High nitrates

[Cjnicol]

Hi all, I've got a 55 gal tank with 12 assorted African cichlids in it, 2 clown loaches and 1 syn pleco. I currently do a 50% water change weekly and check water parameters quite regularly also, but I am finding it very hard to keep nitrate levels below 40ppm. For filtration I have 1 x eheim canister filter (250gph) and an aqua clear 110 (166gph). I have gravel substrate and plastic plants, no live plants. I also have a 1 x blue and 1 x yellow 54 watt fluro light that is on a timer which turns on at 3pm and off at 9pm every day. I feed fish once a day also. Any ideas on why I am getting these nitrate results and what I can do to reduce and hopefully keep them down? Any advice would be great??!!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Up the water changes or reduce the number of fish are your only options really. You can check the filter and make sure it hasn't got too much junk in it and make sure there isn't a build up of waste in your substrate and around rock work.

 

[Cjnicol]

I was afraid this might have been the answer. Since I don't really want to get rid of any of my fish, I guess I'm going to have to increase the amount of water changes I do? Would the addition of live plants help?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I was afraid this might have been the answer. Since I don't really want to get rid of any of my fish, I guess I'm going to have to increase the amount of water changes I do? Would the addition of live plants help?

Yep. Many (including myself) do multiple large water changes on our African tanks per week to keep nitrate down. Fast growing plants help reduce nitrates but they won't last in a tank full of Africans. Switching to sand substrate might help a bit. It's easier to keep clean unlike gravel.

 

[Crawdaddy]

I fought with my nitrates for a long time. I could get them down after a water change, but the next day they were climbing right back up. I finally broke open the filter (Fluval 306) and it was nasty. Cleaned all the filters in tank water, put it back on, did my water change, checked nitrates a couple of days later, and they were lower than they had every been. I now have a set schedule for cleaning the filter. It's past weekend, I cleaned both filters, same type, different tanks, and was amazed at how much nastier the cichlid filter was compared to my tropical tanks filter. Granted the tropical tank with the barbs has smaller fish in it, but its also a smaller tank. I figured there would be a difference, but not like it was. Clean your filter, do a water change, and then check your levels. Remember to use tank water to rinse everything out, and keep your media with the BB, wither it be bio rings or balls wet the whole time. I bet you see a big difference.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I forgot to mention that you should check your tap water for nitrates too.

 

[Cjnicol]

Thanks heaps for the info guys, ill try out what ur saying. At the moment I clean my filters out every 4 weeks, but never at the same time, so I always have 2 weeks bio load in at least one filter, if u get what I mean. Maybe I should start cleaning them both every 2 weeks?

 

[Crawdaddy]

Rotate the cleaning on the filters. Don't clean them at the same time. That should prevent an chance of a mini cycle. That way you don't run the chance of killing all your BB at the same time.