saltman123
New member
I have a 12 gallon aquapod all-in-one style tank that's been running almost 8 years. I let things get pretty hair for a while, but am back doing water changes regularly, changing filter floss every day or two, etc.
I finally got a new test kit and my water parameters show between 10-20ppm for Nitrates. I changed the water about a week ago.
The tank about 3 water changes back had lots of hair algae growing and I was changing water far less than I should have. Now that I am doing weekly water changes should the nitrates be dropping naturally? Can something else be causing the nitrates to say high?
I have a back of live rock rubble in one of the rear chambers. I also have a sand bed that I do not vacuum, but I have a clean up crew of snails that has been stirring it around the past 2 weeks or so.
I realize Nitrates are the end product of the ammonia/nitrite cycle, and you get rid of them with water changes. Just not sure how fast and how high they should be jumping up.
What is a good way to go about removing nitrates (Or keeping them down), and then tracking to see if it is helping? Should I do a series of 50% water changes and then test a few days after to see if they are staying low or spiking back up?
I finally got a new test kit and my water parameters show between 10-20ppm for Nitrates. I changed the water about a week ago.
The tank about 3 water changes back had lots of hair algae growing and I was changing water far less than I should have. Now that I am doing weekly water changes should the nitrates be dropping naturally? Can something else be causing the nitrates to say high?
I have a back of live rock rubble in one of the rear chambers. I also have a sand bed that I do not vacuum, but I have a clean up crew of snails that has been stirring it around the past 2 weeks or so.
I realize Nitrates are the end product of the ammonia/nitrite cycle, and you get rid of them with water changes. Just not sure how fast and how high they should be jumping up.
What is a good way to go about removing nitrates (Or keeping them down), and then tracking to see if it is helping? Should I do a series of 50% water changes and then test a few days after to see if they are staying low or spiking back up?
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