High Nitrates...still

inigomontoya

inigomontoya

Member
Can my CC be that much of a reason my Nitrates are still at 80ppm?? I did a 25% water change with R/O last week, didnt feed my fish for about four days and still the Nitrates are the same. I never overfed the fish before that and there is nothing dead in the tank. The test kit I have is not outdated. I only have three small fish (2 percs, and blue devil), three snails, and two Hermits. I have base rock and CC, no plant life. Oh, and a dragon goby, but they all seem fine.. Any suggestions?
 
leigh

leigh

Active Member

Originally posted by InigoMontoya
Can my CC be that much of a reason my Nitrates are still at 80ppm??

Yes, cc is a notorious nitrate trap!
ps, you killed my father, prepare to die :D (i thought it was indigo?)
 
buzz

buzz

Active Member
How long has the tank been set up with the CC? It definitely COULD be that, but hard to say for sure. If it is fairly new, it may not have had time to collect detritus to the extent of raising levels like that. If established, then I'd say it probably is that.
Did the levels come down at all after your water change?
Did you buy the RO water? Or do you have your own unit? Maybe test it.
 
inigomontoya

inigomontoya

Member
Okay, I will answer in order:
Filtration? haha. I havent the foggiest! I bought this tank from my husbands co-worker. I do know that I do not have a bottom filter. I do know I have a filter and two powerheads.. I have had the CC vaccumed but I will be changing to LS soon. The tank is over a year old and 40 gallons.
My tank has been up for a few weeks. It was just transferred from his house to mine and same water was added, which from what I read of what he tested, trates were at 20.
The tank has had the same CC in it for 1 1/2 yrs. My levels have not budged even with the water change. I used good R/O water and Instant Ocean for my water change and use distilled everyday as a filler (1 cup or so).
I am pretty sure its Inigo, just sounds a little different with the accent, I am trying to get my spanish neighbor to put the following greeting for my answering machine "Hallo, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Leave your name and number at the beep....and...prepare to die" but he won't!
:D
 
col

col

Active Member
Your filter could be the cause of nitrates - if it is dirty.
Switching to L Sand is gonna cause initial problems anyway. I would do a search on here for that subject.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
its probably a combonation of things.
filter and CC
the CC will trap things deep inside the pieces and hold it there and it will slowly decompose the only way to curve this is to vacum it atleast once a month and get as much of the gunk out as possible. also you might be feeding to much food whcih is being converted to nitrates.
the filter wil trap things in and slowly decompose if its not cleaned and kept clean depending on what type of filter you have.
what and how much food do you feed??
also what type of test kits and how old are they. if the test kits are old you might be getting a bad reason.
Mike
 
inigomontoya

inigomontoya

Member
I was stricly told just now that I have a 'Biological Filter and DO NOT clean it..' I dont know what it is, noone can give me a brand name or anything. I feed a frozen cube of brine shrimp once a day. the fish eat it in just a few minutes.
I may just go ahead and purchase Salifer test kits, just to be sure. I was told the other kit I have is less than a year old.
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
does this filter have a canister or is a hing on type filter.
or is it like a whole nther tank under your current tank.
Mike
 
michaeltx

michaeltx

Moderator
LOL
the size is the main thing when attaching pics it has to be less than 102400bytes. what program do you use to size it?
a picture of it would really help in determining if it can cause this problem and how to fix it.
if not if you can email me the pic I can downsize it for you .
Mickadee@hotmail..com
Mike
 
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