rising nitrates

[sharkboy]

My nitrates have gone from o-10 to a consistant 20. I did a 10 gal water change about 12 days ago . No change in Nitrates. I did a 10 gal . water change today. No change in the Nitrates. What's going on! My amonia has stayed around .1 and my Nirtites have bee mostly 0 with .1 once in awhile. The salinity is around .023-,025. The ph stays arount 8.3-8.5. The only thing I can think of to do is to take a sample in to the lfs. and have them test. Nothing has died. Since Nitrate is at the end of the nirtogen cycle , I don't understand why the Nitrates stay so high . Any help is appreciated

 

[karajay]

Originally posted by Francis Knudsen
Since Nitrate is at the end of the nirtogen cycle , I don't understand why the Nitrates stay so high .
That IS why nitrates can rise; because there's no place for it to go at the end of the nitrogen cycle unless you have algae or plants or whatever to consume the nitrates.
You should never have ammonia or nitrite readings above zero in a cycled tank.

 

[thomas712]

What type of water are you using for the water change?
Test the water change source.
WHat test kit are you using for nitrates?
Check the expiration date of the test kit?
Thomas

 

[sharkboy]

I understand that they don't have anywhere to go, but after two 10 gal. water changes I thought that they would have dropped some. I just checked the test bottles (Aquarium Pharmaceuticals.,Inc.) one bottle is dated 2002 and the other bottle is dated 1999. This could be the problem. I will use a different test kit. No experiation date on the bottles just a mfg. date. It is a two part test kit.

 

[sanibelisland]

Do you have a nitrate slow drip remover? This can cause a skyhigh reading using the test kit you are using. When I use or have local fish shop test, using tablets, nitrate is very low. I called the test kit manufacturer and they confirmed this.