Nitrate are high

[DjPotter79]

Just tested my water today cause I did a 25% water change Saturday night.
My ammonia is perfect.
My nitrites are perfect.
My nitrates are really high.
Any suggestions on what to do... Please let me know... Thanks John

 

[Hubert90]

Just tested my water today cause I did a 25% water change Saturday night.
My ammonia is perfect.
My nitrites are perfect.
My nitrates are really high.
Any suggestions on what to do... Please let me know... Thanks John

Could u please provide us with numbers? But the best way to rid nitrate is water change! Just make sure ur water temp and ph are similar.

 

[tamtam]

yea, numbers would be helpful but unless you have plants the only way to get those nitrates down is to water change.

 

[Jperales]

Get some nitrate reducing filter pads...

 

[Convict2161]

I'd like to find out what is the cause of the high nitrAtes rather then band-aid it with treatment. Has anything changed? Gravel vac or something? Maybe you stirred up some debris causing a spike?

Water changes will be your best friend here. I battled high nitrAtes and did a bunch of water changes everyday until it went down and now I just stay on top of it. You shouldn't be getting high readings and putting chemicals and any other nitrAte removing products although will help it will only mask the bigger issue....

What is causing the problem.

This of course of JMO but adding things to remove isn't telling you what's causing it. Tap water, over feeding, bad test kit, etc...

I went through 3 nitrAtes test kits. I tested mine and it showed off the chart 160ppm+ went to the LFS and it was good. Brought my test to the LFS and it showed there water through the roof.

I called API 4x's on this eventually they sent me a new kit and I mailed them the one I was using.

Also you have to really really really shake bottle 2 very well. Bang it on the floor and shake, rattle and roll that bad boy.


Also it would be good like others have stated. Numbers would be helpful. Also size of tank, filtration, stock. Things like that will help others help you! And that's what were all here for.

So when you have time. Maybe answer some of not all o the questions and we can get this straightened out for ya.

 

[reefdiver]

Test your tap water also. Maybe you may have a high source from there

 

[Rivercats]

One thing people tend to overlook when nitrates get high is if your using a canister filter and haven't cleaned it in a while, it can make nitrates skyrocket and WC's usually just aren't enough. Have you been feeding more or using alot of frozen food? Sometimes it's really odd things that cause this and you just don't even think about them.

 

[boadams87]

What size tank is this and what kind of fish and how many? Sounds like you have alot of fish.

 

[DjPotter79]

Okay my tank is a 20 gallon long.
I have a bunch of plants in it and some baby snails that came in with the plants I think... and that's it.
I've only had this tank running for 9 days. What I did was... I took a sponge off of my intake from the filter I'm using in my 10 gallon put it on the filter im using for the 20 gallon and I dipped my filter cartridge in there as well and I've been doing 25% water changes every 2/3 days (my work schedule is crazy).
So here are my numbers:
My PH is in between 7.4&8.0
My ammonia is 0ppm
My nitrite is 0ppm
My nitrate is between 80&160 ppm
I'm using the API master test kit.

 

[DjPotter79]

 

[tamtam]

wow.. those are seriously high numbers.. have you tested your water as a base?? Though I can't see it having even close to that for nitrates.. What about your test kit? Maybe your results are off. I know you really need to bang those nitrate bottles to get a proper reading Maybe something is going wrong there.. That seems really high for a mostly empty tank

 

[reefdiver]

Can you get a second opinion? Maybe you LFS or petsmart. I would recommend taking a sample of tap water and sample of tank.

 

[Convict2161]

That's way too high and I doubt it's accurate. That's what mine was reading an it turned out to be the kit.

Like others have suggested, get a second opinion. Things would going wrong with 160ppm+ of nitrAtes.