Get some Purigen. It won't fix the problem, but it will help.


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[Maridia]

Lets step back to the opening post
2 questions
what are you testing the nitrates with
if you are using the liquid test are you sure you are doing the test right?
I ask because if you are changing 75% of the water with little to no change in nitrates something isn't right.

I'm using the API liquid teat kit. Testing goes a little like this:

1)fill the vial with tank water, using a clean syringe. seal it, shake it, pour it out.

2)fill vial up to 5ml. Seal it

3)shake nitrate test solutions for about a minute (bottle 1 and 2)

4)unseal vial and add 10 drops from bottle 1. Reseal the vial.

5)shake vial, that has solution 1 and tank water, for 15-20 seconds.

6)unseal vial, add 10 drops from bottle 2. Reseal vial.

7)shake vial, now with both solutions, for about 1 minute.

8)I let it sit for about 5 min, while doing other things.

9)match colors on white background. Done.

This has to be correct. I do this with my saltwater tank as well (I also have an API saltwater test kit) and I have only 5ppm nitrates. I even swapped tests. Same results.


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[Maridia]

Can we get a full tank shot, as well as a full list of all the fish (even the "africans", if you don't know the species, post pictures). This will help a bit

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[Maridia]

Here's a few of the fish.






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[mikem691]

I'm using the API liquid teat kit. Testing goes a little like this:

1)fill the vial with tank water, using a clean syringe. seal it, shake it, pour it out.

2)fill vial up to 5ml. Seal it

3)shake nitrate test solutions for about a minute (bottle 1 and 2)

4)unseal vial and add 10 drops from bottle 1. Reseal the vial.

5)shake vial, that has solution 1 and tank water, for 15-20 seconds.

6)unseal vial, add 10 drops from bottle 2. Reseal vial.

7)shake vial, now with both solutions, for about 1 minute.

8)I let it sit for about 5 min, while doing other things.

9)match colors on white background. Done.

This has to be correct. I do this with my saltwater tank as well (I also have an API saltwater test kit) and I have only 5ppm nitrates. I even swapped tests. Same results.


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You got it. Just making sure. A lot of people use the strips and get false readings or use the api kit wrong. Hope I didn't offend you. Well now I'm lost also on why the trates won't go down.

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[Freakgecko91]

Also, when you get a chance, take a tap water sample, let it sit out in a closed container overnight. Test in the morning and take a pic of the results above the color card. Take a test of the tank water and take a pic above the card as well. Post those. Helps to know exactly what we're dealing with. Sorry for all the odd requests, just helps to narrow it down and cancel things out

Also, you may have said it already and I may have missed it, but what kind of food are you feeding (everything, treats, staple food, live, whatever. Also how often and how much). Food generally is the cause of higher trates when the tank isn't overstocked, and clearly the tank isn't. I have more bioload in my 20 long right now! All your fish appear to be quite young

 

[squirrilah fish]

Too summarize you can attack this two ways.
Nitrate is the direct by product of waste, weather food, excremental, or respiratory. So you can either try to lower the amount of waste, deep clean, less feeding, more water changes, or attack the nitrates directly. Resin media like Purigen, live plants, algae scrubber.

The Nitrates in your tap water is a problem, but treating your tap water with Prime should detoxify it.

That is the other thing to consider. With a binding agent like Prime, or other solution, the Nitrate could be binded, so it's not toxic, but it will still show up in a test. These binging chemicals usually only last 12-24 hours though.
With your tap water being what it is, you just may have to be a daily water change guy.

Some Purigen in a micron cloth bag. It will fit perfectly in your Aquaclear.

I've been using Purigen in my heavily stocked 55 for a few months, and I am very very happy with it. I not only see a difference in my testing, but in my fish as well.


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[Maridia]

You got it. Just making sure. A lot of people use the strips and get false readings or use the api kit wrong. Hope I didn't offend you. Well now I'm lost also on why the trates won't go down.

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No offense taken at all. Just wanted to be clear on how I do it. ^^


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[Maridia]

Also, when you get a chance, take a tap water sample, let it sit out in a closed container overnight. Test in the morning and take a pic of the results above the color card. Take a test of the tank water and take a pic above the card as well. Post those. Helps to know exactly what we're dealing with. Sorry for all the odd requests, just helps to narrow it down and cancel things out

Also, you may have said it already and I may have missed it, but what kind of food are you feeding (everything, treats, staple food, live, whatever. Also how often and how much). Food generally is the cause of higher trates when the tank isn't overstocked, and clearly the tank isn't. I have more bioload in my 20 long right now! All your fish appear to be quite young

I have never tried testing my tap after it sits. Worth a shot. Will post results.


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[Maridia]

Too summarize you can attack this two ways.
Nitrate is the direct by product of waste, weather food, excremental, or respiratory. So you can either try to lower the amount of waste, deep clean, less feeding, more water changes, or attack the nitrates directly. Resin media like Purigen, live plants, algae scrubber.

The Nitrates in your tap water is a problem, but treating your tap water with Prime should detoxify it.

