Treating High Nitrate?

[Wanda Too]

Hi

I was just wondering how to best treat high nitrate in my 32 l freshwater
aquarium? I've just tested for nitrates & the end result is blood red.

Thanks

Wanda

[George Pontis]

In article >,
says...
> Hi
>
> I was just wondering how to best treat high nitrate in my 32 l freshwater
> aquarium? I've just tested for nitrates & the end result is blood red.
>

The nitrate level is usually controlled by periodic water changes. Try 20-25%
water change each day until your nitrate level comes down to less than 50mg/l. In
most aquariums a 20% water change once a week will keep nitrate levels below 12.5
mg/l. The drain part of the water change is best done by using a gravel vac to
draw out as much gunk as you can from the gravel, so it will not go through the
nitrification cycle and contribute more nitrates.

You might also consider not feeding at all for the first few days, and then taking
some additional care to not overfeed after that. The food that you put in ends up
as nitrates, whether the fish eat it or not.

[Wanda Too]

OK. Thanks for that. I'll give your ideas a go. Do you have any tips on how
to best vac the gravel without disturbing plants too much?
"George Pontis" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
>
> says...
>> Hi
>>
>> I was just wondering how to best treat high nitrate in my 32 l freshwater
>> aquarium? I've just tested for nitrates & the end result is blood red.
>>
>
> The nitrate level is usually controlled by periodic water changes. Try
> 20-25%
> water change each day until your nitrate level comes down to less than
> 50mg/l. In
> most aquariums a 20% water change once a week will keep nitrate levels
> below 12.5
> mg/l. The drain part of the water change is best done by using a gravel
> vac to
> draw out as much gunk as you can from the gravel, so it will not go
> through the
> nitrification cycle and contribute more nitrates.
>
> You might also consider not feeding at all for the first few days, and
> then taking
> some additional care to not overfeed after that. The food that you put in
> ends up
> as nitrates, whether the fish eat it or not.

[Wanda Too]

OK. Today I did a 30-50% water change. I did another nitrate test & the
thing came up dark orange (75mg/l), rather than the blood red (off the
charts) it was earlier. I trimmed back some of the older looking leaves on
the thin reedy things (dunno what the plant is called) as I read somewhere
that this encourages the plant to produce more leaves. I also used the
gravel vac, doing another 30% water change in the process. I am a little
worried that these huge changes might hurt the fish, but I figure they were
going to be hurt either way either by the huge levels of nitrate or the
extensive changes to their environment.

I think part of my problem might be that I have too many fish. Think I might
focus on planting more & getting the aquarium stablised. I only fed the fish
yesterday, so I guess it wouldn't hurt them to go without food for a couple
of days also.

Thanks for your help.


"George Pontis" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
>
> says...
>> Hi
>>
>> I was just wondering how to best treat high nitrate in my 32 l freshwater
>> aquarium? I've just tested for nitrates & the end result is blood red.
>>
>
> The nitrate level is usually controlled by periodic water changes. Try
> 20-25%
> water change each day until your nitrate level comes down to less than
> 50mg/l. In
> most aquariums a 20% water change once a week will keep nitrate levels
> below 12.5
> mg/l. The drain part of the water change is best done by using a gravel
> vac to
> draw out as much gunk as you can from the gravel, so it will not go
> through the
> nitrification cycle and contribute more nitrates.
>
> You might also consider not feeding at all for the first few days, and
> then taking
> some additional care to not overfeed after that. The food that you put in
> ends up
> as nitrates, whether the fish eat it or not.

[Gunnie]

Here are a couple of great links to get you started on having a
planted tank.


Setting
up your first planted tank

Plantguide

Let us know how big your tank is, and what inhabitants you have in
your tank. Also, what is your maintenance schecule? I assume you
have a basic set up, so I would check out the low light plants on the
plantguide link. You can have a beautifully planted tank without all
the fancy lighting and CO2. Watersprite is supposed to be a good
plant for absorbing excess nutrients in the tank, and you can just
leave it free floating in the tank if you like.
__________________________________________________
Posted via FishGeeks - http://Aquaria.info

[Dave]

"Wanda Too" > wrote in message
...

> I think part of my problem might be that I have too many fish.

Was your tank cycled?

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html

It's tough to get that high a nitrate reading with a cycled tank, unless
your tap water contains high level of nitrates, or you added a *large*
number of fish all at once.

[Billy]

"Gunnie" > wrote in message
...
| Here are a couple of great links to get you started on having a
| planted tank.
|
|

Oops. <eg>

[Billy]

"Wanda Too" > wrote in message
...
| I've got some of those reedy things (don't know what they're called
sorry).
| Are they what you mean? Can you describe other plants that might
fit this
| description?
|

"reedy things" could describe quite a goodly number of plants.<g>
Hygro, anacharis, hornwort, cabomba are good growers, I have a couple
of each in each planted tank, and have to prune often.

[Wanda Too]

Hi Dave

yeah I did cycle the tank as per my handbook, having one tough fishy for a
couple of weeks to allow the amonia-nitrite-nitrate cycle to take it's
course. I also added a little of the gravel from an old aquarium I had that
I thought might still have some bacteria & algae on it. I'm almost convinced
that the problem was due to overstocking & perhaps having artificial, rather
than natural, plants for the first week or so. Overfeeding could be a
problem also. I've been feeding them every couple of days, enough for them
to eat in one sitting. This includes flakes & black worms.

"Dave" > wrote in message
.. .
>
> "Wanda Too" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> I think part of my problem might be that I have too many fish.
>
> Was your tank cycled?
>
> http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html
>
> It's tough to get that high a nitrate reading with a cycled tank, unless
> your tap water contains high level of nitrates, or you added a *large*
> number of fish all at once.
>
>