Nitrate Level High - But Everything Else Is Good...

I think I have a generally good understanding of the aquarium cycle. Ammonia and Nitrite are 0. Ph is around 8.2. This is a 10 gallon with a Platy, Cory, Tetra and snail. I also have a couple fern plants and a moss ball.

But here is my question. Is it OK for Nitrate to continually be around 40 ppm? I test every week and do a partial change. I haven't had to siphon much lately. I did a 2 gallon change three days ago and I'm back at 40 ppm Nitrate again. I tested my tap water (source of water change) and it has tested at 0 ppm Nitrate. It is high in hardness though. Should I be concerned? I've sporadically lost each of the fish I listed above except for the Cory. "Whiskers" seems to be tough.

 

I would be doing 50% water changes in a 10 gallon tank. That should get and keep the nitrates down. Most folks recommend trying to keep them at or below 20.

I keep mine down with 30% water changes but I have 50 gallons of water (55 gallon tank). With just 10 there is not as much water there to dilute the nitrates so bigger water changes are necessary.

 

A 50% Change will reduce values by 50% (assuming your tap is negative for that value) if your nitrates are already 40, a 20% Change with no gravel vac will not cause a significant drop. If you continue this way the number will climb higher each week

 

Def do a 50% water change for the nitrates. Treat the water tho.

 

More plants will help with those nitrates. Fast growing ones like Java Moss and Java fern especially.

 

I have two Java Ferns and a moss ball. Not sure if I have room in a 10 gallon for more.

A 50% Change will reduce values by 50% (assuming your tap is negative for that value) if your nitrates are already 40, a 20% Change with no gravel vac will not cause a significant drop. If you continue this way the number will climb higher each week

Are you saying that a gravel vac is necessary to get more Nitrate reduction? I thought changing the water got most of it. Thanks for the help.

 

I have two Java Ferns and a moss ball. Not sure if I have room in a 10 gallon for more.



Are you saying that a gravel vac is necessary to get more Nitrate reduction? I thought changing the water got most of it. Thanks for the help.

Gravel vac will get the excess food and muck stuck in the gravel which would then reduce ammonia being produced and ultimately the nitrates increase. I usually change 50% of my water every week and vac my gravel once in 2 weeks. While the duration when my fishes were juvenile, I was feeding them more frequently daily and vacuuming gravel weekly. You will get a hang of it as you get more experienced

 

Gravel vac will get the excess food and muck stuck in the gravel which would then reduce ammonia being produced and ultimately the nitrates increase. I usually change 50% of my water every week and vac my gravel once in 2 weeks. While the duration when my fishes were juvenile, I was feeding them more frequently daily and vacuuming gravel weekly. You will get a hang of it as you get more experienced

I agree with him. I do 10 gallons of my 30 gallon tank so a 32% change weekly every Thursday. And I gravel vac weekly to keep the rocks clean. But that’s what works for me.

 

Oh, Is it bad if you always hydrovac to do water changes? Because that's what I do...lol. I never just take water out of the column, I feel it's a waste of a w/c when I could be getting all the brown gunk out of the bottom..

And to the OP. When you're testing your water/looking at your results. It helps me to think of it as a math problem. So, if you have nitrates at 40ppm (parts per million) in your 10G tank, than doing a 50% w/c SHOULD take the nitrates down to 20ppm. The next day lets say you're at 25ppm, (I don't recommend 2 50% w/c back to back...but I've heard it's been done just fine, as most of the BB stays in the filter media) If you were to do another 50% w/c, then the nitrates should be around 10-15ppm.

And when topping off the tank, remember that the waste chemicals (like nitrate) don't evaporate out so, If you test the water and the tank is missing 2 gallons but reads at 40ppm, you're still going to have 40ppm of nitrate in the tank even after you've topped off with 2 gallons of 'clean' water. (topping off doesn't actually dilute) If one were to continuously do this w/o changing the water, the nitrates/waste chemicals will rise exponentially.

And my answer to your initial question is...ehhh, noo, but 40ppm isn't horrible. So, nitrate should be in a range from 5-20 ppm to be considered 'healthy'. Nitrate isn't REALLY bad for fish like ammonia and nitrite are, but it could be the reason for the recent losses. I agree with everyone here, a larger water change may be called for. Plants will help with the nitrates a bit, but a w/c will work 10x better imo, especially if you already have plants in the tank (this means the current plants have already used w/e nitrate they can/are, and there is still nitrate in excess.)

Having high hardness isn't too 'bad' per se, it just means you may have a harder time keeping species that prefer softer water (like some species of tetra). 8.2 is pretty high, as fish usually live in a range between 6.0-8.0, do you have anything in the tank that would add to the hardness? like a specific kind of rock or decor?

MopanI wood (amonst other types) release tannins into the water, which can soften it over time. I wouldn't be too worried about the hardness though, usually the PH will drop as a tank matures. Basically, every time ammonia is added to the tank, the water becomes slightly more acidic, over time, this affects the PH. (My mom's goldfish tank did this, the ammonia was so high, her PH after 2 years dropped down to 6.0 whereas my newer [6month old] tank had a PH of 8.0 with 'clean' water coming from the same tap.- erm, essentially her tank had 'old tank syndrome' but nonetheless the PH dropped) Plus, the number for PH doesn't really matter as much as if it's staying the same. Stable PH is more important than the actual test reading of PH, If it was 7.4 last week and now its 8.2 this week, than i'd be concerned but otherwise I wouldn't worry.

Edit: I have 2 java ferns and a moss ball in my 2.6 gal. You could add more plants if you wanted, they can't really hurt the tank. When I first started, I had small swords (like melon swords-when I say small, I mean short) in my 10G. Anubias are good for beginners, and once you buy 1 and it starts growing, you can easily propigate them and have more. (I bought 1 anubias when I first started, Now I have like, 10 of them...from the 1 plant...Java ferns are the same way though so, if you wait it out you could have more Javas for free)

 

Oh, Is it bad if you always hydrovac to do water changes? Because that's what I do...lol. I never just take water out of the column, I feel it's a waste of a w/c when I could be getting all the brown gunk out of the bottom..

I gravel vac the tank when I do mine every week. Keeps my tank nice and clean and in control. I was told doing gravel cleaning was good to do with every water change. I was agreeing on the weekly water changes just not the bI weekly vacuums