Suggestions anyone?

[Sniper187]

So I did a test a few days ago.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20

Did a 50 percent water change after that. Cleaned gravel and everything else.

Few days later I did another test.

Nitrate still 20

I have 40 gallon tank, fully cycled. I'm not over stocked and my fish seem fine. They're doing there thing. I'm not over feeding and feed my fish every other day. Light is on 6-9 hrs a day. I also have a ehiem classic canister filter good enough for a 60 gallon tank. I don't have any plants cus I really don't have the time or money to get them right now.

What am I doing wrong and what should I do? Any suggestions as to why my nitrate level won't go down?

 

[jetajockey]

Nothing, 20ppm is fine. Do you have nitrates in your tap? The 20ppm recommendation by most is a good practice advice, it's not a solid rule by any means. You can get by with 40ppm or more without issue in most cases, so you may have to be a little more flexible if your tap has an inherent nitrate level.

If the tap is nitrate free, though, you may want to recheck your stock plan or do more frequent WCs or larger ones.

 

[Cichlid Kid]

First of all 20 ppm no3 isn't that bad, and secondly have you checked your tapwaters nitrates? If your tap is at 20 then your aquariums nitrate level will always be at least 20ppm no matter how many pwc you do. Unless of course its heavily planted.

 

[Sniper187]

Nothing, 20ppm is fine. Do you have nitrates in your tap? The 20ppm recommendation by most is a good practice advice, it's not a solid rule by any means. You can get by with 40ppm or more without issue in most cases, so you may have to be a little more flexible if your tap has an inherent nitrate level.

If the tap is nitrate free, though, you may want to recheck your stock plan or do more frequent WCs or larger ones.

My tap is between 0 and 5.0

 

[Cichlid Kid]

Woops. Sorry jetajockey, i didn't see ur post.

 

[blert]

How often do you clean the canister? Crud gets built up and, you guessed it, turned into nitrate, rather efficiently I might add.

 

[Cynic]

Are you overstocked?

 

[Sniper187]

How often do you clean the canister? Crud gets built up and, you guessed it, turned into nitrate, rather efficiently I might add.

I just got it about two months ago. Changed pads after 6 weeks. Was told not to clean the inside yet and wait about 10-12 weeks then clean it

 

[blert]

Well, I don't think you are doing anything wrong. As others have already said, 20ppm is nothing to worry about. You have no live plants so the only way you can remove nitrate is water changes. Maintain a 50% PWC schedule (with gravel vac) once a week, clean the canister at least once a month and don't over feed and things should stay stable. Also, don't forget to clean the hoses every so often, they can get build up in them that can lead to a nitrate issue.