Nitrates won't go down. Numerous water changes in a single day. Over 100% change.

Today I tested nitrates and they were at above 40ppm. The test read RED. I did a 50% water change, tested, same result. Waited 4 hours. Did another 50%, tested, RED STILL. 5 minutes later, did another 30%, STILL HIGH NITRATES. I'm actually baffled. How is this possible? My tap water has about 5ppm in it. I used Seachem Safe which removes ammonia, is it converting the ammonia to nitrates? I'm so annoyed, my fish are clearly on edge and skittish from the high nitrates. Don't even ask about my stocking, after all those water changes the nitrates should be at like 10ppm. It's a 29 gallon planted tank might I add.

 

Are you using a vial test or strips? I'm not super familiar with Seachem Safe, so I could be wrong here, but I wonder if it's somehow interfering with the nitrate test. I know it detoxifies nitrate so it could be possible. Could you try treating some fresh tap water with it and seeing if it produces similar results?

After all those water changes and in a planted tank, I would at this point consider whether the test itself is messed up. Nitrates so high that several water changes haven't even touched it would have probably killed or at least severely sickened your fish by now.

 

Are you using a vial test or strips? I'm not super familiar with Seachem Safe, so I could be wrong here, but I wonder if it's somehow interfering with the nitrate test. I know it detoxifies nitrate so it could be possible. Could you try treating some fresh tap water with it and seeing if it produces similar results?

After all those water changes and in a planted tank, I would at this point consider whether the test itself is messed up. Nitrates so high that several water changes haven't even touched it would have probably killed or at least severely sickened your fish by now.

Yeah, i'm thinking the same thing. Super annoyed. May have to purchase new nitrate test but i'm going to mess with the testing a little more and see what's going on. Maybe the test is false. Its liquid by the way.

 

Nitrate isn't toxic to fish until it's in the thousands.

Nitrate tests using the cadmium (and probably zinc) reduction methods don't work very well.

I don't even bother testing nitrate nor does Diana Walstad.

Seachem says Prime/Safe detoxify nitrite/nitrate but tests can still detect it. Despite their claims, Prime/Safe do not detoxify nitrite/nitrate. Many professional chemists have stated that it is simply impossible.

Safe's recommended dosage only neutralizes 0.52 mg/L chloramine in my tap water. Large water changes using only the recommended dosage can expose fish to dangerous levels of chlorine/chloramine.

 

Check the nitrates in your tap water.

 

Ive got a 1-kilo bottle of Seachem Safe and a ziploc bag of Sodium Thiosulfate. It's a lot more economical than Prime and my supply will last a long long time for me.

I double the recommended dose (or more) that the labels advise. Knowing our municipal water department, they probably use more chlorinators than the national average.

aidanfish2002 , do you have gravel or sand?

 

Check the nitrates in your tap water.

They stated in the original post that their tap water only has 5ppm nitrate.

 

That’s funny. I can’t even get my 75 gallon planted tank to show any nitrates. I added half a bottle of sea hem nitrogen and nothing. I then switched to thrive and added twice what I should have a week later and no nitrates still.

I would tank tank water at 1 ml and add 4 ml of tap water then test nitrates. If it’s below 5ppm do it the other way around. You need to get an idea of what your nitrates are. Seems weird to me.

 

They stated in the original post that their tap water only has 5ppm nitrate.

Ahh sorry I'm an idiot.

Pull a 2.5 ml sample from the tank, add 2.5 ml of tap water and run the same test. It's possible you have so many nitrates in your tank your test is getting pinned.

That’s funny. I can’t even get my 75 gallon planted tank to show any nitrates. I added half a bottle of sea hem nitrogen and nothing. I then switched to thrive and added twice what I should have a week later and no nitrates still.

I would tank tank water at 1 ml and add 4 ml of tap water then test nitrates. If it’s below 5ppm do it the other way around. You need to get an idea of what your nitrates are. Seems weird to me.

Ahh sorry didn't see your reply before I posted mine, same idea, love it.

 

I forgot to mention that mention that using 6.2 times the recommended dose of Safe will neutralize the same amount of chlorine as Prime.

By some strange coincidence, this is the same amount as the old recommended dose for Safe.

