Why Are My Nitrates So High?

[LolaLouie]

I just started up a new tank 2 weeks ago but used old filter media so it cycled almost straight away. For the past week though my Nitrates have been over 100 and I don't understand why.

I clean out my fish tank (10-25%) when nitrates reach over 20 (usually once to twice a week) but at the moment I'm changing daily (25%) as nitrates don't seem to go below 100.

Tank is a 200l (50g). Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0.1 (currently having a small spike after adding a few more fish on Sun). Also tank is fairly well planted (5 plants & 2 moss balls)

Any ideas why this is?

Thanks

Gemma

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Gemma,

Have you checked the level in your tap water? Your water company may be supplying water with higher nitrates for some reason.

Also, how old is your test kit?

Cheers

BTT

 

[chicklette]

Your nitrates are very high. You should not have added more fish. What size is the tank and how many fish do you have in there. How often do you clean that tank, you need to vacuum the gravel?

You need to do some massive water changes.

 

[LolaLouie]

Tap water nitrates are around 10.

When I added the new fish the nitrates were not that high.

Test kit is about 2 months old.

As I said above, I clean out the tank as necessary or when nitrates get about 20 which is usually once to twice a week but currently daily.

Yes I gravel vac but only do this weekly because it's a new tank and I'm trying to allow the bacteria to gro wwithin the gravel.

Chicklette just want to make sure you realise i'm talking about nitrAtes!

Thanks

Gemma

p.s tank size and stock is written below in my signature!

 

[chicklette]

Chicklette just want to make sure you realise i'm talking about nitrAtes!

Yes, I know you are talking about nitrates. They are still high. They need to be kept below 20ppm. Your are 100pm which is extremely high. You still need to do lots of water change high, daily. You really do need to get those nitrates down or your will have problems. Can you get some Bio Spira?

 

[LolaLouie]

I'm not really into using chemicals in my tank. I am not particularly worried about my nitrate levels as ammonia and nitrite are fine and I believe fish are capable of living perfectly well in nitrates far higher than mine, I was just wondering why my nitrates are high so I can lower them if possible.

As for daily water changes, they barely seem to lower my nitrates which is why I'm a little confused!

Thanks

Gemma

 

[chicklette]

Well high nitrates will cause a lot of problems with your fish. It's called nitrate poisoning. You need to keep doing the water changes. You really need to lower thos nitrates. Maybe add some live plants and use prime water conditoner. They need to be kept lower then 20ppm, your are very high.

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Gemma,

If your tap water has nitrate of 10, and water changes aren't lowering your nitrate level, that would point to a faulty test kit, or the test not being carried out correctly.

Overfeeding may be another cause of high nitrate, but it seems to be all of a sudden, so that's probaly not it in this case.

Do you have access to another test kit which you could check it with?

Chicklette, nitrates don't need to be below 20ppm. Scientific research indicates that most fish will tolerate nitrates of 100ppm without any negative effects and some fish will even tolerate saturations of up to 150ppm.

Lots of places have tap water with higher nitrate level than 20ppm. It is best practice to keep nitrates low if possible, but nitrate levels of 100ppm will rarely, if ever, kill your fish.

Cheers

BTT

 

[Tobigara]

somewhere on this forum someone posted a link that gave scientific evidence that in the right conditions fish can do well in water with nitrates as high as 400-500. i'll see if i can find it.

 

[rdd1952]

Chicklette just want to make sure you realise i'm talking about nitrAtes!

Yes, I know you are talking about nitrates. They are still threw the roof. They need to be kept below 20ppm. Your are 100pm which is extremely high. You still need to do lots of water changes, daily. You really do need to get those nitrates down or your fish will die. Can you get some Bio Spira?

Nitrates up to 80 to 100 ppm are ok. Not exactly what you want but not harmful. Quite a few members in the UK have 40 ppm in their tap water. Also, Bio Spira is of no use on nitrates as they can only be removed via water changes.

