Hello all, I have exhausted nearly every option and I am really hoping to find some answers on this site!!
I have been battling with nitrates for months to to no avail. I have a 40 gallon axolotl tank and I admittedly didn’t cycle properly to begin with, I was using test strips at the time and unaware of my tap nitrates, so after it seemingly tested at good levels on the strips after running with a little filter media and water from their old tanks, I put them in.
This didn’t last too long but neither did my ignorance, I experienced a cycle crash at one point and took my two axolotls out and tubbed them while I fixed it with all the proper equipment this time, liquid test kit and all. I fishless cycled the tank properly for over two months, had some problems along the way but figured out solutions to nearly all of them.
I say nearly because my nitrate issue persists no matter what I do. Throughout the entire fishless cycling they were testing very red, I did water changes attempt to get them down, but that didn’t help.
At one point I finally tested my tap, and it had about 20ppm nitrates. I realized that was unsustainable for my tank and thought I had found my problem. I purchased an RO system, some stuff to remineralize the water and buffer the PH, and started doing water changes with that. Unfortunately, that didn’t help though, even with 90% water changes.
A few days ago, I did a little experiment with the rocks I had in the tank for decoration, I set one in a cup of clean water for a few hours and tested the water it was in for Ammonia. The test came back over 1ppm Ammonia. I figured maybe this was my issue, there’s so much extra Ammonia leeching out of the rocks that’s all converting to nitrate overnight and causing it to perpetually be high. I removed all the rocks, did a 30 gallon water change, and tested the nitrates in the tank at 20ppm a few hours after the change. The next day though, they were red again. Less than 12 hours after the 30 gallon change. I figured maybe some leftover Ammonia from the rocks were just causing it and after one more change I’d be good, so I did another large water change. This brings me to today, and unfortunately, my nitrates are still testing red, probably 40ppm.
I just don’t understand what I’m doing wrong, I admit in the beginning of this tank I wasn’t as knowledgeable as I am now, but after months of research, keeping good husbandry, even buying chemical filtration meant to remove nitrates, nothing is helping. I see people posts tests that look like mine, and people say things like “have you never done a water change?” “This is MONTHS of nitrate build up!” But I have done probably 40 water changes just in the last two months!!! I feel like I’m going insane!
Here’s some info on my tank:
40 gallon breeder.
Substrate: quickcrete play sand (did not wash, wasn’t aware I should have at the time and I definitely paid for that, had cloudiness issues for awhile but got it under control)
Hardscape: three pieces of driftwood, boiled for almost 2 days straight. Two reptile heavy plastic hides/caves, one large slate rock from their old aquarium, as I said I removed the rest of the rocks after I figured out they were an issue.
Live plants: lots of Anubis, various swords, some ferns, and pothos growing out of the top.
Filtration: tetra whisper 45 gallon HOB with course sponge, nitrate filter pad, filter floss, biomax, and a bag of de-nitrate.
45 gallon sponge filter
Aquanet large sponge filter with media compartments, it has some boimax looking stuff, pebbles, and various sponge/filter pads.
Fluval 207 canister filter with all the media It came with besides the carbon, I replaced that with a bag of Purigen, and a bag of nitra-zorb. I replace/recharge the nitrazorb when It needs to be but obviously it’s not doing anything for my nitrates.
I’ve been asking for insight everywhere, here are some commonly asked questions you may have and their answers.
Q- have you been doing the nitrate test correctly?
A- yes, I’ve been shaking bottle 2 to all hell and then some, as well as the test itself. I’ve second guessed myself so much I’ve watched dozens of videos of other people doing it just to make sure I am in fact doing it correctly.
Q- is your nitrate test expired?
A- no, it shouldn’t expire for 4 years. This is even a new test I bought a few weeks ago because I had used the one that came with the master kit so much.
Q- have you cleaned your filters?
A- yes, all the media has been rinsed in tank water recently, I made sure to not do them all at once to not kill off a bunch of bacteria.
Q- any dead plants? Anything that could be decaying in there?
A- I have checked all my plants twice over and then again, I always pull off dying roots/leaves. The only creatures that have ever been in here are my axolotls, and the nightcrawlers I fed them. I always took out any uneaten worms I saw.
Q- What’s your PH? GH? KH?
A- PH has always stayed at 7.6, I have never seen it drop or get higher. Current KH is 8°, and GH is 9°
Honestly there’s been so many questions I have answered countless times, but if you have any other ones I don’t mind answering them again, I really just want to figure out where these nitrates are coming from! Please let me know if you have any insight, I am at a total loss here.
