Help! Nitrate 160 ppm!

[Aquarist2020]

That is odd, I have never had one that would. But that's not a problem, just feed less, lol.

will do

 

[Aquarist2020]

Ok i am going to do a water change and more

 

[Colin_T]

A bit of fish food getting into the test phial will not cause nitrates. It will cause ammonia after a short time but the ammonia needs to be broken down by beneficial filter bacteria to get nitrites or nitrates.

Check your tap water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the nitrate level drops to 0ppm or whatever the nitrate level is in your tap water.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[Tropical Tony]

I do 50% atleast once a week. Usually twice a week. Bigger waterchanges are much better for the tank.

 

[Aquarist2020]

Sorry one more question that has me concerend your ph is at 8.8 and you have a Bolivian Ram in your picture? 8.8 is really really high is that from your tap too or is there something in your tank that is raising it?

It's my tank

 

[Byron]

It's my tank

This suggests there is some calcareous substance/item in the tank that is slowly dissolving calcium. This could be rock (limestone, marble, dolomite, aragonite, coral, shells are all calcareous) or the substrate material. Not a problem with hard water fish species, but soft water fish will find this difficult to handle long-term.

 

[Aquarist2020]

will look for limestone I did have a source 2 months ago

 

[Aquarist2020]

Can concrete cause ph hardness.

 

[Aquarist2020]

Also can I do 1 gallon water changes every day instead of doing 50 percent water changes every week.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Also can I do 1 gallon water changes every day instead of doing 50 percent water changes every week.

Removing it all at once is much better as it removes more of the bad stuff.

 

[Aquarist2020]

Removing it all at once is much better as it removes more of the bad stuff.

sorry I meant after the problem is fixed

 

[JuiceBox52]

sorry I meant after the problem is fixed

After the problem is fixed you should still do it all at once

 

[Aquarist2020]

After the problem is fixed you should still do it all at once

ok thanks and does concrete higher ph

 

[Byron]

Can concrete cause ph hardness.

Yes, concrete is lime based. I've no idea how much it may dissolve in an aquarium, but it is calcareous.

Also can I do 1 gallon water changes every day instead of doing 50 percent water changes every week.

No, this is almost useless in fact. A 70% once a week will remove 70% of the pollution; a 10% every day only removes 10%, so 90% is left, and each day it builds more and more so at the end of the week you have left more pollution in the tank than you would with one 70% change. And the "pollution" we remove can only be removed with water changes; no filtration deals with this.

 

[Aquarist2020]

thanks guys