Nitrates Won't Fall

[Steve C]

Hi,

My tank finally finished cycling a couple of weeks back, but now I am having trouble trying to get the Nitrate levels down.

Tank readings 0.0 : Ammonia 0.0 - 0.1 Nitrites 160+ Nitrates 8.0 pH

I have been doing 20 -25% water changes using a gravel cleaner for the past 4 nights and every other day before that for at least a week and a half.

The tank has now got two live plants(1x Green Water Rose and 1x Vallis) which are of course thriving.

Apart from sticking with the water changes, is there anything else I should be doing.


Please help

Regards

Steve

 

[The-Wolf]

There are many products you could add to help with the removal of nitrAtes
look for hagen green x or tetra nitrasafe.
If you have a Juwel tank they do a nitrate sponge.
IMHO the best way is several 10-20% changes over a few consecutive days.

 

[Steve C]

Thanks Wolf,

I think I had come to the same opinion regarding persevering with the water changes, but will now also look out for the products you have suggested.

Regards

Steve

 

[@ombomb]

Personally I'd go for a much bigger change (50%) and then do a series of smaller changes.

 

[Patchwork]

got this problem too
ammonia spiked
nitrite spiked
trying to get nitrate spike
but nitrites just dont seem to be falling much at all
le sigh

 

[Squid]

Personally I'd go for a much bigger change (50%) and then do a series of smaller changes.

agree.. i had monster nitrates and did a 50% water change three days on the trot and that fixed it..

 

[JDS]

Water changes defineately the way to go, (though I once tried Nitra-Zorb, which helped)
Just out of interest, what are the levels from your tap? (Not that, that is the problem as the UK standard is 50ppm)

 

[timmystood]

Didn't think NitrAte mattered too much because it's nearly harmless - thought it was just nitrIte and Ammonia that you needed to get rid of.

 

[The-Wolf]

nitrAtes over 100ppm can be just as toxic as anything else in large quantites.

 

[timmystood]

Yeah but surely it wouldn't get over 100ppm - is the same quantities as NitrIte on test kits? E.g. 0-6ppm?

 

[The-Wolf]

Timmy
if you re-read the OPs' first post you will see his nitrAtes are at 160ppm

 

[timmystood]

OK! Fair enough - sorry I didn't fully read it.

 

[rdd1952]

got this problem too
ammonia spiked
nitrite spiked
trying to get nitrate spike
but nitrites just dont seem to be falling much at all
le sigh

Nitrates won't drop on their own. They are the end result of the nitrogen cycle. The best way to reduce nitrates are through water changes. If you do a fishless cycle, once the ammonia and nitrite drop to 0, you do a 75 to 90 percent water change to remove the nitrate. You can buy products to remove nitrates but water changes are the best way.

One note on this, if you can't get your nitrates down with water changes, check the level in your tap water. It may be the source of the problem. If you do have a relatively high nitrate content in your tap water, contact your local water company/supplier. High nitrates in drinking water aren't good for people, especially infants.

 

[blue_ram]

Have you thought of getting a second opinion from a different nitrate test kit? Did you also try measuring nitrate out of the faucet? Is the reading from the 10gallon tank in your sig? If so, I can't imagine nitrate going upto 160ppm with only 4 zebra danios in a 10gallon tank! Even if you don't do water change for a month, it shouldn't be that high.

 

[Steve C]

Thanks for all your comments.

Last night I measured again and still the reading is over the top of my test kit (160+)

I decided to read the water straight from the tap and, you guessed it the reading showed just as high. This set the mind thinking.
I have some left over RO water in the garage which I also tested, this again read extremely high.

My next step is to take a sample of my tank water to my LFS and get them to read it. If all is OK, I will be asking for them to refund me for the Nitrate test kit they sold me just two weeks ago.

I'm using a test kit made by Sera. Has anyone else had any problems with this make?


Regards

Steve