Nitrate advice

[HopefulHobbiest]

I have a 55g and my nitrates are around 40 even after a 50% water change every week.

Should I break this down to 2 25% wc each week or more 50% water changes a week?

 

[jlk]

How are the nitrate levels out of your tap?

 

[shellieca]

I have a 55g and my nitrates are around 40 even after a 50% water change every week.

Should I break this down to 2 25% wc each week or more 50% water changes a week?

Same question as jlk, have you tested your tap water? How many & what kind of fish do you have? My nitrates seem to stay about 40, I have a 46g, with 3 female Bettas, 2 CAE's & 1 Mystery snail. I do one water 50%+ change weekly and so far have had no problems. My tap water tested 10-20 nitrAtes (I have a hard time telling the difference). If you're concerned do two +/-50% water changes weekly as some do.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

My apologies lol didn't know someone already asked.

My tap water tests as follows:

Ph 7.6 give or take due to coloring
Ammo 1
Trite 0
Trate 0

So I know it's not coming from my tap... Maybe I'll just follow your advice and step it up to at least 2 50% wc's a week and adjust accordingly.

I was just worried that 40 for nitrates was a little high. I have med-heavy planted tank so I was thinking the plants would help with nitrates but apparently not as much as I had originally thought

 

[Daxhua]

Thoroughly cleaning your filters (not the media) on a regular basis, and deep gravel vacs in open areas/under decor with each water change should help bring your nitrate levels down. You can vacuum around your plants as well just don't go too deep into the substrate.
What types of food do you feed your fish? I have found that Tetramin flakes as well as beef heart can cause high nitrate levels.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

I clean filters and media(in used tank water) with every water change, I have sand substrate so vac'ing is difficult but I do my best to get everything minus the sand lol.

For food I stopped using flakes and now use NLS(A+ formula if I remember correctly) also feed freeze dried tubifex(sp) and frozen blood worms, brine shrimp and veggies... Though not all at once, I cycle through all this stuff over the course of a week and a few days... I try my best not to over feed, I use only what can be eating in a matter of 5 mins or less and normally feed once a day around 730pm, and every OTHER night I drop 2 bottom feeder tabs and 2 algae wafers...

I know it sounds like a lot but I'm very very careful with portion sizes

 

[jlk]

Well, if your nitrates are reading 40ppm after a 50% wc and your tap has zero nitrates, then your nitrates are likely 80ppm before a wc. I would suggest testing your nitrate levels now and see what they read. Then do enough wcs to drop them down to 10 or 20ppm. Monitor your nitrate levels daily following this to see how quickly they are rising and adjust your wc schedule accordingly. If your nitrates are doubling in 24hrs, then you may need to adjust your feeding schedule and/or review the fish you have stocked. I would feed what they can eat in @2mins rather than 5mins.

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

Ok I can do that... But one clarification from earlier... My nitrates are 40 before water changes... I messed that part up... Every Sunday I take readings and that will normally assist with how much water to take out.

But I agree with what you're saying... I can easily adjust my feeding to cut back and I'll go ahead and monitor my nitrates for at least a week if not two weeks and see what's happening.

How long can fish go between feedings? If its more than a day I could always feed every other day, I just try not to starve them. Every time I come into the room every single fish rushes to the front and they start swimming from side to side and I can picture them screaming "feed me, feed me". And it's weird because they keep this up even after being fed lol

 

[Daxhua]

?You sound like me.
Maybe getting a second nitrate test kit or taking a water sample to LFS for a second look. I've heard of people sometimes getting inaccurate test results. If your using API test kit be sure to shake the heck out of bottle #2.
I'm no plant expert but maybe your plants are lacking something that would help with your nitrate levels. I was having a little trouble keeping my levels up after upgrading my lights and increasing excel dosage. Don't know how you have your planted tank setup.
Stick with the two 50% WC a week and see if that helps.

 

[jlk]

I would just start with monitoring your nitrate levels for a week to see how much & how fast they are increasing before adjusting your feeding schedule. If they are only going from 20 to 40 over the course of a week, then this is not that big of a deal and I would just up your water changes if you dont want your nitrates rising this high. I am glad that was typo that your nitrates are 40 before (rather than after) a wc!

 

[HopefulHobbiest]

I can do that... I'll start monitoring today after work and see where I'm at. Yea 40 before is a huge difference than 40 after lol. I need to do some research into my plants, they're not exactly dying but there also not thriving the same way they did in the gravel I had before switching to sand. I'm currently test the API root tabs and the results are kinda iffy... Makes me wish I hand changed but I was worried about my Cory's barbels. To many variables though... Need to take this one step at a time