Bio Filtration

[pkppv]

Soo i have a 15g tank that is very well established, sand bottom, somewhat planted, and filled with happy happy fish. I do water changes every week or two, but i always seem to have a somewhat high nitrate level. Not dangerously high, but 20-40. I always have 0 nitrite and 0 ammonia, and i guess i would say my tank is slightly overstocked, but there must be a way to get better bio filtration in my tank. I thought maybe throwing some bioballs or some other media in my power filter (125g/hour) might help, but then again it might be a dumb idea. Ive also looked into making a sponge/foam pre-filter, or seperate sponge filter all together, but i dont know where to find the sponge material. Any ideas would be much appreciated. Thanks for the help, -Colin.

 

[fluttermoth]

Normal filtration won't remove nitrates; that the end product of the part6 of the nitrogen cycle that happens in the filter. Adding more won't help.

A nitrate level of 40ppm is no problem anyway; it doesn't harm fish until it gets way into the 100s. As long as your ammonia and nitrite is always at zero, your filtration is perfectly adequate and you need do nothing more.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Adding live plants will use some nirates, it wont drop to 0ppm or anything but all the same planted tanks have many benifits

 

[pkppv]

Normal filtration won't remove nitrates; that the end product of the part6 of the nitrogen cycle that happens in the filter. Adding more won't help.

A nitrate level of 40ppm is no problem anyway; it doesn't harm fish until it gets way into the 100s. As long as your ammonia and nitrite is always at zero, your filtration is perfectly adequate and you need do nothing more.

Thanks for the words of wisdom! But...theoretically, if i were to need to lower the nitrates for perhaps a special breed of fish or to get them to mate or something, how would i go about doing that other than just water changes?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Plants and water changes thats it