Help With Nitrate Problem

[Marekm24]

hey a couple of days ago I checked my nitrate and it was really high ,I think its because I have been overfeeding my fish which are 1 figure eight puffer and two mollies. I have a 55 gallon tank so I changed about 80 percent of water and added all my things like nitrex which eliminates nitrate I added about 3 times more than I usually do which it says to do in emergencies. So I checked my nitrate again and it was still pretty high not as much but still high. can anyone help me with any suggestions , could it even be my filter which is about 2 months old? . Any help would be appreciated thanks.

 

[JenCliBee]

hey a couple of days ago I checked my nitrate and it was really high ,I think its because I have been overfeeding my fish which are 1 figure eight puffer and two mollies. I have a 55 gallon tank so I changed about 80 percent of water and added all my things like nitrex which eliminates nitrate I added about 3 times more than I usually do which it says to do in emergencies. So I checked my nitrate again and it was still pretty high not as much but still high. can anyone help me with any suggestions , could it even be my filter which is about 2 months old? . Any help would be appreciated thanks.

Nitrate or NitRITE?

if nitrate, how high is it?

 

[meyerev]

What kind of filter some filters now adays have special filter pads that will help take out nitrates and nitrites

 

[Marekm24]

Its nitrite thats pretty high the test kit that I have has a color chart on it out of the 5 colors its the purple 1 which I think is 0.25 I think, im not sure I will check tommorow and the filter I have is aquaclear the 1 for 75 gallons.

 

[jennybugs]

Hi. May I ask what the turnover rate is of your filter? Is it an external? Puffers are messy fish and need a big amount of filtration to the tank with 50% weekly water changes.

How much/often/what are you feeding the tank and how/how often do you do tank maintenance?

 

[Marekm24]

Hi. May I ask what the turnover rate is of your filter? Is it an external? Puffers are messy fish and need a big amount of filtration to the tank with 50% weekly water changes.

How much/often/what are you feeding the tank and how/how often do you do tank maintenance?

Its 300 gallons per hour it says ,it is one of those hang on filters. For my mollies I feed them flakes and for my puffer it depends one day I might feed him freeze dried krill or freeze dried bloodworms and another day I might feed him shrimp You are right they are very messy .I have sand as my substrate and I always see it messy. I do feed them everyday once but I dont feed them a lot . I just thought that if I did like a 80 percent water change the water would be perfect but its not.
I do my water change about evvery week and half I use top water conditioner but I ran out so I use nitrex for now , salt , and I started to use this product from nutrafin I guess its soppouse to make my biological setting in my tank right.

 

[BlackWidow]

go to your fish shop and get Sera Toxivec, its the nuclear bomb of all water treatments. Best for emergencies when your nitrites are really high / other waste, when I had high Nitrite levels nearly 0.35 from overfeeding my pufferfish i dosed the tank with Sera Toxivec and it brought my nitrite levels down to zero within an hour. Toxivec also removes other crap too. Get a good size bottle of it and also buy Stress Zyme ( filter Bacteria ) and dump that in too. High Nitrite levels are usually because uncycled filters adding strees zyme will help to mature your filter. Also dont overfeed once you have fed them clear up the leftovers straight away as food rotting at the bottom of your tank add extra Ammonia / Nitrites on top of what you already have!

GL

 

[iliveinazoo]

Filter media does need cleaned in old tank water or changed every now and again, this is because they can get clogged up with fish waste creating anaerobic conditions, the anaerobic conditions can reduce nitrates but can't sustain the bacteria that converts ammonia into nitrites and nitrites into nitrates anymore.

If your filter is 2 months old, is your tank 2 months old? If so then your tank may still be in the middle of its cycle. If it is carry out daily 50%+ water changes until you're fully cycled .