What can i do to Decrease the Nitrates in my tank?

Question

I bought a Up-side down Catfish at the petstore about 3 weeks about and it died about 20 minutes after i put it in the tank. I brought it back and they took a sample of my water to find out the number of nitrates is EXTREMELY high. They won't give me anyother Catfish untill it is back to normal. What can i do to fix this problem???

Answer 1

My question first would be, how high did they tell you your nitrates are?
As well, how long has your tank been up and running? is it done cycling? If your tank is new and has yet to complete its cycle process, this could be your problem. Once your tank has cycled, your nitrates will drop naturally.

If you don't have a test kit, get one.

Nitrate removal filter media will work to some extent, but larger water changes will be the most effective solution. It can take a week, of about 25-30% water changes or over a period of up to four weeks to bring the nitrate levels down. Doing this in combination with the nitrate removal media in a canister or power filter will provide the best results. Both Kent Marine and Seachem make nitrate removal filter media. There is no additive you can buy to lower nitrates. In spite of claims by some manufacturers, Not many have never gotten positive results from any of the so-called bacterial treatments to remove nitrates.

there is no replacing waterchanges for the removal of nitrates.
Also, do not over feed your fish. Less is more when dealing with nitrate problems.

Have your tap water tested. Average tap water will contain 7ppm or less (This is not high even for fish) and is permissiable by the federal government. You always want to keep the nitrates as low as possiable Unfortunately we cannot change our tap water other than a good conditioner, however they do not remove nitrates.

Answer 2

Nitrates are the final stage in the "cycling process" (look this up on google) which basicaly turns fish waste (poo's wee's and uneaten food) or Ammonia (from the waste) into nitrITE's and then finaly into nitrATE's. Nitrate's can only be removed by very large quantities of plants (your tank would need to be chock full of them for this to work) or by removal through water changes.

The fact that you have got nitrate and not ammonia or nitrite is comforting as it indicates your filtration is adequate and your tank is cycled. My only tip here is that you make sure the filter circulates enough water, a good rule of thumb is that the filter should pump 4 times the volume of the tank each hour. i.e. a 10 gallon should have a hang on back or canister filter that pumps 40 gal per hour or more.

I'd recomend you do a 40-50% water change daily until the Nitrate level drops to 10-20ppm or less. During the water change you should be "vaccuming" the gravel with your siphon to remove as much waste as possible.

Once the level is safe go on doing a 40-50% change weekly and buy yourself a master test kit to ensure the levels are ok.

Feed every second day till you get things under control.

Good levels should be as follows

Ammonia - 0ppm
NitrITE - 0ppm
Nitrate - 10-20ppm (5-10ppm is better)

Ph and hardness depends on what fish you are keeping.

If in spite of your water changes the levels do not fall then look at why that could be? Do you have too many fish? Are you overfeeding? If so upgrage your tank or sell some fish back to the pet shop and resist the temptation to buy any more.

The only other thing i can think of is did you float the fish? This involves placing the bag the fish is in on the top of the tank water (i.e. "float" the fish on the top of the water) for about 10 to 20 min then over the course of 20 min to half an hour slowly add small amounts of aquarium water to his bag then let him swim out of the bag of his own accord.

Best of luck and happy fish keeping

Answer 3

There are a lot of good answers here, especially in terms of water changes and Danielles point about tap water nitrates.

Here are more points to consider:

*Perform a water change using a gravel vacuum to remove not just dirty water, but “mulm” that will decompose and enter the nitrogen cycle and eventually become nitrates.
This can be a particular problem with Under Gravel Filters (UGF), decomposing organic debris will tend to build up under the filter plate. For these filters I recommend occasionally removing the lift tubes and placing a siphon into the opening and removing as much organic debris (mulm) as possible.
Even without UGF, poor vacuuming procedures (or none at all) can contribute to high to high nitrates. Make sure and vacuum around and under ornaments as well, although be careful around live plants.

*Proper filtration and maintenance; Make sure and regularly rinse in de-chlorinated or used aquarium water (never tap water) your bio filter media. This includes bio rings and balls commonly found in wet dry filters and canister filters, sponge filters, bio wheels, or any other media that is not changed in the filter. This is especially important with filters that tend to become “nitrate factories”, which include in my experience (AND tests) to be; Canister Filters, Wet-Dry filters, and Emperor Filters. This is not to say these filters are bad, it is just important to not ignore properly cleaning these filters even though their large capacity makes it very easy to do. I will however add that for reef aquariums I do NOT recommend the before mentioned filters with the exception being the Wet-Dry and even then substituting live rock crumbles for bio balls.
I have seen nitrates in freshwater go down by simply changing filter systems (the over all health of the aquarium improved as well). The last time I did this was by removing an Emperor 400 and replacing it with a combinations Sponge filter/ Internal filter/ Fluidized Filter System.

*Add aquatic plants to freshwater especially hornwort.

*A Plenum

I recommend reading this article to better understand the Aquarium Nitrogen cycle:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Nitrogen_Cycle.html

Answer 4

Lowering nitrates is a very simple process. The only thing you have to do (only thing you can do) is change some of the water. I suggest changing about 25% of your water every other day until you get your levels down, then change once per week as normal. If they don't go down, then it usually means your tank is overstocked. If you post your stock and the size of your tank, we can tell you if it is your stock, or if it is simply that you do not change water enough. Also, you might want to get your water straight from the tap tested to see if you have high nitrates in your tap water, but from what you said it sounds like that is not true.

Answer 5

Water changes are the best over all solution... provided your tap water is not partially to blame. You need to have your tap water checked as it often can contain some nitrates. This time of year and for the next few months is especially bad for high nitrates in surface water sources. Have a shop test it or get a kit and do it yourself. You can also call the water department and ask it the nitrates are running a bit high lately. But assuming your tap water is low in nitrates, do 35-40% water changes every few days and in a week or so it will be back to normal.

MM

Answer 6

I did water changes 50% for weeks and discovered the substrate? (Gravel) was making the test high? That's what I was told so I removed it and with a good cleaning brought it down to 20ppm. This was in a 10 gal holding tank. The gravel came from a used tank that I just rinsed off. Good Luck.. ><>:)

Answer 7

Get an Environmental engineer to take a sample on the water in the fish tank. He will give you a BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) test on the water. This will show all the necessary information on the fish tank, and you will be advised on the aquatic environment suitable for your fish. Hope this is helpful!

Answer 8

Keep doing regular water changes. Is your tank cycled? If not your going to want to do a fishless cycle before you add any fish to that tank. If it is cycled and you have fish already in order to keep water params normal I would say don't overstock your tank and do regular water changes to keep water conditions in the clear. I have two oscars in a 135 and I do two 40-50% water changes a week to keep the water in tip top shape.

Answer 9

Change the water every other day until they nitrates are below 20 ppm. There is no other way better, elbow grease. Get your own test kit, I don't trust pet stores, especially if you were owed a refund. For around 8 bucks you can have a test kit for nitrate and test all you want for a year.

Answer 10

The only thing you can do besides letting it run its course is use a chemical. It really depends on whether or not you like to use chemicals in your tank. I use something called AmQuel+. It takes care of things withing minutes. Like I said, it depends on your philosophy on chemicals. I also suggest that you go to the pet store and buy your own test strips. They are kinda expensive, but can save you many fish. This way you don't have to wait until your fish are dead to find out that you have a problem. I check my tanks once a week.