nitrate

[hatter75]

All of a sudden I am having a serious problem with the nitrate level in my freshwater tank. I do regular 1/4 tank change outs, I don't over feed, and only have 3 fish in the 20 gal tank. I have done 3 water change outs in the last 10 days and it hasn't lowered the nitrate level. During the water change outs I vacum the bottom, I have a bio wheel filter and have put a new filter in it. I don't know what else it can be. Any suggestions

 

[TKOS]

Check your tap water for nitrates first.

 

[happychem]

What are the 3 fish? How much do you feed?

 

[hatter75]

1. Plecostumus 2" long (spelling?)
2. 2 lyre tailed mollys smaller than the pleco

Tap water doesn't even register on the test strip.

 

[beviking]

Do you have snails? Plants? Any organics that could be decaying in there? Can you define "serious nitrate problem"?

 

[FishKeeper-16]

Vacume every square inch of the tank and remove any decaying fish and change filters regularly

 

[happychem]

change filters regularly

I'm sure that you don't mean that as it came out. There's no need to change either filter or media on a regular basis, but filter foams should be rinsed in old tank water periodically. I cover all my intakes (whether for filter or powerhead) with filter foams, these I rinse weekly. The "inside the filter" media gets rinsed about once per month, the intake foams keep the media in the filter pretty much free of particulate.

 

[FishKeeper-16]

If you don't change your filters won't they have decaying matter on them and cause higher nitrates?

 

[beviking]

Depending on the type of cartridge, you should only rinse it to remove the decaying matter and then re-use it. This saves the beneficial bacteria in the media.

 

[damion]

I tried reusing Emperor cartridges but water doesn't flow thru anymore with all the micro stuff attached even after rinse.