That is the other thing to consider. With a binding agent like Prime, or other solution, the Nitrate could be binded, so it's not toxic, but it will still show up in a test. These binging chemicals usually only last 12-24 hours though.
With your tap water being what it is, you just may have to be a daily water change guy.

Some Purigen in a micron cloth bag. It will fit perfectly in your Aquaclear.

I've been using Purigen in my heavily stocked 55 for a few months, and I am very very happy with it. I not only see a difference in my testing, but in my fish as well.


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I also use prime. I love it! I have heard so much about purigen, I will buy some soon. Thanks


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[Maridia]

Also, you may have said it already and I may have missed it, but what kind of food are you feeding (everything, treats, staple food, live, whatever. Also how often and how much). Food generally is the cause of higher trates when the tank isn't overstocked, and clearly the tank isn't. I have more bioload in my 20 long right now! All your fish appear to be quite young

I did not mention that. I feed them cichlid flakes. I turn off all filtration, grab a pinch and submerge them so that they sink. They usually attack it right away. I do this until a couple flakes are ignored. I recently bought some floating pellets and New Life Spectrum sinking pellets. Every 2 or 3 days I get a cube of brine shrimp or mysis shrimp. I put the cube in a plastic cup, add a little RO water and let it thaw and fully seperate, then I use a syringe to distribute the food. 1 cube provides a significant amount of food, which is why I distribute the cube to both my 55Gal Salt, 55Gal Cichlid, and even my beta. Every day, and this may be a mistake, I also give 2 algae wafers. I keep my tank super clean, so I'm afraid my pleco will starve, so I add in these 2 wafers every day. The cichlids also pick at it. But can this be a contributing factor to my Nitrates being so high? I mean, assuming the algae wafer dissolves and goes uneaten?

 

[Freakgecko91]

I would cut back on the frozen to be honest. Maybe do that once a week instead of everyday.

 

[Maridia]

I appreciate everyones help on this issue. I have heard some greate advice. I will try and fast occasionally, and I have left a sealed fresh tap water sample out. So I will test when I get home after work. I will post pictures with results on both the left out tap and my current tank water. Should I do a hot tap water sample as well? When I do water changes, I add the prime directly to the tank (enough prime for the full tank volume, I round up to 6ml of the concentrated prime) and add the water directly to the tank, using the faucet connection with the siphon. In other words, I balance the cold and hot water from the faucet, then add to tank. Though not the preferred method for doing water changes, it is the most efficient way, has worked for me, nothing has died as a result, and I have seen it done many times.

I have heard people mention to do a daily WC. Does this hurt my BB? Should I go with an every other day? It just makes no sense to me that my Nitrates would still be so high after doing a 70% WC. I tested it the day after. Thanks to all again.

 

[Freakgecko91]

No need to test the hot water, should come out the same. If your tap water truly was the issue, I would expect it to show in your other tanks, and if it's not, then there's something wrong with this tank. Any missing fish? Anything you do differently with this one?

 

[mikem691]

I also do water changes the same as you. Never had a problem.

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[Maridia]

No need to test the hot water, should come out the same. If your tap water truly was the issue, I would expect it to show in your other tanks, and if it's not, then there's something wrong with this tank. Any missing fish? Anything you do differently with this one?

I have a brs 4 stage ro plus. But I only use ro for my saltwater tank. I do 50/50 ro and tap for my beta bowl. I do 100% tap on my cichlid tank since they like hard water, my ph is at 8.0. I also don't use ro on my cichlid tank since I do 65-75% weekly. My salt I do a 30-50% biweekly.


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[swifty]

I did not mention that. I feed them cichlid flakes. I turn off all filtration, grab a pinch and submerge them so that they sink. They usually attack it right away. I do this until a couple flakes are ignored. I recently bought some floating pellets and New Life Spectrum sinking pellets. Every 2 or 3 days I get a cube of brine shrimp or mysis shrimp. I put the cube in a plastic cup, add a little RO water and let it thaw and fully seperate, then I use a syringe to distribute the food. 1 cube provides a significant amount of food, which is why I distribute the cube to both my 55Gal Salt, 55Gal Cichlid, and even my beta. Every day, and this may be a mistake, I also give 2 algae wafers. I keep my tank super clean, so I'm afraid my pleco will starve, so I add in these 2 wafers every day. The cichlids also pick at it. But can this be a contributing factor to my Nitrates being so high? I mean, assuming the algae wafer dissolves and goes uneaten?

It might be the wafers. I used to feed Omega One Veggie rounds in my tank, mainly for my pleco, but stopped after I noticed the pleco would rarely get to eat them. It was instead the other fish that were picking at the rounds. They'd get chunks of it, but while they were chewing would spit a large majority of it out to make it small enough to swallow. This fouled up the water pretty bad.

You seem to be worried about your pleco, which is good. I've gone weeks without feeding my pleco (of course not recommended) but she just ate algae. Since then I've got in the habit of dropping in a slice of zucchini every 1-3 days, to supplement her diet of algae/wood. It is because of this that I stopped with the rounds. NLS has vegetable extract in it, so my fish get their vegetable fix from that.