Also, if you look at their recommended doses for neutralizing bleach after regenerating Purigen, it's 16 g of Safe or 4 tablespoons of Prime. In another incredibly odd coincidence, that's almost the same ratio.

Edit: this makes Safe only 3 times more cost effective than Prime vs. ~20 times.

 

Yep, from what I recall when I first bought the bottle of Safe (dont quote me, I could be wrong) their standard dose of 1/4 tsp per 300 gallons only treats 1-1.25ppm of chlorine and chloramines, where municipal water supplies can have up to 4ppm according to the EPA.

 

Check the nitrates in your tap water.

The nitrates are low.

They stated in the original post that their tap water only has 5ppm nitrate.

It actually has EVEN lower than that.

Ive got a 1-kilo bottle of Seachem Safe and a ziploc bag of Sodium Thiosulfate. It's a lot more economical than Prime and my supply will last a long long time for me.

I double the recommended dose (or more) that the labels advise. Knowing our municipal water department, they probably use more chlorinators than the national average.

aidanfish2002 , do you have gravel or sand?

I double dose also. Yes, I use gravel and Seachem Flourite. When you put tap water into a bucket you can actually smell the chlorine. What I do is I put the water into a 5 gallon jug, treat the water with safe and then cap it and shake it for 30 seconds. Then smell it and the chlorine smell will be gone or a lot less. Chlorine usually takes a few minutes to completely be gone with safe and prime, I find.

 

I assume you are using the API Nitrate liquid based test kit. This kit is notorious for giving bad results if reagent bottle #2 is not shaken vigorously enough. Bottle #2 has crystals suspended in solution and these crystals tend to drop out of suspension and clump together at the bottom of the bottle. If not shaken/beaten hard enough to break up and re-suspend the crystals, you'll get a bad reading. I also wonder if bottle #2 was used for a prolonged amount of time with the crystal clumped up at the bottom, if after finally getting them broken up and re-suspended, if you will also get a bad result due to having too high a crystal to solution ratio.

Also, make sure you are reading your results 5 minutes after shaking testing. If you wait longer the color will just keep getting redder, but the result at the 5 minute mark is the correct result.

Lastly, many people have a very difficult time telling the colors of the API Nitrate test apart (I know I do), so you may want to get a second opinion.

 

Today I tested nitrates and they were at above 40ppm. The test read RED. I did a 50% water change, tested, same result. Waited 4 hours. Did another 50%, tested, RED STILL. 5 minutes later, did another 30%, STILL HIGH NITRATES. I'm actually baffled. How is this possible? My tap water has about 5ppm in it. I used Seachem Safe which removes ammonia, is it converting the ammonia to nitrates? I'm so annoyed, my fish are clearly on edge and skittish from the high nitrates. Don't even ask about my stocking, after all those water changes the nitrates should be at like 10ppm. It's a 29 gallon planted tank might I add.

Hello aid...

I don't think your nitrates are too high unless you have rare fish. This level is really on the higher end of the safe zone, but still acceptable. Most fish you get from the local pet store will adapt to most public water supplies as long as the water chemistry is stable. A small tank needs half the water changed every few days. If you do this, the water chemistry will be constant and you'll have no tank problems.

I wouldn't use any chemicals other than a water treatment. Seachem's "Safe" is likely the best product available. This is the only chemical that should go into the tank water.

Old

 

I assume you are using the API Nitrate liquid based test kit. This kit is notorious for giving bad results if reagent bottle #2 is not shaken vigorously enough. Bottle #2 has crystals suspended in solution and these crystals tend to drop out of suspension and clump together at the bottom of the bottle. If not shaken/beaten hard enough to break up and re-suspend the crystals, you'll get a bad reading. I also wonder if bottle #2 was used for a prolonged amount of time with the crystal clumped up at the bottom, if after finally getting them broken up and re-suspended, if you will also get a bad result due to having too high a crystal to solution ratio.

Also, make sure you are reading your results 5 minutes after shaking testing. If you wait longer the color will just keep getting redder, but the result at the 5 minute mark is the correct result.

Lastly, many people have a very difficult time telling the colors of the API Nitrate test apart (I know I do), so you may want to get a second opinion.

Wow this is exactly what i've noticed. The solution would get redder and redder. I usually shake the bottle #2 pretty well. I will shake it even more now just in case.