Nitrate Woes

[richiestang_78]

So I have a 30gal tank which has been up for a few years now, Never had any Ammonia Nitrite or PH problems but my nitrates never fall below the 40-60ish range. I have Rumym Noses in there and they dont seem to mind but I cant figure out why tehy wont go down. The fish load is pretty light(1 Gourami, 6 Danios, 4 Rummies, 3 Cories) and im careful not to over feed and do weekly waterchanges.

Here are the test results

pH7.4
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 60+/-

 

[JDogg]

So I have a 30gal tank which has been up for a few years now, Never had any Ammonia Nitrite or PH problems but my nitrates never fall below the 40-60ish range. I have Rumym Noses in there and they dont seem to mind but I cant figure out why tehy wont go down. The fish load is pretty light(1 Gourami, 6 Danios, 4 Rummies, 3 Cories) and im careful not to over feed and do weekly waterchanges.

how old is your test kit? they do not last forever

 

[richiestang_78]

Test kit was bought ealier this yeah.

 

[rich311k]

How large a water change do you do every week?

 

[richiestang_78]

15-25% and I clean one side of the tank one week then the other the next to make sure the gravel is cleaned good. I dont over feed ( a few times i have by mistake), I have a Aqua Clear 50 running and 3 cories do a good joob eating whatever food makes it to the bottom. Should I step up the water changes? I clean the filter sponge and Bio Media twice a month in some clean aquarium water I pull out.

 

[TomK2]

I presume you have checked your tap water? Some water can contain nitrate. If you are starting with 20 ppm in your tap, you will never get below it using tap water for water changes. If your tap water does not have nitrate in it, then the only way to get the nitrate level down in the tank is to dilute it. If you have 60 ppm in your tank, a 50% change gets your down to 30ppm, then another 50% change gets you down to 15% plus whatever accumulated between changes.

At 25% changes, it takes many more water changes to reduce the level, since each time 75% of the nitrate is left behind.

Perhaps your high levels are a combination of both smaller water changes and nitrate in the tap? I think if you step up the water changes it will come down.