Nitrates in my Tap water

[jimmyjam923]

Im having a Nitrate issue lately and I cant seem to get it under control. I had neglected my tank for several months and 2 weeks ago it tested at 80 to 120ppm. So I started a vigorous regiment of 25 to 30% water changes and vacuuming every other day testing every time but it only seems to lower it at best to about 40 to 60 ppm. Yesterday i did a 50% water change and after testing finally felt i had the nitrate under control as it was reading about 5ppm. I tested it tonight and its back up to about 80ppm. Im at a loss for why the nitrates would continue to spike like that so i tested my tap water and have about 5ppm in that so clearly thats going to be the best it can get.
Here are my tank stats:
75g set up since 2013
Driftwood, rocks and fake plants
4 inch featherfin cat
(2) 2 1/2 inch plecos
3 inch convict
11 inch leporinus
API canister filter. Xp M
Aqueon 75 HOB

Ammonia 0
Nitrite. 0
Nitrate 80 ppm
Algae bloom is present


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[FishGuest5123]

You need to much larger water changes. Do a 75% daily for several days and see how it looks. I know that’s a lot of water changes but it needs to be done to get it back in shape. I do weekly 75% water changes in my 55G and 45G. Be sure to clean your filter media in tank water too. After you get things under control, you need to start doing weekly water changes of 75%. Floating plants and other plants will help with nitrates too. Good luck!

 

[Colin_T]

The easiest way to reduce/ dilute chemicals in the water is to do huge water changes (75-80%) and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
You should also clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. Wash filter materials in a bucket of tank water.

You do water changes for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.

Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.