Neon Tetra problems already

Check your tap water for nitrate levels - you may be adding nearly as much
as you are taking out!


"St. Clair" wrote in message
...
I would do a 50% water change weekly, see how that treats your nitrates.
If
you're doing it every two weeks and still getting 80 ppm, it's not enough
and your fish will suffer long term effects.

Unfortunately, the only real effective way of controlling nitrates is
still
through water changes. Plants help a little, yes, but only a little.
Ion-exchange resigns help a little as well, but produce calcium and other
minerals which harden your water which in your case you don't need.

What water conditioner are you using? I would use Seachem's Prime as it
not
only eliminates chlorine but also detoxifies ammonia, nitrites and
nitrates.
Plus, because it's concentrated, you save around 20 bucks compared to
every
other brand. (a capful treats 50 gallons versus others which are a capful
treats 10 gallons).


"Reel McKoi" wrote in message
...

"Liisa Sarakontu" wrote in message
6...
"Reel McKoi" wrote in
:

Nitrate - 80

Dirty, dirty water! Although some fish can stand even 100 ppm nitrate,
anything over 50 is bad and it is best not to let it get higher than 20
ppm
(or 20 mg per liter, that's nearly the same).

Dirty water? The tank got a 90% water change shortly before I added the
fish. The gravel bed was vacuumed and the Diatom run to remove fine
particles. I can't stop feeding them, or stop them from passing waste
nor
can I do daily water changes. There were several ottos, 2 clown plecos
and a reg pleco in the tank. Do you have a flow through system to keep
nitrates below 20mg per liter?

Is this a small tank? How many liters/gallons? Water changing routine?
How
many fish you have there and what species?

The tank is a 55g set up for several years and contains live plants.
Water changes are every 2 weeks. See above. I recently added 8 Neons, 2
small pearl graumies, 5 platys and the two corys (one died).
--

RM....
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
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