Massive water change

[pnyklr3]

I have been battling high nitrates for quite some time now, and my normal water changes aren't fixing anything. I have had high nitrate problems before. Tap water doesn't have any nitrates in it, is VERY hard, and has a high pH (8+). I have live plants, and do not overfeed.

I usually do a 10% water change. Will it be ok to do a much larger water change? How much would be too much?

One thing I'm concerned about it the pH difference between my tank and the tap. I occassionally use RO water (I have to go to a store to purchase it) for my water changes. I don't do it very often because the RO water offers little/no buffering. I use the RO water to both lower the pH and soften the tank water for my dwarf cichlids. *maybe I should post this in NW?*

I guess another question is: If I add the water slowly during the huge water change, will this be good enough NOT to shock my fish?

 

[WILDER]

If you have a difference in ph, i wouldn't go mad with a big water change as it can cause stress to the fish anyway.

 

[pnyklr3]

Any other ways to get the nitrates out quickly?

 

[WILDER]

If you have a tap reading of 0 in nitrates, i can't see why it's high, how big is the tank, what fish do you keep, and how many, and what filter do you use.

 

[pnyklr3]

55 gallon tank. Aquaclear 70 (rated for 40-70 gallon tank). 2 live plants.

Fish: Harem of Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlids (4 total), 8 Bloodfin Tetras, 3 Black Line Tetras, 3 Clown Loaches, 3 Bala Sharks, Bristlenose Pleco. *I know that some of these fish will eventually outgrow this tank. I have plans for their new homes when the time comes...in a few years*.

The BN is a huge poop-machine. I have moved to feeding everyother day and I watch them eat all of the food. I feed mostly frozen foods, and occassionally toss in some flake or cucumber.

 

[WILDER]

Your answer to high nitrates are the clown loaches and the bala sharks, and the bn your filter is not coping, try and get another filter going , while you can get a bigger tank.

 

[pnyklr3]

Could you be more specific as to why (for learning purposes, not being rude)?

I have thought about adding a filter, but the cockatoos are already having a problem with the current. How fast will the outflow be on a "bigger" filter (one for a larger tank)? In you opinion, which outflow would be faster: 2 of the same size, or one great big one?

 

[WILDER]

If you add another filter it will cope with the waste more and take some pressure off the other one, you have some big fish and the bn is a big waste producer i do no i keep goldfish and had to add another filter, took care of the problem.

 

[Paul_MTS]

first off what size are the clown loach and silver sharks?

I tend to recomend doing 20% water changes as the norm to customers so i would up your weekly water change to that.

how much is the different between tap and tap? my tap is about 7.5-7.7 IIRC but at the end of the week the PH has risen to usually 8.2. i do about 30-40% water changes weekly and the tank has some sensitive fish in including stingrays and I have no problems doing this for 4 months.

when using RO you should ALWAYS add a mineral additive, the place that seels you RO water should have it in stock, it's just a power that you dissolve in the water and it adds the wanted minerals back into the water and adds buffering capacity to the water so you don't get PH swings.

 

[Torrean]

more live plants would help with the nitrate problem wouldn't they.

 

[SarahBravo]

If it's nitrates you could add more live plants, or use nitrate removal stuff - either sponges in your filter or those granules in bags. the plants would be a more natural way to go rather than the chemicals, but of course won't stop your larger fish getting too large for the tank.

Regarding water changes, work up to 15% and do this every other day rather than one larger water change per week if you're going to use RO water and therefore create ph spikes/dips. Another filter will help - you can put foam over the output to decrease the current if it bothers your fish. Also by having one filter at either end of the tank (rather than scrappping your current filter and getting one huge one) you will catch more of the waste and the two filter inflows will balance each other out a bit. Having one larger inflow if you replaced your existing filter would create more problems for the fish that don't like current. You can also put some rocks or wood in to create still places for them - just remember to vac behind them because the poop really gathers in the 'dead' spots. Plus more plants will break up the current as well.

HTH - sorry there's no magic answer, but certainly more plants and an additional filter will help, and if you add wood it may even bring your Ph down slightly. I have really high ph too, but my fish have adapted well. I am going to try peat granules though for an Amazonian biotope I'm planning - if they work in bringing the Ph down and keep it fairly stable I'll let you know.

 

[pnyklr3]

Ok, I'll look into the mineral additive (one reason why I use tap and RO).

The clown loaches are 2.5 inches, the balas are 3.5, and the BN is about 4-5. Overall I have less than 55 inches of fish (fully grown balas and clowns wwill eventually push me over). There is a place under decoration that doesn't get vaccuumed on a regular basis, so I am going to pull that out when I do my change tonight.

Difference in pH: tap is 8.4+ (could be higher but that is as high as my test goes....really should be keeping africans) and tank is 7.2-7.6. This is a pretty big difference, isn't it? When I do my water changes with tap and RO (10% so the pH doesn't swing too much), the pH doesn't really move. I don't have any RO on me right now, so I'm going to have to do tap.

EDIT: I have strayed away from more plants, because I'm not really ready to upgrade my lighting. My lfs really only carries medium to full light.

 

[nuttyfishgirl]

dont know if anyone on here has used it but i use bacterlife on a weekly basis it worked very well when i had a spike a couple of months ago

 

[pnyklr3]

OK Thanks for the help guys (and girls). Again, exactly why are the loaches and balas taxing the filter? Are they huge waste producers like the BN? I am definately going to get the RO additive...and probably look into getting an RO unti for the house. But it's still cheaper for me to buy the RO at the shop than to buy a bottle of water...only 40 cents a gallon. A unit for the house would make more sense in the long run.

 

[rdd1952]

In all the research I have done, it seems that there isn't any way to remove nitrates except water changes. Adding more live plants will help keep them down but WC is the only way to lower them.