HELP REDUCE NITRATES!

[Pointy_kitty]

ok,
heres my problem
both of my 20 gallons have high nitrates
my fish are all healthy and fine but i fear the worst
i do 10-15% weekly water changes and get very little waste out of the gravel
i do not overfeed and i have a few live plants in each tank
i have checked my tap water and there are very little nitrates
the rest of my water quality is mary poppins (practically perfect in every way)
i cannot find the source of these nasty nitrates and i can't seem to lower them at all
not even the consistant water changes and minimal feeding is even touching the nitrate

so what can i do?
it really is a tremendous bother to me

my question:
i have heard of possible conditioners that are immediately supposed to remove nitrates (my last resort of course)
is there such a thing and does it work?
i have tried "prime" and had no luck

the only thing i can think that may be causeing the nitrates is the overpopulation (over 1000) snails that have rode in on plants in the past
as they die they leave behing a tremendous mess of nitratre

please help

 

[yhbae]

Firs thing you should do is to increase the amount of water you exchange during water change - 10-15% sounds quite little.

Out of curiosity, what level of nitrates are you reading out of your tanks?

 

[Pointy_kitty]

Firs thing you should do is to increase the amount of water you exchange during water change - 10-15% sounds quite little.

Out of curiosity, what level of nitrates are you reading out of your tanks?

well,
first of all i thought that 15% would be a sufficient amount weekly
if i change too much i will have another nitrate spike and in worst case scenario have a mini-cycle
just my opinion

secondly the nitrate colour is alot brighter then the test chart but i beleive its between 40-50

i'll do 30% changes the next couple of weeks
but it would be nice to have an emergency conditioner though

 

[Eel Boy]

Get two freshwater clams they help reduce nitrates and only feed your fish once a day. It works for me

 

[yhbae]

I'm not sure why you are concerned about going through mini-cycle by doing greater than 15% WC? You can easily do 30% without any issues.

I'm sure this has something to do with your nitrate level - try 30% for the next couple of weeks as you mentioned and see if that helps. I honestly don't think this change will harm your fish - it should make them feel better!

 

[Pointy_kitty]

I'm not sure why you are concerned about going through mini-cycle by doing greater than 15% WC? You can easily do 30% without any issues.

I'm sure this has something to do with your nitrate level - try 30% for the next couple of weeks as you mentioned and see if that helps. I honestly don't think this change will harm your fish - it should make them feel better!

yep
i will do 30% changes like i said

and i have never seen a freshwater clam around her before!

but STILL does anyone know what that conditioner was?

 

[FishDan]

You can do a huge (100%) water change without a mini-cycle. The beneficial bacteria live on the aquarium surfaces, not in the water itself, so this is a non-issue.

There are a number of "addatives" that claim to reduce nitrates. A couple I can think of off the top of my head are Nitra-Zorb and Nitrex. Again, I have used none of them so have no idea if they actually help. Another option is adding live plants, many (all?) of them use nitrates and remove them from the water. The best option is water changes though. You can either increase the amount (I really wouldn't do more than about 40% normally, to reduce stressing the fish) or frequency. You can do 15-20% twice weekly for example.

I am also curious as to what level of nitrates has you "fearing the worst".

\Dan

 

[Pointy_kitty]

i have live plants
i do weekly water changes of 15% and get very little waste
i said i will do 30% water changes once a week

i am concerned because i do not want the nitrate to reduce my fish QOL (quality of life) in the least
i have beautiful healthy fish and i want them to stay that way


just for the record i actually was doing 30% water changes 3 weeks in a row last month and there was not the slightest decrease in nitrates

but i will try *sigh* yet again

 

[yhbae]

I should have asked this question first...

What do you have in your 20g? How big are each fishes?

 

[Aqua_Princess64]

My best friend uses stress zyme to reduce nitrates. It works on her tanks.

 

[FishDan]

I'm still curious what your nitrate levels are...

\Dan

 

[Pointy_kitty]

I should have asked this question first...

What do you have in your 20g? How big are each fishes?

its not overstocked if thats where your going
i have:

20 Gallon Community: (current size)
- Marble Angel (4")
- red wag Platy (1.5")
- sunset platy (1")
- green platy (1")
- orange platy (1")
- Female Betta (1")
- Bronze Cory (1")
- Bronze cory (2")
- Peppered Cory (1")
- Spotted Cory (1")
- White Cloud (1")

=15.5" current
24.75" mature

20 Gallon Semi-Aggressive: (current size)
1 Blue Gourami (3")
1 Golden Gourami (2")
1 Neon Dwarf Gourami (2")
1 Flying Fox (3")
1 upside down catfish (1.5")
1 Kribensis (1.5")
1 Bolivian Ram (2")
1 khuli loach (N/A)

=15" current
24.5" mature

the khuli loaches do not count in any inch per gallon rule of thumb due to their large waste consumption, body size/ shape, and virtually no biological wast production
both tanks have good filters and live plants
and in less then a year there will be a 55 gallon set-up that the semi-aggressive tank inhabitants and angel will be relocated to

 

[Pointy_kitty]

I'm still curious what your nitrate levels are...

\Dan

ummmm....
i said its between 40-50

 

[yhbae]

No it isn't overstocked...

Uh... what is your tank footprint size?

 

[Pointy_kitty]

No it isn't overstocked...

Uh... what is your tank footprint size?

they are both roughly 24" by 12.5" footprint