40 ppm nitrates caused by stress zyme?????

[tropicfishman]

ok my nitrates are creeping up everyday it seems, there up to 40 ppm now, my ammonia was 0.25 ppm and my phosphates were through the roof, I don't see how the nitrates are creeping up liek that if i vacuum the gravel every 5 days and i know i'm not overfeeding, the only thing i can think of is the fact i've been using stress zyme when i do a PWC. i just mix a mL with each gallon I put back in the tank, could this be the reason my nitrates are creeping up some how??? / thanks for any help

 

[kay-bee19]

Nitrates are the end product of nitrification process (ammonia>nitrite>nitrate).

What percentage of water are you changing out each week?

 

[Zagz]

I don't think stress zyme can increase nitrates at all. I personally don't use it, I find it has no real benefit. Indeed what percentage of water are you changing? I get high nitrates in one of my tanks due to a high load of fish and I do 50% a week.

 

[tropicfishman]

well right now i do a 25 % water change / gravel vaccuming, I do this every 5 days, nothing really comes out of the gravel, a few pieces of debris and waste but thats it, I', going as deep as i can with out hitting the glass to, could it be something with my filter possibly? I run a Regent on it, but i use these whisper cartridges so i can take them apart and add any kind of media I want, they don't seem to be a very coarse material though, i'm thinking particals are getting through and thats why my tank is always cloudy. But I can't figure why the nitrates are climbing like this, I'll try a 50 % water change the next few weeks and see if that helps, hopefully it will take out the cloudiness some to, I also had my ammonia creeping up but i took care of that. My phosphates are through the roof also. Tell me if this would work.... 50 % water changes, buying media bags of 100 micron, and putting activated charcoal, denitrate, zeolite and phospahte remover in it, do you think that would help everything?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

In cycling the tank, the ammonia is being turned into nitrite, and the nitrite is being turned into nitrate. Nitrate is the end product, and that's why your nitrates are rising. Regular water changes is the only way to lower nitrates, with one exception, a heavily planted tank.

 

[tropicfishman]

mines been cycled along time ago, and i don't like the whole live plant thing, tried it and it was a wasteo f money for me, plsu without having any job right now i can't afford everything I need to keep a healthy live plant tank, nitrite is the deadly form right? lol