Troubles With Nitrate

[Mamashack]

How much of the gravel did you clean when you did the water changes? I've heard it's best not to clean more than 25% of the gravel for the very reason that appears to have caused your nitrate spike ie buried rotting food being disturbed.
Just a thought!

 

[Stringy30]

We cleaned the majority of the gravel actually, I don't think we missed much lol.


How long will the fish be able to survive in high nitrate conditions? Due to the size of some of them they would be worth a fortune and I don't want to lose them.

 

[Mamashack]

That might be why it sky-rocketed. Try doing the smaller gravel cleans from now on and keep doing the water changes til you get the level under 40 preferably nearer 20ppm.
I agree with Kad91 live plants definitely help with nitrate and ammonia consumption. My tap water is 10-20ppm and had a nitrate spike to 40-80pmm so huge water changes were needed to make only a small impact. I've now planted my tank quite heavily and the levels are running at 10ppm without any further intervention.

 

[Stringy30]

In saying that I tested the water before we cleaned it and the Nitrate was as high as it is now after the water change

 

[Mamashack]

There is a product that is supposed to reduce nitrates called Easy Balance by Tetra. It's supposed to stabilize pH and KH, and reduce phosphate and nitrate. I've never used it tho so can't say if it works.
I think a planted tank would be an effective and decorative way to reduce the nitrate level.
Good luck!

 

[Stringy30]

Which live plants are recommended? and how many do you think I would need? At the moment I have about 3 plastic plants and a large sunken ship as a ornament which is quite new to the tank.
 
I will go to the pet store tomorrow.

 

[DreamertK]

Rapid growing plants would take care of a bit more NO3, however may need O2/ferts. I've had a terrible experience with hornsworth and arancharis due to molting, but are options for floating/fast growing plants. Java ferns and anubais are hardly slow growing plants that don't require a lot of light or care. My amazon sword grew pretty fast but was a favorite meal of my gourami. My wisteria is doing pretty good, not a tasty treat, shrimp really like sitting on it, grows pretty fast, doesn't need a whole lot of care. You would need...an entire/overly planted tank to get rid of that much NO3 and especially maintain a 0ppm reading. You might want to just get a few bundles of plants and do the WC's to see if it resolves itself.
 
Good luck!

 

[TallTree01]

Silver dollars and clown loaches are too large for a 55g.

 

[Mamashack]

I've got 2 each of egeria densa and cabomba caroliniana as stem plants which grow quickly and mop up nitrates. I've also got a java fern on stone tho they are also available on bogwood and a small anubia on bogwood.
See signature for tank details

 

[Stringy30]

Won't they just grow to the size of the tank?

 

[Mamashack]

The plants will grow according to their food source ie ammonia and nitrates. The ones I've mentioned have low lighting requirements - my tank has 1w per gallon and the egeria densa is noticably growing. The cabomba and the others haven't changed in size but appear to be ok.

 

[Stringy30]

I mean the fish Mamashack but thanks anyway lol.

 

[Mamashack]

Ahhh! The post before was about plants - if you are going back to previous posts you can use the quote button - it helps numpties like me! lol

 

[Stringy30]

lol that's ok, thanks for the tip

 

[DreamertK]

Well biologically that isn't the case with fish. If you were put in a cage growing up, you'd grow too large for the cage and try to burst out of it, or your body can accept the cage and you will grow deformities instead of larger. Deformities are bad for the fish in more ways than just fitting in the tank, also it's pretty inhumane.