How to reduce nitrates ??? .

hi guys .im Rachael I'm from Dublin .and I've been keeping a 180ltr tropical /plant based tank for 3 yrs now,I started if with a 90 ltr ,just to learn the ropes ,then I moved to a 180 ,I have community fish,but sadly ,my nitrates were so high,the tank got a outbreak of whiteots and it nearly wiped my tank out,I have now been concentrating on getting my ph perfect and all is great,but the nitrates is tough,I've done 25% water changes,is using medium filter wTer,and water from my local fish shop.which has brought it down,I think my water in my area is very hard,and even with water conditioner ,it's tough maintaining the nitrates,any ideas??

twilight3 wrote:

hi guys .im Rachael I'm from Dublin .and I've been keeping a 180ltr tropical /plant based tank for 3 yrs now,I started if with a 90 ltr ,just to learn the ropes ,then I moved to a 180 ,I have community fish,but sadly ,my nitrates were so high,the tank got a outbreak of whiteots and it nearly wiped my tank out,I have now been concentrating on getting my ph perfect and all is great,but the nitrates is tough,I've done 25% water changes,is using medium filter wTer,and water from my local fish shop.which has brought it down,I think my water in my area is very hard,and even with water conditioner ,it's tough maintaining the nitrates,any ideas??

Hello
Your post is a little bit confusing.
I am a little bit lost between your mention of the nitrate and your history with the PH M the white spot.
With regards to the nitrate unless you are feeding the fish too much or you have some dead matter in the thank or you have too many fish together I don't see why your nitrate should be high.. perhaps you have gravel that you are not cleaning? I have seen the pictures of you guys and frankly did not seem over gravity sure what I think is you may have a definition has created a high level of nitrate or perhaps you'll have dirty gravel and you feed the fish too much.Water changes you mention 25%, but you dont says how often: if you change 25% once a year then the problem is there, if you change it once a week then there is another reason for your high nitrates.
Now to the pH: what is your PH and the PH you are struggling to get to? and what is the pH from your tap water?
Any normal community fish should be able to handle tap water with a wide range of PH as long as that PH is kept the same. Too much work getting water from the shop etc etc.
I keep Discus, they are "normally" low PH fish (the wild ones are sometimes near a PH of 4 in their original habitat). My pH is between 6.6 and 6.9. My tap water is 7.5.
I get to reduce it by "aging" my tap water --> i fill up a plastic barrel, i have an air stone and a heater in it. I use that water for water changes. After one day of being in the barrel the water is at 6.8 or 6.9.

hope that helps

Hi there,
Planted tanks will have a high reading nitrate level,
Can you tell us what readings you are getting atm, as in ppm?
Also what filtration you are using as in internal or external filter and your maintenance regime (how often you clean your filter)
As far as ph is concerned, it's more important to keep your ph stable rather than aiming for a specific ph level!

The ONLY way to keep Nitrates at low levels in a fresh water tropical aquarium is to perform WEEKLY water changes...I personally perform 50% weekly water changes and i find this perfect for both fish health and algae control...Nitrates should ideally be kept at a maximum of 20ppm (10ppm max is better) otherwise your gonna run into problems....High Nitrates are really bad for fish...They lead to illnesses, algae problems and even fish deaths!

Now if your Nitrates are really high reduce them over a few weeks with several partial water changes so as not to shock the fish too much...

To put it mathematically each time you perform a 50% water change you are reducing your Nitrates by 50% so you can see why regular weekly water changes keep your WATER in good condition and hence your fish healthy and happy.....(Usually the Nitrates in our tap water are very low but test your tap water levels just in case)

The main things that lead to high Nitrates are usually one or a combination of the following...

(1) Not changing the water regularly (Weekly at least 25% / 50% is ideal)
(2) Overstocking - Too many fish or fish that are too large for the tank
(3) Overfeeding - Its better to keep fish slightly hungry and on their toes instead of stuffed and sluggish (They more you feed the more they poop)
(4) Not performing weekly Gravel Vacuums - Waste builds up in the sand/gravel over time (DONT rely on fish to clean it up)

There are a number of ways of keeping Nitrates low in any tank apart from water-changes.

However, the first 3 items on gunnered1972's list are extremely important in any tank.

Water changes, understocking and correct feed are important irrespective of nitrate levels anyway and should be part of routine fish-keeping rather than just a means to reduce nitrates.

In general, it is immature tanks that are most prone to suffer problems from processes within the nitrogen cycle that are harmful to livestock.
Hence, newly set-up tanks need extra care on stocking, feeding and water changes.

In addition, there are other water parameters that modify the efficiency and direction of processes within the nitrogen cycle,these include:
pH, alkalinity, RedOx potential, available oxygen, amounts of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate etc and more.

If nitrate levels are low enough that a 50% water change will bring them low enough to be safe then do the water change;
if the nitrate levels are so high that water changes to bring the levels low may be so large that the water change itself (in one go) is potentially harmful then initially use a nitrate removing sieve such as JBLNitraEX..........it does not need to be used for long as you don't want zero nitrates.

I am always concerned when the pH is being adjusted to be "perfect".......messing can cause major problems.

ian

Wow ,I'm delighted with all the feedback thabks guys,yes I did think I was over feeding a bit I only have 11 fish in it at the minute ,in a 180 later tank lol.so they have plenty of room . As for the water changes yes I guess ,not doing a water change every week would also be a factor of the high nitrates but also I'm just wondering for any plant based fish keepers out there,Q. When your cleaning the bottom with a gravel Hoover do you find that the soil keeps cuming up in a dust formation ??? I did have that issue until I bought 15 kg of heavy gravel ,so I'm just using a net now to clean the bottom of the tank ,instead if using suction:).

Hi angel,I use eheim external 200 filter,

You should really use a gravel cleaner rather than a net,
But it's really up to you at the end of the day,
The jbl nitraEX Ian has mentioned is good and can be reused after a saltwater bath,
As far as your external is concerned,
If you haven't done this already......
Take the filter apart, put all the media in to a bucket of tank water and give your filter bucket, media baskets, and hoses a good clean, you can get a build up of mulm that can cause high readings,
Should do this at least once every 8 weeks,
This along with water changes and gravel cleaning keeps things good