NitrAte spike, what causes it?

[Jess1ca]

Tested this morning...



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Another water change is in order.

Ohhhh Myyyyy!!!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

D, Are you cleaning the HOB media as well? Just beware of a mini cycle. Test ammo and nitrite as well if your doing a big cleaning. Also be on the lookout for dead fish that may be hidden somewhere. I wonder how duckweed would do in your tank. It grows so fast under intense light that your fish couldnt eat it all. It consumes nitrates like nothing else ive seen. But if you have a lot of flow at the top of your tank its hard to use. Since your flow is under the surface is possible. Maybe you should look into it. I would like to here what Mumma thinks of duckweed and water lettuce in a Mbuna tank.

No harm in trying! I'm thinking duckweed. It's smaller and harder to destroy.

 

[Jmedic25]

No harm in trying! I'm thinking duckweed. It's smaller and harder to destroy.

There you go D, Give it a try...Dont pay for it. Any lfs should give you a wad of it. You will have to figure out something for your flow on the top

 

[Convict2161]

Gonna give it a try! Thanks!

 

[Terrance]

If you use duckweed or water lettuce to soak up your nitrates, then you will never know how polluted your water may be. These plants are nice to have in an understocked tanks because everything is stable.

 

[Malawi Freak]

If you use duckweed or water lettuce to soak up your nitrates, then you will never know how polluted your water may be. These plants are nice to have in an understocked tanks because everything is stable.

They are even better in overstocked tanks. The tank is cycled and has the BB to keep up with the stock however his current plants and filtration are not keeping up with consuming nitrates (which is usually only remedied by water changes).

However, I'm not too sure how the duckweed will work for you with the cichlids, yes it grows quickly but are you willing to take the chance of clogging your filters as the cichlids tare it up. It is usually only successful in a refugium setup.

 

[Convict2161]

From tonight's results I'm just gonna stick with my weekly's AND NOT slack anymore. Here's tonight's results after 3 50% water changes 3 days in a row.

I think it's looking good. Another great example of why everyone should do there weekly water changes and not try and short cut it.



View attachment 84378

 

[Terrance]

They are even better in overstocked tanks. The tank is cycled and has the BB to keep up with the stock however his current plants and filtration are not keeping up with consuming nitrates (which is usually only remedied by water changes).

However, I'm not too sure how the duckweed will work for you with the cichlids, yes it grows quickly but are you willing to take the chance of clogging your filters as the cichlids tare it up. It is usually only successful in a refugium setup.

nitrAtes is used to measure the total amount of pollution in the water. If the plants are used to soak up nitrAtes, then the OP will do less water when looking at the false reading for total amount of pollution. Plants do not use all the waste in the water. If less water changes occur less often in an overstocked tank, there will eventually be low nitrAtes with dangerous levels of dissolved organics. Plants are only meant to keep the water cleaning in-between water changes.

HTH

 

[Malawi Freak]

nitrAtes is used to measure the total amount of pollution in the water. If the plants are used to soak up nitrAtes, then the OP will do less water when looking at the false reading for total amount of pollution. Plants do not use all the waste in the water. If less water changes occur less often in an overstocked tank, there will eventually be low nitrAtes with dangerous levels of dissolved organics. Plants are only meant to keep the water cleaning in-between water changes.

HTH

Plants eat nitrates. They are not the solution to completely rid of nitrates but are an excellent means of controlling.

 

[Terrance]

I don't understand why you would recommend skewing the only measurement that would determine the amount/frequency of water change, especially in an overstocked tank. Fish grow and bioload will definitely change.

 

[Malawi Freak]

I'm not saying at all to cut back on water changes. If you read one of my earlier posts in this thread I said to do 40-50% every week.

In this case he is having a continuous problem with nitrates so the bet way to remedy along side of water changes is more plants.

 

[Convict2161]

I'm not saying at all to cut back on water changes. If you read one of my earlier posts in this thread I said to do 40-50% every week.

In this case he is having a continuous problem with nitrates so the bet way to remedy along side of water changes is more plants.

This is true... I'm am for SOME UNKNOWN reason to myself NitrAtes are a major issue in my tank. It takes water changes 3-4 days in a row sometimes 2x's a day to bring them to this.



