Nitrate In Tank

[Seal36]

When I do the 50% water change today should I disturb the sand as it was fresh in yesterday or should I just take the water out and leave the sand at the bottom from Tom

 

[KirkyArcher]

if it's not too late, leave the sand alone, just change the water

 

[Seal36]

No it's not to late I was just about to do it from Tom

 

[Seal36]

Nitrate is down to 10 today and have not lost any fish. How long will it take to get it down from 10 to zero and could it always stay at 10 or will it eventually go down to zero from Tom

 

[Lillefishy]

Nitrate doesn't need to be zero, anything under 40 is ok as long as your nitrite & ammonia are zero

 

[KirkyArcher]

As said previously, having Nitrate in values up to 40 ppm (and even beyond) aren't really of any concern, and with regular weekly water changes of 25-35% of the tanks volume they should remain below this value (providing your tap water readings are showing lower results) reduce amount of food you are giving your fish will have a nock on effect and in time reduce your nitrates, Ammonia and NitrIte are the ones that need to be Zero, If you wish to have Zero Nitrates you need to put something in the filter that will remove it such as Seachem Purigen,or Fluval Cear Max 

 

[Seal36]

I have just tested my tap water and that has the same amount of nitrate in as both my fish tanks. So does that mean that I will not be able to bring the nitrate level down any further. The level in my tap and in the tanks are 10ppm so these levels are fine. Also ammonia is a 0 and my nitrite is 0 to. Do you think this means that I was stress that caused all my fish to die and not a problem with the water. Something that would back this up is that only the fish that were exhibiting signs of being "ill" are the only ones to die. All the other fish in the tank that seemed fine after the gravel change are still fine and swimming around like normal.

 

[Lillefishy]

If I've read your posts right, at your current stocking level you are overstocked, you had 11 more fish before they died so you were very overstocked.
I feel the overstocking caused stress & maybe also ammonia spikes which went undetected is why your fish died.

 

[Seal36]

I agree that before I was defiantly overstocked but i only have
6 platy
2 guppies
6 five banded barbs
3 black neons
3 honey gourami
4 phantom tetra
2 apistogramma cacatuoides
1 mountain minnow (I know it's cold water)
So do you still think it's overstocked as most of these fish are very small. Eg five banded barbs, neons,

If it is overstocked then I will accept that as most people here have a lot more knowledge about stuff like this than me and also if it is overstocked then could you suggest some fish that I could take back to make sure it is stocked correctly. Also the 11 fish that died yesterday were the only fish to die in my tank for 2 months. Also it was defiantly not a ammonia spike because the moment I saw the fish swimming on their side I tested everything with my psi master kit and a test strip as well and the ammonia and nitrite were sat at 0.

Thanks for all the help from Tom

 

[KirkyArcher]

I have just tested my tap water and that has the same amount of nitrate in as both my fish tanks. So does that mean that I will not be able to bring the nitrate level down any further. The level in my tap and in the tanks are 10ppm so these levels are fine. Also ammonia is a 0 and my nitrite is 0 to. Do you think this means that I was stress that caused all my fish to die and not a problem with the water. Something that would back this up is that only the fish that were exhibiting signs of being "ill" are the only ones to die. All the other fish in the tank that seemed fine after the gravel change are still fine and swimming around like normal.

Again No need to worry about these levels of Nitrate, Nitrate is the "safer" by-product of the Nitrogen cycle, your plants will need nitrates to some degree and in-turn reduce the levels, the resin based filter media I mentioned are the only way you can reduce Nitrate levels further still (after reducing the amount of feed you give your fish).  Your "Fish-In" substrate swap has caused all the issues. With improved levels of filtration and higher than usual water changes you can successfully "Overstock" beyond the recommended 1 inch per gallon rule, and still keep a very healthy fish tank.

 

[Seal36]

I will still do a 50% water change tomorrow but I am going to reduce my stock level anyway. I like having a variety off fish in my tank but I know a lot of people like only 1-3 species per tank. If it's your tank how would you stock it at the minute I have.

6 platy
2 guppies
6 five banded barbs
3 black neons
3 honey gourami
4 phantom tetra
2 apistogramma cacatuoides
1 mountain minnow (I know it's cold water)