Trates & Plants

[wetfishies]

I finally hit the cycling stage of only having nitrAtes. I can not get rid of them. Will dead plants cause nitrAtes to stay high?
I have been doing partial water changes & no improvement they will lower a level but go back up again. they was 80 last night I done partial chage now it`s reading 40 now. but As for what I been seeing it will raise again when I check later.

 

[ImACoolguy]

You need to remove the dead plants regardless of your nitrates.


Caleb

Sent via TARDIS

 

[wetfishies]

I have now. there was some brown leaves and I been keeping them in there just because they was not falling off the plant yet. Guess I will start ripping them off as they get brown. Do they make higher or keep nitrates in the water? ( dead plants )

 

[Mebbid]

Nitrates are most effected by the amount of food you add and the bioload in the tank. Plants decay slowly and will take a while to cause a large nitrate spike.

How much / often are you feeding?
How many fish?
Have you tested your tap water?

 

[wetfishies]

There are no trates in the tap. I have 8 fish & 1 clawed frog. I feed them every 2 or three days. 3 giant danios,2 fat belly calico goldfish,neon tetras, My frog has been in the tank with the fish since she was tiny & has been in for 2 yrs now. she has not eaten any of my fish at least not yet. I went threw a bad cycling process due to gravel changing a couple months ago. well the cycling has stopped and as I said it`s just the nitrates that will not go away, should I maybe change my filters?

 

[Mebbid]

Nope, i would just rock out with water changes and call it good. The nitrogen is coming from somewhere and will eventually exhaust itself.

What size tank is this?

 

[wetfishies]

30 tall. I was doing them 2 x a day, then 3 times a day then went down to one x a day, all month long & some. i done 1/2 tank changes I took out about 27 gal. at once even. My other levels stayed perfect, nitrites couldn't be more beautiful & my ammonia stays close to none.