Nitrate Problem

[Fresh Water Fre]

First let me say hello to all as I am new to this forum. Ihave a 55 Gallon fresh water tank that has been up since Febuary of this year. I battled the normal start-up problems until my bio's got established. I have a undergravel filter with a power head and a Whisper dual element filter hanging on the back. My amonia level reads good and the Nitrite is ok but my Nitrate is off the scale! I believe this causes the Ph to be low also. I do monthly 25% water changes and filter changes. This past month I did a gravel change and about 75% water change out. I lost no fish during this time. My Nitrate levels are still high. Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[loganj]

High nitrates

OK...there are a couple of possibilities that come to mind here. The first is that the test kit you're using may not be good. Have you tried another test? What kind of test are you using? Assuming you have done this, have you tested your water source for nitrates? Some water supplies are high in nitrates. What kind of bio load do you have on this tank? If the bio load is very high, and you certainly have plenty of filtration, you could be converting a high level of ammonia. I think this is doubtful though. 25% water change is OK although I prefer to do 10-15% twice a month. You are quite correct in assuming that the high level of nitrate will cause pH to drop...this is due to the level of nitric acid in the water. You might mitigate this somewhat by increasing the level of carbonate hardness in the water as long as it doesn't exceed the level that will be tolerated by the fish. Are you having any trouble with algae? Based on the info provided, I suspect your water supply. Give us some more details and we'll try to come up with something.
Logan J

 

[Fresh Water Fre]

I have had my water test compared at a local pet shop. All of my test mirror thiers. They are the ones that do the Nitrate test. I am going to check my water source for Nitrate levels. By Bio load due you mean the amount of fish in the tank, plants ect.? If so there are only around 30 inches of fish in there Using the 2 inch per gallon theory, I would say my load is smalll. Will check water and get back with you. Thanks for the input.

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

well, that depends....do you have 30 one inch goldfish? some fish just produce more waste than others...i would check the tapwater first, but i suspect either overfeeding or excess waste coupled with a monthly water change...you may try 25% twice a month if your tap water has no/is low in nitrates.....