Help! Nitrate 160 ppm!

[Aquarist2020]

So I tested my water today and it said nitrate is at 160ppm
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
PH 8.8
Is cause i did the test during feeding time. My fish and inverts are fine.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Do a huge water change. What is your normal water change schedule? How much water do you change each time?

 

[Aquarist2020]

3 gallons every saturday

 

[JuiceBox52]

What size tank is this?

 

[Aquarist2020]

30 GALLONS

 

[Aquarist2020]

30 GALLONS

sorry for the caps

 

[JuiceBox52]

Okay. I'd do a 75% water change and test again.

 

[Aquarist2020]

I was doing the test during feeding so i thought a piece of food came in the test

 

[Aquarist2020]

Okay. I'd do a 75% water change and test again.

wow thats huge

 

[JuiceBox52]

wow thats huge

I do 50-75% water changes weekly on all of my tanks. The larger the water change the cleaner the tank the healthier the fish

 

[Aquarist2020]

I do 50-75% water changes weekly on all of my tanks. The larger the water change the cleaner the tank the healthier the fish

Really what about the benfical bacteria, I worried to loose so much of it

 

[Byron]

You need to be changing much more water every Saturday, at minimum half the tank but somewhere in the 50-70% range is better. This is regardless of any tests. Regular substantial water changes mean healthier fish and more stable water parameters and conditions. I just finished my weekly W/C's and the tanks got a 75-80% change as usual.

To the nitrate...160 ppm is seriously weakening the fish, and this leads to other issues they would otherwise be able to deal with without problem. And it will kill them in time. Nitrate should be as low as possible, and never above 20 ppm. When you say this is because you tested when you fed them...what is the usual nitrate level when you test it? And have you tested the tap water on its own for nitrate, just to be sure it may not be from there?

 

[JuiceBox52]

Really what about the benfical bacteria, I worried to loose so much of it

The bacteria lives on surfaces. Plant leaves, substrate, filter media all have it on it. Removing the water wont hurt your cycle

 

[Wills]

High nitrate is not something that will quickly affect your fish like ammonia or nitrite. But it will severly cut their lifespan and make them more susceptable to disease and parasites if they are added to the tank by new fish, plants etc.

Have you tested your tap water for nitrate? I get 30ppm nitrate out of my tap so I am creating a heavily planted tank to help deal with that.

If the nitrate is purely building up in the tank this is often due to 3 reasons

1. Not enough water changes
2. Dirty filter
3. Dirty substrate

I dont think 3 gallons a week in a 30 gallon tank will cut it you would want to be doing between 10-15 gallons a week. It is also important to keep your substrate as much as possible and remove any organic waste that has built up - if you have any bottom dwellers this will help as they will make sure it breaks up and gets into the water column and sucked into your filter.

I think it would be worth cleaning your filter out (in a bucket of tank water) and checking it again.

Wills

 

[Essjay]

With 30 gallons, you need to be changing at least 15 gallons every week.

Nitrate gets high when
the tank is overstocked
the fish are fed too much
water changes are not large enough or frequent enough.

Nitrate is made in the tank by the filter bacteria. if there are lot of fish creating a lot of ammonia, it will be turned into a lot of nitrate. Eben if you are not overstocked, if you feed the fish too much, the left over food will decompose to make nitrate.
The only way to remove nitrate is by water changes, so not enough or not big enough leaves a lot still in the water so it builds up.

You need to get the nitrate down, and water changes are the main way of doing this. A 75% water change should reduce it but you'll need to more than one to get nitrate down to the same levels as your tap water. Once you've reduced it, you need to keep it down.


The filter bacteria live in the biofilm which is tightly bound to surfaces. Water changes do not damage them.