The fact that you have this problem would lead me to one of to conclusions. 1) you have too many fish in the tank or 2) you are severely overfeeding. My gut feeling would be #2 since you say you have to do water changes once or twice a week on the other tank to keep them under 20 ppm. In a properly stocked, properly fed tank, it would take several weeks without any water changes for the nitrates to reach even 40 ppm (provided there is none in the tap water). I just went 6 weeks between water changes on my 29 gallon. It is lightly stocked (7 neons and 3 kuhli loaches) and planted but even after 6 weeks, the nitrate was only between 5 & 10 ppm (no nitrate in tap water). What is the stock load of the tank and how often do you feed)?

 

[raptorrex]

somewhere on this forum someone posted a link that gave scientific evidence that in the right conditions fish can do well in water with nitrates as high as 400-500. i'll see if i can find it.

err yes that was a thread that mentioned "old tank syndrome", not really something we should be helping people produce.

Chicklette just want to make sure you realise i'm talking about nitrAtes!

Yes, I know you are talking about nitrates. They are still threw the roof. They need to be kept below 20ppm. Your are 100pm which is extremely high. You still need to do lots of water changes, daily. You really do need to get those nitrates down or your fish will die. Can you get some Bio Spira?

Nitrates up to 80 to 100 ppm are ok. Not exactly what you want but not harmful. Quite a few members in the UK have 40 ppm in their tap water. Also, Bio Spira is of no use on nitrates as they can only be removed via water changes.

The fact that you have this problem would lead me to one of to conclusions. 1) you have too many fish in the tank or 2) you are severely overfeeding. My gut feeling would be #2 since you say you have to do water changes once or twice a week on the other tank to keep them under 20 ppm. In a properly stocked, properly fed tank, it would take several weeks without any water changes for the nitrates to reach even 40 ppm (provided there is none in the tap water). I just went 6 weeks between water changes on my 29 gallon. It is lightly stocked (7 neons and 3 kuhli loaches) and planted but even after 6 weeks, the nitrate was only between 5 & 10 ppm (no nitrate in tap water). What is the stock load of the tank and how often do you feed)?

all covered here! imho. though i thought "under filtered". same thing really.

 

[rdd1952]

The reason I didn't say underfiltered is that since the nitrate is high, the filter is definitely handling all the ammonia being produced. Underfiltered would result in an ammonia reading since the filter would not be able to process the water fast enough to handle all the ammonia

 

[raptorrex]

The reason I didn't say underfiltered is that since the nitrate is high, the filter is definitely handling all the ammonia being produced. Underfiltered would result in an ammonia reading since the filter would not be able to process the water fast enough to handle all the ammonia

yes very true!

 

[Tobigara]

somewhere on this forum someone posted a link that gave scientific evidence that in the right conditions fish can do well in water with nitrates as high as 400-500. i'll see if i can find it.

err yes that was a thread that mentioned "old tank syndrome", not really something we should be helping people produce.

i wasn't suggesting that anyone should produce it. i thought that was understood. i was making a point that nitrates aren't harmful until in large amounts

 

[LolaLouie]

My tank is definitely not underfiltered as my filter is designed for a 300 litre but my tank is only 200 litre. Also my tank is definitely not overstocked as I have not even finished stocking the tank.

As for overfeeding that's possible but I feed as everyone says.. what they consume in 2 minutes. In fact my fish usually eat all I feed them in about 20 seconds and I only feed them 6 days a week, sometimes 5. I alternate foods between flake, frozen, live and peas.

As for faulty test kit it has always worked fine and is not that old. I have recently bought a new kit though as the one I have is running out, i have to pick it up but will try it out when I get it.

Am even more confused now as all the reasons that have been suggested don't really apply to me!

Also my fish are in no danger of dying as I test daily and change as necessary and take very good care of them.

I would, however, really like to get my nitrates back down to 20 because 1) it's impractical doing daily changes and 2) I realise long term it may not be great for their health.

Thanks all for the advice though.. keep the suggestions coming!