Biowheel

[DeepSeaFishin]

I have a 30 Gallon with 4 Giant Danios and 2 Convicts. My nitrates SPIKED over the weekend, My readings are 150+. I have no live plants, just some algae on the back glass thats not overgrowing, so I tend to just leave it there. I syphon the gravel once and a while and I recently changed filters because after trying to wash off the crap on the last one, it left alot of debris inside the sponge/carbon filter. I feed them once a day with freeze-dried bloodworms and some vegetables, I am vigilant on making sure very little fall to the bottom. Perhaps getting a catfish or some corys would help with eating the leftovers on the bottom (dur)? Anyway, I need a solution fast to get the nitrates out of the tank, I assume attempting a 50% water change would get rid of the problem? While I'm at it I will also ask this: My tap water is around 120ppm hardness. Is that too hard? I need answers asap please. Thankyou

Tom

I also tested the water via test strips, I read on here before about someone saying they suck, is this true?

And is a bio-wheel a (nitrate) trap?

 

[Bignose]

How long has it been since you last did a water change? For that matter, have you checked the nitrate level in your tap water. For some people, the nitrates in the tap are very high. If the nitrates in your tap are low, you can do water changes to lower the level, and that is probably the best way. If you aren't doing at least 10-20% a week, that will help keep the nitrates in check.

You hardness is not too bad if the fish seem healthy and happy. Fish can be very adaptable, and if they are not showing any ill signs, it is nothing to worry about.

Test strips are far more inaccurate than the liquid tests. They also expire quicker since any moisture, even from high humidity, that gets in their container slowly degrades the strips. That is not to say that liquid tests don't expire, because they do, but usually liquid tests are good for at least a year after you first open them.

A bio-wheel is not a nitrate tap, it is just a place for the cycling bacteria to colonize, that is also exposed the the air. The cycling bacteria need oxygen to do their jobs, and by having them on the wheel, they are exposed to several thousand times higher concentration of oxygen than if they were just in the water. The idea comes from waste-water plants that have been using large wheels exposed to air like that for many, many years.

So, in summary, water changes, so long as your tap's nitrates are low, are by and far the easiest way to lower the nitrate level.

 

[andywg]

Double check on the nitrate reading with a shop. IME nitrate tests tend to be a bit wild in their readings from 0 to 160ppm on the same water at the same time.

Otherwise, everything bignose has said applies well.

 

[DeepSeaFishin]

I did my last water change, last week, around 30% of my tanks water.
My tap has 20ppm Nitrate, so I assume that as you said, doing water changes weekly, will handle the problem.

 

[Bignose]

You may want to do an extra one or two this week to help get it diluted down faster. Or maybe larger ones like 50-70%. So long as the temp, pH, and hardness of the new and old water are pretty close, you can safely do larger water changes like 75%. If the tank is heavily stocked, the nitrates may just have been building up over time, and 30% a week may not be enough to keep them down. I'd at least try more frequent or larger water changes for a time and see how that works.

 

[cuticom]

If your interested in a nitrate remover have a go at googling aquaponics, its easy to do something similar with household plants such as lucky bamboo or ferns.

 

[Don Trinko]

I do not trust the test strips . I set up a tank for my wife and one fish died so I took it back to the lfs for a replacement. They tested my water and said everything was ok but nitrates were 80. I went home and with my test kit the nitrates tested 10.
The test strips seem to work ok for hardness but for me they always read to high for nitrites, nitrates, and ph. Don T.