I have been battling with nitrates for months to to no avail. I have a 40 gallon axolotl tank and I admittedly didn’t cycle properly to begin with, I was using test strips at the time and unaware of my tap nitrates, so after it seemingly tested at good levels on the strips after running with a little filter media and water from their old tanks, I put them in.
This didn’t last too long but neither did my ignorance, I experienced a cycle crash at one point and took my two axolotls out and tubbed them while I fixed it with all the proper equipment this time, liquid test kit and all. I fishless cycled the tank properly for over two months, had some problems along the way but figured out solutions to nearly all of them.
I say nearly because my nitrate issue persists no matter what I do. Throughout the entire fishless cycling they were testing very red, I did water changes attempt to get them down, but that didn’t help.
At one point I finally tested my tap, and it had about 20ppm nitrates. I realized that was unsustainable for my tank and thought I had found my problem. I purchased an RO system, some stuff to remineralize the water and buffer the PH, and started doing water changes with that. Unfortunately, that didn’t help though, even with 90% water changes.
A few days ago, I did a little experiment with the rocks I had in the tank for decoration, I set one in a cup of clean water for a few hours and tested the water it was in for Ammonia. The test came back over 1ppm Ammonia. I figured maybe this was my issue, there’s so much extra Ammonia leeching out of the rocks that’s all converting to nitrate overnight and causing it to perpetually be high. I removed all the rocks, did a 30 gallon water change, and tested the nitrates in the tank at 20ppm a few hours after the change. The next day though, they were red again. Less than 12 hours after the 30 gallon change. I figured maybe some leftover Ammonia from the rocks were just causing it and after one more change I’d be good, so I did another large water change. This brings me to today, and unfortunately, my nitrates are still testing red, probably 40ppm.
I just don’t understand what I’m doing wrong, I admit in the beginning of this tank I wasn’t as knowledgeable as I am now, but after months of research, keeping good husbandry, even buying chemical filtration meant to remove nitrates, nothing is helping. I see people posts tests that look like mine, and people say things like “have you never done a water change?” “This is MONTHS of nitrate build up!” But I have done probably 40 water changes just in the last two months!!! I feel like I’m going insane!
Here’s some info on my tank:
40 gallon breeder.
Substrate: quickcrete play sand (did not wash, wasn’t aware I should have at the time and I definitely paid for that, had cloudiness issues for awhile but got it under control)
Hardscape: three pieces of driftwood, boiled for almost 2 days straight. Two reptile heavy plastic hides/caves, one large slate rock from their old aquarium, as I said I removed the rest of the rocks after I figured out they were an issue.
Live plants: lots of Anubis, various swords, some ferns, and pothos growing out of the top.
Filtration: tetra whisper 45 gallon HOB with course sponge, nitrate filter pad, filter floss, biomax, and a bag of de-nitrate.
45 gallon sponge filter
Aquanet large sponge filter with media compartments, it has some boimax looking stuff, pebbles, and various sponge/filter pads.
Fluval 207 canister filter with all the media It came with besides the carbon, I replaced that with a bag of Purigen, and a bag of nitra-zorb. I replace/recharge the nitrazorb when It needs to be but obviously it’s not doing anything for my nitrates.
I’ve been asking for insight everywhere, here are some commonly asked questions you may have and their answers.
Q- have you been doing the nitrate test correctly?
A- yes, I’ve been shaking bottle 2 to all hell and then some, as well as the test itself. I’ve second guessed myself so much I’ve watched dozens of videos of other people doing it just to make sure I am in fact doing it correctly.
Q- is your nitrate test expired?
A- no, it shouldn’t expire for 4 years. This is even a new test I bought a few weeks ago because I had used the one that came with the master kit so much.
Q- have you cleaned your filters?
A- yes, all the media has been rinsed in tank water recently, I made sure to not do them all at once to not kill off a bunch of bacteria.
Q- any dead plants? Anything that could be decaying in there?
A- I have checked all my plants twice over and then again, I always pull off dying roots/leaves. The only creatures that have ever been in here are my axolotls, and the nightcrawlers I fed them. I always took out any uneaten worms I saw.
Q- What’s your PH? GH? KH?
A- PH has always stayed at 7.6, I have never seen it drop or get higher. Current KH is 8°, and GH is 9°
Honestly there’s been so many questions I have answered countless times, but if you have any other ones I don’t mind answering them again, I really just want to figure out where these nitrates are coming from! Please let me know if you have any insight, I am at a total loss here.