I hope someone here can give me some advice, because I am at dead end.
I have been back in the hobby for about a year, and I have a 75g, (2)50g, (2)30g and a 10 gallon tank. The only tank I ever seem to have issues with is the 10 gallon.
It is set up for breeding guppies, based on advice I got from the LFS. It currently runs an Eheim Liberty 200 HOB (with the flow diverted against the glass) and a sponge filter rated for 60 gallons max. There are two Marineland Boxwood artificial plant mats and two more small artificial plants, as well as an artificial log ornament with holes. There is a simple LED tube light which runs maybe 5 or 6 hours a day.
(The LFS originally suggested only a Marineland 75 filter, but it died in less than a month. They tell me the sponge is not necessary, but I run one in all my tanks because I'm paranoid about ammonia.)
I have less than 10 inches of guppies in this tank, and the LFS has told me that given my filters I am well under-stocked in their opinion. But I keep having Nitrate spikes as high as 40ppm, even with weekly 25% water changes.
And I have lost three guppies in the last month at different times with no outward signs of disease or distress. One day they seem fine, the next day - dead guppy?
After the last guppy died, I did another water test. Everything was fine except Nitrates were back up over 30ppm. So I asked a friend to check my water with his test kit - same result. Then I took a sample to the LFS. They said my water was "better than their guppy tank" and said that they felt the nitrate level was "way too low to cause mortality" . They suggested that doing too frequent water changes, or stress was the cause.
My friend has been in the hobby twenty years, and he thinks the nitrate problem is being caused by my tank being understocked for the amount of filtration I'm running. He thinks I am removing the ammonia so quickly I am not allowing any anaerobic bacteria to build up. He suggests either to add fish, or remove a filter. Honestly, I don't understand that. Ammonia converts to nitrites, right? And If I wasn't converting enough nitrites, I wouldn't have a nitrate build up, right?
After this last test, I did a 50% water change, and added a tube filled with Seachem Matrix to the open compartment in the Eheim. I'm at a loss. I don't have these issues with any other tank. I can't think of anything else causing the deaths but the nitrates, but everyone tells me they are not likely the issue.
My friend also says guppies are pain in the a-- because they have been bred so much they are no longer study fish like I remember from when I was a kid.He thinks I'd be better off using the 10 gallon for platys, or something else.
Sorry if this is a long read, but I wanted to include as much info as possible. If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate them!
I have been back in the hobby for about a year, and I have a 75g, (2)50g, (2)30g and a 10 gallon tank. The only tank I ever seem to have issues with is the 10 gallon.
It is set up for breeding guppies, based on advice I got from the LFS. It currently runs an Eheim Liberty 200 HOB (with the flow diverted against the glass) and a sponge filter rated for 60 gallons max. There are two Marineland Boxwood artificial plant mats and two more small artificial plants, as well as an artificial log ornament with holes. There is a simple LED tube light which runs maybe 5 or 6 hours a day.
(The LFS originally suggested only a Marineland 75 filter, but it died in less than a month. They tell me the sponge is not necessary, but I run one in all my tanks because I'm paranoid about ammonia.)
I have less than 10 inches of guppies in this tank, and the LFS has told me that given my filters I am well under-stocked in their opinion. But I keep having Nitrate spikes as high as 40ppm, even with weekly 25% water changes.
And I have lost three guppies in the last month at different times with no outward signs of disease or distress. One day they seem fine, the next day - dead guppy?
After the last guppy died, I did another water test. Everything was fine except Nitrates were back up over 30ppm. So I asked a friend to check my water with his test kit - same result. Then I took a sample to the LFS. They said my water was "better than their guppy tank" and said that they felt the nitrate level was "way too low to cause mortality" . They suggested that doing too frequent water changes, or stress was the cause.
My friend has been in the hobby twenty years, and he thinks the nitrate problem is being caused by my tank being understocked for the amount of filtration I'm running. He thinks I am removing the ammonia so quickly I am not allowing any anaerobic bacteria to build up. He suggests either to add fish, or remove a filter. Honestly, I don't understand that. Ammonia converts to nitrites, right? And If I wasn't converting enough nitrites, I wouldn't have a nitrate build up, right?
After this last test, I did a 50% water change, and added a tube filled with Seachem Matrix to the open compartment in the Eheim. I'm at a loss. I don't have these issues with any other tank. I can't think of anything else causing the deaths but the nitrates, but everyone tells me they are not likely the issue.
My friend also says guppies are pain in the a-- because they have been bred so much they are no longer study fish like I remember from when I was a kid.He thinks I'd be better off using the 10 gallon for platys, or something else.
Sorry if this is a long read, but I wanted to include as much info as possible. If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate them!
