high nitrates

[davidandliz]

i just tested my tank and the nitrate level is 20ppm.. its never been this high .. what should i do????

 

[tat2tillidie]

water change

 

[cdangel0]

And probably another water change.

Water changes are the only means of rapidly lowering your nitrates. Macro algae, DSP, or a plenum<sp? ken> are effective at keeping them from getting too high too quickly, but to get them down in a hurry do a water change.

Mind you, 20 ppm for a short time isn't going to do any serious damage.

 

[davidandliz]

thanks im in the process of doing a water change

 

[tom-annette]

Hi Dave & Liz,

You can also try using Algone. Just add it to your filter. It works great to lower nitrates. Good news, Premium Aquatics has it in stock

Tom

 

[davidandliz]

thanks tom-annette i was actually there yesterday to get some ideas as to what i could do in the future and saw the algone but wasnt sure how well it worked so i didnt get it. i replaced my carbon and nitrate remover cassettes and did a partial water change and everything seems good, but now that i know that stuff works ill pick some up just in case.

 

[davidandliz]

Do you know anything about cyano. we started getting it in our gal and used some drops for it and it worked the first time.. now its coming back and also when we set up our nano we have cyano in it also. i was told that the bacteria can build a resistance to the drops is there anything else i can do to get rid of it? Does it have anything to do with the nitrates becuase my nano levels are fine.

thanks
liz

 

[tat2tillidie]

CHEMICLEAN

 

[davidandliz]

thats what we used the first time, chemi clean, and now it doesnt work anymore.

 

[cdangel0]

ChemiClean is the quick answer, but necessarily the best answer.

Your levels will test fine, no nitrates, phosphates, but this is because the Cyano is using it up as fast as it's created so there is nothing left in the water column to test.

Frequent water changes, cut-back on feeding, and run a phosphate remover (polyfilter) and you should start to see it diminish. Hopefully you only have a little and can head it off. It is not an easy thing to get rid of naturally which is why there are chemicals like ChemiClean on the market.

I'm not knocking the chemical route, I've used it myself, it's just not the ideal way to treat it. I personally think it leave the system less stable. It is always best to treat the cause and not the result.

 

[davidandliz]

thanks alot. ... what about my new nano though.... the day after we started it up it already had cyano

 

[Jocephus]

kill the lights for three days, it'll go.