High nitrate problem?

Question

Hello everybody, I have a 125 gallon tank with a nitrate problem. My nitrates are very high like 100ppm and I've been doing 40% every other day to get them down. I realize that the thing that caused it was me over feeding my fish, really stupid mistake by me. My normal water change schedule is either 20% every 2 weeks or 40% every month! depending on how busy I am. My ammonia and nitrite are always 0 so my filtration is very sufficient. Every water change I do I dig really well in the gravel and uproot all the waste. I keep testing my water and keep getting the same results, I even brought the test to my LFS and they said it was still the same. I try to put nitrate pads in my filter to help. Can someone tell me if I'm doing something wrong or if I need to continue doing the same thing. Here is my stock list:
2 oscars 7 inches
1 severum 3.5 inches
1 jack dempsey 5.5inches
3 silver dollars 4.5 inches
2 tinfoil barbs 4.5 inches
1 common pleco 9 inches

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Are you rinsing the filter sponge in a bucket of tank water every 2 months? Nitrates will build up in the filter too. Are you using tap water? If so test it for nitrates as that could be your main problem to begin with. Also try to do your water changes more frequently. In my opinion even in an established tank a month is way too long to go without a water change. I do 10% weekly and have to problems what so even with algae or nitrates in my marine and freshwater tanks

noselessman · Answer

I had a tank which had high nitrates once, i couldnt get them down no matter how many water changes i made.  I used nitrazorb for awhile, but i think the best thing to do, and what i did, was remove the gravel and clean it.  then but only a little of it back.  the less gravel, the less trapped waste.

watertiger · Answer

It doesn't seem like you're doing anything wrong to me, as long as you have decreased your overfeeding enough. Your tank is definitely not overcrowded or anything, either. Other than too much food, is there anything else in your tank that could be breaking down and rotting? (Pieces of rotting driftwood, rotting plant roots or leaves, etc, etc)

High nitrate problem?

Related Questions

Trending Questions