momsspaghett
Fish Fanatic
Hello. Yesterday around noon I completely cleaned out my tank (about 85-90% water change) which hadn't been deep cleaned in about 2 months, only one fish in it, an oto. I do 25% water changes/adding water to the tank about every other week when the water level goes down. My water paraments prior to cleaning were .25-50 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, and a whopping 40 ppm nitrate. I read a few opinions on having high nitrate in planted tanks but I never understood if having 20+ppm nitrate was good for the tank. After 24 hours from the water change, the ammonia read 0-.25ppm, .50-1.0 ppm nitrite and 10 ppm nitrate. My question is, approximately how long would it take for nitrite to convert completely in an old established tank? And is denitrate/matrix necessary to use? I don't want to have high nitrate levels like I did previously but again, I am not certain if it is ok to have such levels. I am planning on getting some floating plants and possibly adding some safe start to the tank. Two older sponges from previous tanks are in the filter along with quarts rings. I never really "restart" tanks but I have done 50-75% water changes and the paraments usually remain the same.