Nitrate levels

[SoulOddity]

How old is your setup ?

Water changes are the #1 method of reducing Nitrate, Second to that is a dense flora that is actively growing, the use of nitrate free fertilizer that provide bio available co2, strongly encourage the plants to take over any nutrients dissolved in the water layer.

Then there are also bacteria that are able to convert Nitrate to gas that will escape in the air. These will thrive in lower oxygenated area of the substrate and filters that have a slower flow. They will appear naturally but they can take a very long time to develop and you might never have enough surface area for them to takeover. Also they tend to create sulfur gas and that is not that welcome in aquariums.

So I think a diligent approach to win is to try to maximize your attack on the 3 fronts available.

keeping water changes as the main weapon and plants second, until the other starts to become effective. High nitrate can lead to epic algae blooms and total oxygen deprivation relatively fast.

Well, my tank was set up for a few years but then sprung a leak in the middle of the night about 3 months ago. Instead of resealing, I ended up buying a new 55g and transferred everything over. Basically started over, making sure it was cycled before putting the fish in. I currently have Amazon sword, jungle Val, a few annubias and red root floaters. I'll be adding some more plants.
Going to try and do a decent size water change this evening. It's hard because I'm in Southwest Florida and the water comes out of the tap warm compared to the temp in the tank so I do a little at a time. It's my other obstacle. lol

 

[SoulOddity]

There are way to filter out nitrate; i don't know what they are but given that you live in florida; the best suggestion i can come up with is move to colorado where the water is mountain pure

Also the air is nicer and the humidity is a lot lower. Colorado is the place to be not florida.

Also in that first post of the nitrate red - i could call that dangerously high.

Oh I've been in Florida my entire life lol I don't do well in cold weather! I'm sure it's a beautiful place to visit!

 

[MaloK]

Well, my tank was set up for a few years but then sprung a leak in the middle of the night about 3 months ago. Instead of resealing, I ended up buying a new 55g and transferred everything over. Basically started over, making sure it was cycled before putting the fish in. I currently have Amazon sword, jungle Val, a few annubias and red root floaters. I'll be adding some more plants.
Going to try and do a decent size water change this evening. It's hard because I'm in Southwest Florida and the water comes out of the tap warm compared to the temp in the tank so I do a little at a time. It's my other obstacle. lol

Ok and the nitrate started to rise afterward, I had a similar thing happened when I moved all my shrimp tank to a new aquarium for reasons similar to yours...

Disturbing the substrate that much was not good, had no choice to rinse it before putting it in the new tank. That simply killed a lot of nitrate processing bacteria that was there. Once restarted in the weeks that followed Nitrates where rising non stop, I had to do 25% per day for more than a week and added NitrateMinus in despair. In the following weeks the tank magically re stabilized.

That was Aug 22, 2024, My nitrate are back to nil, since last week I was able to resume feeding the tank normally. Without having them creeping up the next days.