Nitrate help please! ! !

[MMantelli]

So I've had my 55 going for awhile now and just can't seem to get my nitrates down. I have oolite aragonite mixed with coarse black substrate, a 4 stage filter (100g limit) and a 48" 6700k/colormax light. I had 8 med cichlids and 2 clown loaches had to put one fish in quarantine tank and loaches in my other tank due to aggression. There's what I have now here's my problem. No matter how often or not I do my pwc 's or wether or not I use r/o water my nitrates are always between 40-80ppm usually closer to 80 sometimes more. I've lost a couple of my favorate fish over the last few months outta no where one day happy vibrant and hungry the next dead. I can't bear to loose anymore and don't wanna replace them untill its fixed. Please help if our peacock or blue zebra dies my wife will cry and not let me get a salt setup next year.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Have you been cleaning the filter, substrate and rockwork? Mulm can build up in those areas and cause excess nitrate. Also have you checked your tap water for nitrate? How much water do you change weekly? Unless your source water is high in nitrate you should be able to get it to come down with enough cleaning and water changes.

 

[spiketooth]

I am somewhat new to owning a tank, i have set up a 55 and nitrate was around 80-100, i do a 2.5 gal change everyday and had planted some cabonba. Just did a reading and its as fallow ph 6.8-7.2, nitrite 0, nitrate 10-20, ammonia 0. It helped me lower my nitrate. Try to avoid any major water change as that could kill your fish.

 

[Fishanatic]

I am somewhat new to owning a tank, i have set up a 55 and nitrate was around 80-100, i do a 2.5 gal change everyday and had planted some cabonba. Just did a reading and its as fallow ph 6.8-7.2, nitrite 0, nitrate 10-20, ammonia 0. It helped me lower my nitrate. Try to avoid any major water change as that could kill your fish.

2.5 Gal on a 55 gallon tank???
That's not enough at all:/
You should be doing at least 20-30 gallon water changes. And better yet, 90% water changes.

 

[spiketooth]

I didnt have any fish in my tank at the time so i didnt have to worry about putting any stress on any fish. I have read doing a major water change can kill a fish, the quick change in the levels weekend there immune system. If this was a bad artical please let me know. I dont like to have bad info

 

[GBHammbone]

I didnt have any fish in my tank at the time so i didnt have to worry about putting any stress on any fish. I have read doing a major water change can kill a fish, the quick change in the levels weekend there immune system. If this was a bad artical please let me know. I dont like to have bad info

I do two 60% water changes a week on my 90 and have never had any issues.

 

[Rivercats]

If you start doing 50% WC's weekly you will see you nitrates drop. But you do need to test your tap water to see if it has any nitrates in it because if it does your going to continue having a nitrate issue. My biggest tank is a 220g and I do 50% WC's weekly without problems.

 

[boadams87]

So I've had my 55 going for awhile now and just can't seem to get my nitrates down. I have oolite aragonite mixed with coarse black substrate, a 4 stage filter (100g limit) and a 48" 6700k/colormax light. I had 8 med cichlids and 2 clown loaches had to put one fish in quarantine tank and loaches in my other tank due to aggression. There's what I have now here's my problem. No matter how often or not I do my pwc 's or wether or not I use r/o water my nitrates are always between 40-80ppm usually closer to 80 sometimes more. I've lost a couple of my favorate fish over the last few months outta no where one day happy vibrant and hungry the next dead. I can't bear to loose anymore and don't wanna replace them untill its fixed. Please help if our peacock or blue zebra dies my wife will cry and not let me get a salt setup next year.

Do you have plants? What kind of filter are you using? What kind of test are you using?

 

[MMantelli]

I have a 4 stage canister filter with a built in 5watt uv sterilizer that is rated for tanks up to 100 gallons I use the API master kit and test twice my tap water reads less than 20 on nitrates I had no plants but today I just put in 2 plants and yesterday I switched from carbon to the chem pure elite I hope it helps I use the seachem pure for the de chlorinator is it possible I'm using to much could that be an issue since it says to go by the threads in the cap for dosing

 

[Hholly]

You can do large water changes (50%)without problems. But, test your pH first. If its very low(like in the mid 6s or lower) start doing smaller changes at first. Then work up to 50% once you have a stable pH. This is so you don't shock fish with a large pH swing. But water changes restore the buffering capacity of the water so you don't have a crash.

 

[MMantelli]

I'm not worried bout the ph its under control my change water gets bufferd to 8.5 then sits overnightand my decor and substrate keep it high

 

[MMantelli]

The plants brought it sown some just in a couple days but not much I just did a 30g water change so ill test it again tomorrow once everything settles and see where its at