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[darkmatter_3500]

You should eventually find the problem, there is a excess of organic matter somewhere in your tank and your bacteria are doing there job rather well. I know that african cichlid tanks are frequently crowded due to territory issues , are nitrates a problem on some of these tanks due to the amount of fish and waste that they produce? I always wondered about that. My larger New World cichlids produce alot of waste and I have to keep a eye on nitrates and clean alot because they are messy.

 

[ejaramillo01]

This is true... I'm am for SOME UNKNOWN reason to myself NitrAtes are a major issue in my tank. It takes water changes 3-4 days in a row sometimes 2x's a day to bring them to this.

Maybe the reason is the amount of hiding spaces and caves in your tank. I know that you vacuum and also you use a water pump to try to pull out debris or materials from inside the caves, which is great.
But could be that there is an excess of materials there?

 

[garfy]

Maybe the reason is the amount of hiding spaces and caves in your tank. I know that you vacuum and also you use a water pump to try to pull out debris or materials from inside the caves, which is great.
But could be that there is an excess of materials there?

+1 every other week I remove all decor from my tank to make sure I get all debris when I vacuum.Although my Nitrates stay at around 25ppm they are always stable.Unfortunately this is how the water comes out of my taps.

 

[Terrance]

I'm not saying at all to cut back on water changes. If you read one of my earlier posts in this thread I said to do 40-50% every week.

In this case he is having a continuous problem with nitrates so the bet way to remedy along side of water changes is more plants.

What if more water changes are needed? How would he know that?
Overstocked tanks have unknown schedule for water changes because things change extremely fast.

This is true... I'm am for SOME UNKNOWN reason to myself NitrAtes are a major issue in my tank. It takes water changes 3-4 days in a row sometimes 2x's a day to bring them to this.

Your small water changes cannot keep up with the amount of waste your fish is producing. For a 100+ nitrAte reading, just do as close to a 100% water change (you'll end up doing 80% to keep your fish submerged). You will save yourself more time and get your fish out of polluted water faster.

 

[paytertot]

I always feel really bad for my fish when I bring the water down that low during a water change lol but I really should

 

[Convict2161]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I'm going to revamp my water change procedure. Remove as many of the Cichlid stones and wash inside it tank water. Use my power head as I've been doing and do maybe 75% wc instead of 50%


Can anyone tell me if this is true?

I've heard that if you perform bigger water changes like 75% your at risk of GREATLY reducing your pH? My pH is a strong steady 8.2 now. Fry are doing fine as well. I'm assuming they would tell a story?

Input? And thanks again.

 

[Malawi Freak]

What if more water changes are needed? How would he know that?
Overstocked tanks have unknown schedule for water changes because things change extremely fast.

Your small water changes cannot keep up with the amount of waste your fish is producing. For a 100+ nitrAte reading, just do as close to a 100% water change (you'll end up doing 80% to keep your fish submerged). You will save yourself more time and get your fish out of polluted water faster.

I don't think you're understanding why I'm recommending the plants. You are correct that one needs to know what pwc schedule is required to sustain their tank parameters. I have always kept live plants in all of my tanks. I consider it another phase of my filtration since they consume both ammonium and nitrates. (these numbers are 100% hypothetical) If someone's tank was producing 10ppm of nitrates a day and their filtration is consuming 5 and adding plants consumes 3 you will end up with 14ppm increase in nitrates each week as opposed to 35ppm without plants.

 

[Malawi Freak]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I'm going to revamp my water change procedure. Remove as many of the Cichlid stones and wash inside it tank water. Use my power head as I've been doing and do maybe 75% wc instead of 50%

Can anyone tell me if this is true?

I've heard that if you perform bigger water changes like 75% your at risk of GREATLY reducing your pH? My pH is a strong steady 8.2 now. Fry are doing fine as well. I'm assuming they would tell a story?

Input? And thanks again.

In my experiences when doing a very large water change and extreme cleaning of decor WILL create a spike. If you dont add a buffer then ph can be in danger. What's your ph out of tap. If its high enough I wouldn't really worry too much.