Help Plz I Got High Nitrate

[mark1602]

Hi this is my first post so please be gentle
please help i had my 220litres tropical tank running cycling for 7 weeks before i put any fish in started adding fish steadily and after 2 months all was ok ph between 7 and 7.5 no ammonia , no nitite and no nitrate.

1 month later all is going wrong my ph dropped to 6.5 i added bicabonate of soda and now seems stable again all other readings was 0 except nitrae which was about 0.20 ,i thought it may be because i over fed so i didnt feed them for 3 days and now its very high 0.5-1.0 and i dont know what to do was going to change the water tomorrow but unsure i changed 25-30% 2 weeks ago i use ro water.no new fish for 3 weeks plec and large gourami were the last added

my filter is an xp3 i wash my sponges out using the water in the filter i have ceramic rings and the black balls in there do i need to wash these in tap water to clean them as i only washt hem in the filter water

the fish are 1 large silver shark 6 " long,1 large pleck 10" long,1 opaline gourami 2-3"long 1 moonlight gourami 3-4"long,3 sailfin mollies 2"long (1 male 2 females),3 flying foxes 3"long,2 large snakeskin goramis 5"long 1 small snakeskin gourami 2"long i have lots of air with 2 outlets the plec clears algee for me 8 real plants (not sure what they are but been in before fish went in) 2 pieces of bog wood which had been in a show tank for 3 yrs 1 300 rena heater jewel rock background with the back of the tank covered with cardboard to prevent algee and gravel.
the l;ast time i changed the water i did vac my gravel very well with an electric gravel cleaner think that covers everything so please please help oh the fish seem to be breathing ok not fast and it is a nice pieceful tank.

i have added prime this morning and will do a water change tonight i use ro water as my tap water has nitrate in it of 0.1 should i carry on using ro or try tap water sorry for all the questions but i really am stuck and dont know what to do

 

[Squid]

Nitrate in the tank is to be expected. Not sure what reading 0.20 is, as i use ppm. My tank always has some nitrate in it, and would would be suprised to see a cycled tank with no nitrate at all. This is ideally kept below 40ppm though. If you are seeing nitrate this would indicate (unless you have a really really heavily planted tank) that at some point you would have seen ammonia and nitrite in order for the cycle to get to the point of producing nitrate.

Edit: this is where you water changes come in to play.. plants can also help keep nitrate down. If you are doing weekly water changes of about 25% and your nitrates are still too too high, then i would take a closer look at your stocking levels for the tank.

Bogwood can be a cause of lowering the PH. I would probably prefer a slightly lower stable PH to a fluctuating higher PH where i have to add bicarb, but others may think differently. I have always been lead to belive that stability was king there.

Cheers
Squid

 

[mark1602]

hi thanks for the advise yes i saw the ammonia spike then nitite then nitrate then i saw them all drop so yes i know its cycled i have editited the 0.1 etc after checking my booklet to ppm ,i went in to my lfs and they reckon it is because i cleaned all my gravel and said i should only clean half then two weeks later clean the other half as most of the bacteria that you need is in the gravel and not the filter,i told them i had added prime they advised me to not add any more chemicals just to wait they said its like starting again,this would make sence the thing i am unsure about is the regular water changes do i need to change it every week? usually change it every 3-4 weeks.i know it isnt over stocked and its not to heavily planted thats why i was stuck i have read so much to try and do everything right it is so frustrating at times,i have a smaller 100litre tank i only change the water once a month and all is ok on that on as has been for 2 yrs

 

[Squid]

i went in to my lfs and they reckon it is because i cleaned all my gravel and said i should only clean half then two weeks later clean the other half as most of the bacteria that you need is in the gravel and not the filter

An LFS said that.. crikey... i re-did my whole tank the other week, including changing all of the gravel/sand and have had no problems whatsoever. That is purely because most of the bacteria is in the filter!!!

do i need to change it every week? usually change it every 3-4 weeks.

This can depend on he tank. If i leave mine too long it becomes too much of a mess, and the fish and plants like some fresh water with new nutrients! I would say 3-4 weeks is a little on the long side. If nitrates are high, more frequent water changes are required.

Squid

 

[mark1602]

thanks ill change more often