Lots Of Good Info Thanks!

[RandyArcher]

New to the forum.  Just recently moved my Red Devil and 2 convicts to there own 100 gallon in the basement.  The kids wanted community fish so the last week or so we have been stocking the 75 with an assortment of fish.  This forum got me to go buy an api master kit by reading the comments and am in the process of testing everything now and will put up the results when I am done.  Thanks for all the knowledge!

 

[Akasha72]

hello and welcome 

 
we're here to help so if you have any questions let us know  

 

[Ninjouzata]

to TFF! Hope you enjoy it here.

 

[RandyArcher]

Did all the test and just what i was expecting the nitrate is a little high.  Should I continue to post the tank details and stuff in here or start another thread?

 

[Akasha72]

here will be fine. 
 
With Nitrate tests it's always best to test your tap water to see if that reads for Nitrate. If it does you'll need to take that reading as the base line rather zero being the baseline. When you say 'high' what is the actual reading?
 
Also, do you have any natural plants in your tank? Natural plants will help to take up the Nitrate as food

 

[RandyArcher]

Nitrate out of the tap is zero here are my tank stats.
Temp 78f
PH-between 7 and 7.2
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate between 50ppm and 70
 
75 Gal.
Aquaclear 500 and a ehiem under the tank fileter
Live plants not sure of all the species the wife picked em.
1 Large Koi Angelfish
1 small 3 inch ghost knife
12 neon tetras
6 Emperer Tetras
6 Mollies
5 Cories 2 different species not sure exactly
 
I started with plants, mollys and cories last week around sunday and added the rest tuesday.  Nothing has died, but after reading the forum decided to go get a test kit.  I figure all the years(around 6) of having the big fish in the tank has made my nitrate high.  Just wondering if I should do daily water changes and how much or just go weekly and start recording the stats?

 

[LyraGuppi]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[HarpyFishLover]

Welcome!

 

[RandyArcher]

Thanks for the welcome guys!

 

[Ninjouzata]

What is your water change schedule currently?

 

[Akasha72]

I would agree that the Nitrate is high and so I would look to do some larger than normal water changes to bring that number down. You could also look to add some fast growing plants which will help to soak up some of the nitrate but nothing really beats a water change. With zero nitrate in your tap water if you were to change 50% of the tank water for fresh this would halve the nitrate value bringing it down to the 20-40 recommended level. From there you can monitor it and when you see it rising again do another 50% 
 
There is such as things 'old tank syndrome' and high nitrates tend to be what we start to see when a tank has matured such as yours and so avoiding the old tank syndrome by doing larger water changes is what I'd recommend
 
If it continues to swing between low nitrates (after a water change) back to high over a few days (less than a week) then I'd look to add more live plants to soak up the nitrates. Some of the floating plants can be good for this but they can look messy. Fast growing plants will soak up more than slow growing. 
 
You've not mentioned whether you are adding a plant fertilizer, if you are, check the packaging to see if it contains nitrate, some do, some don't. If you are struggling with high nitrates the last thing you need is to be adding more via a plant fert 
 
Hope that helps

 

[RandyArcher]

Thanks alot!  No fertilizer has been added, gonna do a 50 percent change and test again.

 

[Akasha72]

no problem, happy to help