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Bringing down NitrAtes
Posted: 20 Jun 2003, 23:52
by IndefactorX
my tank is doing quite fine right now, its a temporary habitat for a 2" oscar a 6" blue channel cat and a 3" pictus cat, its a 20 gallon tank but what concerns me a bit is that my nitrAtes are extremely high, at 100ppm, my ph is at 6.5 and i just treated for amonia. how can i bring down my nitrAtes quickly and safely? i dont have a back up tank for my fish as my other tank has cracked so i need to do what i can with the tank i have
Posted: 21 Jun 2003, 00:11
by Crissytal
Have you tried doing water changes? Do small changes a day, about 10-25% until the nitrAtes go down. You want them around or below 10ppm if possible.
Posted: 21 Jun 2003, 00:15
by IndefactorX
could adding water plants help as well?? or is this only in the case of nitrItes
Bringing down nitrates
Posted: 21 Jun 2003, 00:35
by Nobbley
Hi,
Plants should help with the nitrates, some better than others. I managed to introduce duck weed into my tank with a new plant, it brought the nitrates right down but made a bit of a mess.
You can use nitrate removal resins as an emergency measure, add the bag to the water flow and recharge as per the instructions. Should speed things up a bit.
One concern, your bio filter should be taking care of the ammonia and nitrite, if the tank has only recently been setup and hasn't matured then your nitrates should be low. Check your filter is Ok and maybe test your tap water for nitrates.
Posted: 21 Jun 2003, 01:01
by IndefactorX
i've been doing regular water changes, as the temperature*or lighting causes alot of the water to evaporate, i'm concerned that quite possibly some chlorine in my tap water has neutralized my biological filter, that or quite possibly the antibiotics that i had to use to save my fishes from ick **penicilin** in which case my biological filter could have been nuked badly so i might have to restart it but my amonia levels are neutral
Posted: 21 Jun 2003, 02:54
by polkadot
Hi,
First you might want to do some water changes as nitrates at high level are dangerous. Next, check your ammonia, followed by nitrite. If you cant tackle this two, your nitrate, being the end-product, will be difficult to tackle as well. Check your bio-filtration and make sure it can handle the bioload in your tank.
Posted: 21 Jun 2003, 03:51
by IndefactorX
yah, i think i figured that by now ^_^ .. i figured out what the reason is, i used penicilin to kill the ick and the other stuff that had gotten to my fish before and what i am preaty sure that happend is the penicilin also nuked the biological filter causing my tanks amonia nitrite and nitrate levels to go haywire, i'm currently in the process of reintroducing live bacteria to the tank, i have the nitrate levels down as well, and i'm going to get some live plants in there to help it along, but my biological filter needs to regrow itself which means its gona cycle again **ugh, back at stage 1 again**
Posted: 21 Jun 2003, 15:21
by Barbie
Penicillin, or anything other medication that would nuke your biobed would NOT affect your nitrate levels. Nitrates are the end product of the biological cycle. Meaning that their presence in high volume wouldn't be affected by a slow down of filtration, the other two wastes would build up, but nitrates just keep steadily climbing as the ammonia your fish put off is converted to nitrites, then nitrates. The only reliable way to remove nitrates is with frequent 30% water changes. By using plants to remove nitrates, you will leave any other dissolved wastes or solids. The more partial water changes you do, the closer your water parameters in the tank will be to your tap water parameters also, which causes the fish less stress during regular water changes.
The frequent water changes would also help keep the fish healthy if the tank is going through a mini cycle after the penicillin. You should definitely reduce the amount you're feeding the fish, until you get the problem under control. They would be fine if you fed every second or third day, only what they'd eat in a minute. Fish don't understand they live in their own sewer treatment plant. Its up to their owners to provide them with the proper care and housing.
As a side note, you should be using dechlorinator on any new water you add to the tank. If you don't have a product to dechlorinate, you can leave water sitting in a bucket overnight and the chlorine will off gas and make it safe to use.
Hope that helps,
Barbie