I did two 50 percent water change and my Nitrates are 20 ppm. I have a 40 gallon tall tank. I moved some fish to another tank, cause the one tank I have is overstocked. I am trying to find a home for a few fish. Anyways any suggestions on how to lower the Nitrate? I do have a Nitrate pad but it maybe time for a new one, They just messed with the water where I lived, so maybe that is why. I do not have any live plants, should i buy some? I just need tips on how to lower the Nitrate in my tank.
I did two 50 percent water change and my Nitrates are 20 ppm.
- Thread starter pettygil
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Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Your choices are regular water changes more often, get a new nitrate removing pad or get into live plants. That's how you lower nitrates in an aquarium. Do you have the right lights for the best nitrate absorbing plants? If not, they are a waste of your time. How long has it been since you replaced the nitrate absorbing pad? Was the water company issue a once in a while thing or a full time thing? If a temporary thing, just delay doing the water change. If permanent, you may need to find a different water source.
ghyti
Aquarium Advice Activist
What were the nitrates before the two 50% changes. If they were 80 then yes two 50% changes will get you to 20. And one more should get you to 10. Could also be nitrates in your source water. Your water company should post an analysis on line somewhere.
I am not sure how long it had been since I bought the Nitrate pad, if I had to guess it be about a year ago. What kind of lights do I need to buy for the plants? I did not know there were special lights for the plants. I am not sure if the water is perm or not, right now the keep shutting the water off and on. I assume they are doing something to the water, not sure what thoe.
The Nitrates were around 80ppm before the water changes, so i will do another water change, see if that helps. But it could be the water out of the tap. I am not sure of that, but just a guess. My tank has sand and the water is really cloudy right now. I had to clean the sand and it stirred it up. I also cleaned the Nitrate pad in fish water.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
You need to replace the nitrate removing pad. If you have that much nitrate with a pad present, the pad is no longer working.
Yes, just like they make specialty bulbs for growing house plants, they make specialty lights or light settings for aquatic plants.
You need to replace the nitrate removing pad. If you have that much nitrate with a pad present, the pad is no longer working.
Yes, just like they make specialty bulbs for growing house plants, they make specialty lights or light settings for aquatic plants.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Throw the old pad away and put the new one where the old one was. How fast it works will depend on which brand you are using but you should be seeing a reduction in the level every time you test your nitrates ( once a week at the least. )
My other fish tank has 0 Nitrates and does not have a Nitrate pad. I just checked my other 40 gallon tank and it has 80PPM nitrate.. should I do another water change and if so how much water change? I just did a 50 percent water change yesterday, and the day before and the Nitrates are still high in my one tank, the other tank I have is fine.
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Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Does the 0 PPM tank have as many fish as the 80 PPM tank? That could account for the difference.
The 0ppm tank has less fish, yes. My other tank has Brsitol nose pleco and one regular pleco, along with 35 guppies, one glo fish, and 8 cat fish and 10 black eyed tetras. . I am still trying to fine these fish a home, but as of right now do I need to do a small water change? I been doing water changes the last few days. do I have to do another water change on the 80ppm tank and if so how much? Or do i just leave the tank alone for a few days and keep testing the water?
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
There's your answer. The more fish the more food. The more food, the more ammonia being produced. The more ammonia produced, the more eventual nitrates you will have. If you have 80 ppm of nitrates, a 50% change should get you down to 40 ppm which is considered the acceptable higher limit of nitrates. If you did 50% today then 50% again tomorrow, you should be down to close to 20 ppm and should be able to take a break from daily water changes but if the nitrate climbs quickly ( as in 1 to 2 or 3 days), you should be changing water at least every 3 days.
My other tank that had 0 nitrates is now 80 ppm Nitrates it changed in one day. Do I do a water change on that tank as well? It is a 40 gallon tank. I checked my tap water and it has 0 nitrates. I did add more fish to my other tank, could that be why the Nitrates changed in one day? Also the water is very cloudy. I am afraid my fish are going to die from the nitrates. I need help, what should I do? thanks.
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
It won't go from 0 to 80 overnight so your 0 test most likely was not correct. Yes, you should do a water change on that tank as well.
If your nitrate went from 0 to 80ppm in one day that would mean that in excess of 20ppm of ammonia somehow went into the water over the course of that day and was all cycled to nitrate. This isn't possible.
- That amount of ammonia just couldn't be cycled out in such a short period of time.
- That amount of ammonia would kill all your fish in a matter of minutes, and kill the microbes responsible for your cycle too.
I just checked both of my tanks, without water change. I test with api master kit. I shows 0 nitrates for both tanks, this is really weird. I shook the bottles quite a few times and am getting different results. My fish are acting fine i have been watching them. Should I still do a water chance since the nitrates are 0. Also the bottles of liquid to test, are up to date. I need to buy me a Nitrate checker for 60 dollars on amazon. It is digitial and checks the Nitrates. My ammonia is 0 on both tanks.
I found this on Google, would ya all agree? it says on google the following. "A nitrate spike in your fish tank can occur due to a sudden increase in waste from overfeeding, decaying plant matter, or dead fish, which then gets processed by the bacteria in your filter, causing a temporary spike in nitrates; however, if your tank is now fine without a water change, it's likely because your beneficial bacteria population had enough time to naturally process and reduce the nitrate levels back to a manageable range, effectively "cleaning up" the waste buildup in the tank"
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Make sure they weren't talking about nitrITES, not nitrATES. Nitrates are not reduced by nitrifying bacteria, they are produced by nitrifying bacteria. Nitrates are reduced by anerobic bacteria and need areas of low oxygen levels to exist in a tank. If you have that, your tank is in trouble because if you break open an anaerobic pocket, it releases a gas that if there is enough, can kill off the whole tank. Nitrifying bacteria are aerobic and must have oxygen to live.
As for your testing, if you haven't used a new nitrate absorbing pad or did a water change, you probably didn't shake the nitrate reagent bottles enough. I know that's hard to believe but it's near impossible to go from 80ppm to 0ppm in 24 hours without some kind of intervention.
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