help with nitrate
- Thread starter rainn626
- Start date
sepulatian
Moderator
Tell us why your nitrates are so high? Has it been awhile since your last change before this recent one? Tell us. 50 is not horrible. It is high, but not outrageous. I have seen much higher. To get them down, do 15% changes every 3 days with pre-mixed water.
rbaldino
Active Member
Originally Posted by rainn626
i do 20% water change at least every month. should i do 10% every 2 weeks? i've been feeding more carefully, but if i was overfeeding wouldn't ammonia and nitrites be higher too..?
Not necessarily. When you add food to the tank and your fish create waste, it does create ammonia. It should then be quickly processed into nitrite and nitrate, though, so it never really spikes. What you do have is an excess of nitrate that was generated from ammonia and nitrite. You want to reduce that production and keep it in check. The best way to do that is with weekly 10 percent water changes. Like Sep and I have said, to get your nitrate down to a more reasonable level, you're going to need to do several small water changes close together over the next few days or so.
i do 20% water change at least every month. should i do 10% every 2 weeks? i've been feeding more carefully, but if i was overfeeding wouldn't ammonia and nitrites be higher too..?
Not necessarily. When you add food to the tank and your fish create waste, it does create ammonia. It should then be quickly processed into nitrite and nitrate, though, so it never really spikes. What you do have is an excess of nitrate that was generated from ammonia and nitrite. You want to reduce that production and keep it in check. The best way to do that is with weekly 10 percent water changes. Like Sep and I have said, to get your nitrate down to a more reasonable level, you're going to need to do several small water changes close together over the next few days or so.
bjsbargain
Member
I also have "chaeto" in my tank and it really helps.