Nitrate levels
Nitrate levels
Anybody knows how to lower the nitrate levels in a tank? Here is the situation: I got to overfeed as some of my plecs are very "healthy" and fast eaters and I need to ensure there is food for all. Water changes: 25% weekly. Tank size: 1200 litres. Nitrate levels: 40-60 ppm. I got a sulphur nitrate removal system on but its kinda slow (it does 5 litres per hour). I was told the usual available raisins release phenol in the water, which is highly toxic for the fish, so I would rather not use these. Any other ideas? Thanks
You're making this too hard on yourself. If you have to overfeed the tank, just do more water changes. You could change 40% safely, and if you do it twice a week, you would have a much better handle on the increasing organics load in the tank. I don't ever recommend dumping in something out of a bottle when plain old maintenance will do it. The main problem I see is that if you're truly feeding that much, you're also risking overloading the bacterial bed in the filter at some point and having an ammonia spike.
Barbie
Barbie
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Barbie agree with you on the main but here is the situation. I am in an interim period right now. I got rid of two tanks and I only have the 9 foot one. There is about 50 plecs in it ranging from L25s to zebras and queens. They have all been with me for a couple of years at least (except for the 3 little zebs I got recently on ebay). They are various sizes (from 1 inch to 12 inches) and some are really shy, as opposed to others who could bite my hand off to snatch the food! In about 6 months I am starting a species breeding tank for the zebs - I am just waiting to build up my colony and get them used to Manchester weather 
. Then in two years I am hoping to have a proper fish house with bigger tanks to house the bigger species and smaller breeding tanks for the others. In the meantime I need to ensure that there is no fighting in there and that everybody gets enough food. I have noticed this can easily be achieved if I overfeed slightly (in addition, its a pleasure to watch a little zebra "pushing" a much bigger Acanthicus Adonis to get to a piece of prawn - and the Adonis to move away from the food ) - so I overfeed 
The plecs know each other - I had almost each one of them from a young age, and some were born in my tanks; they grew up together and its a very good community (on the main). However, if there is a food shortage, I am sure there will be problems. Thats the background. I am not worried about an ammonia peak at present as the tank is build to commercial specs and the filter is a big massive one they use to support commercial aquaria housing hundreds of fish. There is also a UV sterilizer and an ozoniser on the tank to avoid problems with waste bacteria build-up. In addition, I religiously syphon the substrate and change 25% weekly. But nitrate is a concern! I will try more frequent changes - if that is the only option, but I was wondering if that was safe as most of the reviews I read maintain its safer for the fish to do small regular changes (about 10%-25% weekly max). My main concern is to ensure I don't upset the balance in the tank or stress the fish out!
. Then in two years I am hoping to have a proper fish house with bigger tanks to house the bigger species and smaller breeding tanks for the others. In the meantime I need to ensure that there is no fighting in there and that everybody gets enough food. I have noticed this can easily be achieved if I overfeed slightly (in addition, its a pleasure to watch a little zebra "pushing" a much bigger Acanthicus Adonis to get to a piece of prawn - and the Adonis to move away from the food ) - so I overfeed The plecs know each other - I had almost each one of them from a young age, and some were born in my tanks; they grew up together and its a very good community (on the main). However, if there is a food shortage, I am sure there will be problems. Thats the background. I am not worried about an ammonia peak at present as the tank is build to commercial specs and the filter is a big massive one they use to support commercial aquaria housing hundreds of fish. There is also a UV sterilizer and an ozoniser on the tank to avoid problems with waste bacteria build-up. In addition, I religiously syphon the substrate and change 25% weekly. But nitrate is a concern! I will try more frequent changes - if that is the only option, but I was wondering if that was safe as most of the reviews I read maintain its safer for the fish to do small regular changes (about 10%-25% weekly max). My main concern is to ensure I don't upset the balance in the tank or stress the fish out!Quite a set-up you have Caesars! Would love to see any pictures of it.
As far as the nitrate, you've already hit on what you have to do. Cut down on the feeding and or increase the water changes. I find the more regular I make water changes the more comfortable the fish become with it.
One word of caution. In my experience Zebras really suffer at feeding time in terms of being out-competed for food. Worth considering moving them to a smaller tank in the interim if you have one available.
Cheers
As far as the nitrate, you've already hit on what you have to do. Cut down on the feeding and or increase the water changes. I find the more regular I make water changes the more comfortable the fish become with it.
One word of caution. In my experience Zebras really suffer at feeding time in terms of being out-competed for food. Worth considering moving them to a smaller tank in the interim if you have one available.
Cheers
Having spend the last two hour taking pictures of my tank and fish, I got a question to ask you Tom: How do I post an image here? BTW thanks to all for the nitrate advice, I will try more frequent changes as this seems to be the verdict so far. I also emailed Seachem to ask them about Matrix. I have used Purigen before and it was really good. Has anybody used Matrix? (they did say however that it may leak sulphates in the water, which I am not very happy about ...)
Hi Caesars,
With regards to posting pictures you will require web space that you can upload your pictures to, you can then link to these pictures in any subsequent posts. If you have a DSL(broadband) connection your ISP(internet service provider) may have given you some web space as part of their package. Failing that you can use a free image hosting site such as photobucket: http://photobucket.com/
Give me a shout if you get stuck.
Adam
With regards to posting pictures you will require web space that you can upload your pictures to, you can then link to these pictures in any subsequent posts. If you have a DSL(broadband) connection your ISP(internet service provider) may have given you some web space as part of their package. Failing that you can use a free image hosting site such as photobucket: http://photobucket.com/
Give me a shout if you get stuck.
Adam
Glad you like it Adam - I am at present saving for an extention because I want ---- are you sitting ??? ---- a 15000 littres fish house in a couple of years. The plan is to try pair and breed the biggies. Anyway, you know now why I got nitrate And on this note, its 1.23 am in Manchester and I am working tomorrow, so gn all, have fun!
