Need Help With High Nitrates!

Hello everyone! I've been trying to control my nitrate levels for about a week now, keep doing water changes and nothing changes! We are setting up a brand new tank, nothing is in it only water ... tested it and it's high nitrate too!? Theres nothing in there! How the heck do we solve this problem. Is my pleco pooping too much? That doesn't explain why my perfectly clean tank has nitrate in it too!?
How long should I keep this new tank flowing before testing the water again? A week? Just filled it today.
Thank you all!

 

A healthy tank should have some bitrate in it because nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle in your tank. What’s exactly is your level? Try testing your tap as well.

 

It's at about 160ppm I would say, it's gone down in the passed couple of days! We only had out pleco in here for months then decided to get some fish and 3 of them died we figured it was from high nitrate!
I know a little nitrate is okay, but I hate the colour of this pink lol! My tap water is fine its testing at 0
We have also cleaned the tank (with syphen) and have done 2 50% changes and nitrate has barely dropped.

 

Well how big is the Pleco, and what’s the tank size? Plecos are prolific poopers.

Your empty tank having high nitrates, and your tap testing for 0 has me very stumped.

 

Pleco is about 5 6 inches and they are in a 20gal
I know right!!!
Is there some sort of a solution I can use?

 

Just keep doing water changes.......but not too drastic of ones. Nitrates need to be reduced gradually or it can actually kill more fish than the high nitrates would. The fish in there are kind if accustomed to the high levels. They can die from shock if it drops too fast.

I'd also retest everything. Something's not right If the new tank is high in nitrate too.

 

I've dropped the little tank a little it looks like with another 25% water change.... a fish doesn't look like it will make it. Tested new tank again and there's no nitrate, I wonder why it was showing up before? Hopefully the rest if these guys can power through until this other tank is cycled! Should I wait a week? 3 days?

 

Hello everyone! I've been trying to control my nitrate levels for about a week now, keep doing water changes and nothing changes! We are setting up a brand new tank, nothing is in it only water ... tested it and it's high nitrate too!? Theres nothing in there! How the heck do we solve this problem. Is my pleco pooping too much? That doesn't explain why my perfectly clean tank has nitrate in it too!?
How long should I keep this new tank flowing before testing the water again? A week? Just filled it today.
Thank you all!

Are you saying there is no fish in the water? Where are you getting the water from? Sounds like there is lots of nitrates in the water

 

My tank with fish now is totally fine! My empty tank has still been running and nitrates and nitrites are still high. I've tested them both every day with the same results on the empty tank. It is just the cycle? Do I need to just wait it out until it's at 0? Should I do water changes on an empty tank? Lol I tested my tap water and its 0 on everything too. Not sure what I'm doing wrong!

 

I have a new aquarium. It is 250gal. I have never had one before. I have been buying goldfish from one place only and now my tank crashed. I didn't know anything about cycling... I have read a ton this week though. When my fish started looking sick, I immediately went to that fish store and had my water tested. Off the charts ammonia and nitrates. They told my to use Stability andb don't do a water change. (I had already done 1/2 water change that week. They said it probably made things worse because my tank is only about a month old and I didn't have good bacteria yet. I did what they said. Ammonia cleared up. Nitrates stayed the same. After 3 days of my fish staying in the bottom, they got worse. I had also told them I saw a parasite. They said don't focus on that now. Ammonia and nitrates has to be treated first. I didn't have an extra aquarium so when I saw my fish literally dying, I pulled them out and put them in a makeshift rescue tank. Before I could transfer them, 2 died. That was last night. They are still in thev rescue area. They seem to be doing better but my tank nitrates has not improved and I'm scared to put them back in the big tank. The blood on their fins, I originally thought was from poisoning, I think is from lice.. I saw them on the 2 dead fish and got one off of my alive guys.. Advice needed..

 

So there are no fish currently in the 250 gallon?

 

So there are no fish currently in the 250 gallon?

No. I'm doing another partial water change after lunch and I'll check the nitrate level. If it is down, I'll put them back.

 

Also, my pump broke and I don't have it filtering way it should.. My new one should arrive by tomorrow. I think that will help.

 

Think you're talking about ammonia and nitrites.