having nitrate problems in one of my tanks. help please?
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If you have a problem with Nitrates, in short this means you have ammonia build up, but your filter is taking care of this problem.
I would look at doing a 120-150g water change, and also work on cleaning out your tank of poop and any other debris in the tank. Continue doing water changes in the size of 50-80% each time. This helps a lot.
I would for sure clean all the foam filter pads in the filter, and then I would pour all of the lose media in the filter into a bucket. Then take water from the tank and use it to clean lightly the lose media in your filter. This will not kill the bacteria, but get all the big debris off the media.
What fish do Jesper have
180 WC T. Moorii Chilambo +1 Petro trewavasae.
110 Cyps, WC Xeno Spilopterus Kipili WC/F1/F2 T. sp red Kiku
58 S. Decorus
"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." -Margaret Thatcher
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+1 to all the suggestions so far:
A very wise aquarist told me several decades ago, "The solution to pollution is dilution", which means, water change, water change, water change. As mentioned, if you have nitrates coming out of the tap, then you're just adding nitrate with each batch of new water. There are ways to handle this if that's the case. Some plants are nitrate sponges, most of which, unfortunately, won't survive your fish. You can set up a wet/dry with a large enough sump to use as a veggie filter; add a couple clip-on lights of 6500K from lowes or home depot over the sump and throw some anacharis, or duckweed or wisteria in it to suck up the nitrates. I'd have another filtration system on this tank even if there wasn't a nitrate problem. I favor multiple filtration and have it on all my larger tanks just in case one filter dies.
MarkWhat are the facts? Again and again and again--what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore devine revelation, forget what "the stars foretell", avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history"--what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your only clue.
Robert Anson Heinlein
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