Nitrate Levels

[dirtyfishtank]

How can I lower nitrate levels, which read 20 in my planted tank. I think this is what is causing all the green spots of algae on my glass. What is the best solution to remove it? I have a 72gallon tank, with 80watts of lighting over the top. 30% water change every week. DIY CO2 injection via the finter intake. About 20 small fish, 4 snails. I am not over stocked. And my lighting is far from the amount it should be for a planted tank, some swords (which appear to be loosing thier life, vals, and some other common stuff. Why all the algae?

3/9/2007
gh-11
kh-5
ammonia-0
nitrate-20
nitrite-0
total hardness-200
alkalinity-90ph-7.4

 

[dirtyfishtank]

bump

 

[three-fingers]

That little amount of nitrates wont be the cause of the algae. Do you fertilise the tank? What symptoms do the swords have that appear to be dying?

DIY co2 in a 72 gal? How many 2 litre bottles do you use for co2 production?

You should buy some very fast growing plants and some floating plants to get rid of the algae, but thats not a good idea yet. The appearance of the swords and the algae could possibly be due to a nutrient deficiency.

 

[dirtyfishtank]

That little amount of nitrates wont be the cause of the algae. Do you fertilise the tank? What symptoms do the swords have that appear to be dying?

DIY co2 in a 72 gal? How many 2 litre bottles do you use for co2 production?

You should buy some very fast growing plants and some floating plants to get rid of the algae, but thats not a good idea yet. The appearance of the swords and the algae could possibly be due to a nutrient deficiency.

Yes I fert the tank once a week with my water change using proplant.

I use 1 two litre bottle currently, and am setting up a second tomorrow because my glass diffuser just came in the mail today.

The swords have some green algae spots forming on them, also black hair algae (i think?) on the leaf edges. Also they lost a ton of thier green color, rather than deep green, they are now very light green.

 

[millym]

hi
some water companies have higher nitrate levels than others which will affect different peoples readings but to lower the levels do several small water changes over a couple of days ( say 10%). how often do you do your water changes routinely???
black algae can be caused by overfeeding - too much nutrients in the tank, lighting on too long, not enough other plants to compete with the algae for nutrients available, high phosphate levels in your tank will affect algae growth ( ie: you'll get more). the fertilizer your using may be contributing to the problem. i use a carbon additive - flourish excel & an actual fertilizer very sparingly. we had a big black algae prob a couple of years ago & i got rid of it by:
1. cutting back on food ( i admit i overfed our fish)
2. adding rowaphos to our external filter (phosphate remover)
3. adding more plants
4. introducing a lighting break - our lights are on from 0800-1300 off 1300-1500 back on 1500-2000 when moonlights come on, our lights are all on timer plugs
5 i took out all rocks covered with the horrible black stuff & poured boiling water over them & scrubbed all the algae off & chucked out all algae infested plant leaves etc

i dont know what or if a combination of all these things did the trick but it worked & we dont see black algae anymore. i also have a phosphate test kit so when i think the rowaphos is due to be changed i check the levels ( i chaecked the levels before adding rowaphos the first time & keep a record of what it was when it was high &we had loads of algae)

good luck that black stuff looks terrible! we still occasionally have a small amount of green algae growing on our rocks but it looks more natural & keeps our ottos fat & happy!

 

[dirtyfishtank]

hi
some water companies have higher nitrate levels than others which will affect different peoples readings but to lower the levels do several small water changes over a couple of days ( say 10%). how often do you do your water changes routinely???
black algae can be caused by overfeeding - too much nutrients in the tank, lighting on too long, not enough other plants to compete with the algae for nutrients available, high phosphate levels in your tank will affect algae growth ( ie: you'll get more). the fertilizer your using may be contributing to the problem. i use a carbon additive - flourish excel & an actual fertilizer very sparingly. we had a big black algae prob a couple of years ago & i got rid of it by:
1. cutting back on food ( i admit i overfed our fish)
2. adding rowaphos to our external filter (phosphate remover)
3. adding more plants
4. introducing a lighting break - our lights are on from 0800-1300 off 1300-1500 back on 1500-2000 when moonlights come on, our lights are all on timer plugs
5 i took out all rocks covered with the horrible black stuff & poured boiling water over them & scrubbed all the algae off & chucked out all algae infested plant leaves etc

i dont know what or if a combination of all these things did the trick but it worked & we dont see black algae anymore. i also have a phosphate test kit so when i think the rowaphos is due to be changed i check the levels ( i chaecked the levels before adding rowaphos the first time & keep a record of what it was when it was high &we had loads of algae)

good luck that black stuff looks terrible! we still occasionally have a small amount of green algae growing on our rocks but it looks more natural & keeps our ottos fat & happy!

I do a 25% water change every week. And I do overfeed my fish, I just cant help it, they are ALWAYS hungry lol. I will cut back. And I will def add more plants. I will look into that phosphate remover also. Thanks.