Nitrates still high after water change

[csmock]

Good morning everyone!

I did a water change last Friday. I swapped out 30g from my 65g tank. I did a test reading today, and my ammonia and Nitrites are at 0, so my cycle appears to still be OK, but my Nitrates appear to be really high still. (>40ppm) Doesn't look like they changed at all from prior to the water change. I would assume they should have dropped 50%.

What could be the cause of this? I have a Fluval 405 cannister filter. I rinsed out the large sponges in the tank water that I siphoned out. I have not rinsed any of the other media during my water changes. Should I be doing that as well? The chamber with the cermaic "tubes" has quite a bit of stuff in it (looks like strings of something). I didn't want to rinse out any of those chambers and risk harming the bacteria that has grown in there, but maybe I am supposed to do that.

I know I was probably overfeeding a bit, but have tried to vacuum the substrate really good when I do the water changes in case there is any old food lingering about.

Any other thoughts on what would cause the nitrates to be so high after a 50% water change?

[Lotsapetsgarfhts]

Just continue to monitor the ammonia. I would suggest only doing 10 to 30% water changes. Even though you are using a canister filter the entire aquarium is alive and you may be setting it back. How long has the tank been up? A 65 gallon tank can take a long time to cycle especially if you don't let it.

[csmock]

The tank has been running for 8 weeks now. It has had 0 Ammonia and Nitrites for about 4 weeks.

I usually do 15g water change each week, but doubled it to 30g this week when I saw my Nitrates were creeping up.

[deeda]

I think you are fine with 50% water changes, especially since your tank is cycled.

You can rinse out the hard media in your filter using tank water with no problem. Just don't be too vigorous, you are just looking to get rid of the debris.

Have you checked your tap water for a nitrate reading?

[Kyle May]

Here are three steps that will help you eliminate your nitrite problems:

1) Dry the test kit thoroughly
2) Pack it back into it's original container
3) Toss it in the garbage

Problem solved.
Monitoring your tank this close will only make you crazy.
Unless your tank is:

#1 severely overstocked
#2 very small - less than 30 gallons
#3 you are a serial over-feeder

Then you shouldn't have Nitrite worries.
Doing 25% water changes weekly or even bi-weekly should keep your water in fine shape.

Why don't you post a picture of this tank up here so I can see it?
Maybe I can tell what's wrong...wanna bet?

Kyle

PS: describe to me what your water smells like.

[Kyle May]

Some random thoughts on tank cycling.

Your tank is never done cycling....it's not like you do it once and it's done forever.
When you cycle, what you are actually doing is establishing a healthy bacteria colony in the tank that
has the ability to slow down the rise of pollution within the tank. You can never achieve
a total balance, which is why we water change. Not only do water changes recharge some of
the trace elements within the tank, but water changes are necessary to dilute the amount of
toxic chemistry in the tank and keep it down to a level that won't kill the fish. You can aid this process
by having adequate water movement at the tanks surface which will facilitate the exchange of good & bad gases
within the tank.

Back to the cycling. Your tank will actually have a mini-cycle every time you have a change in the bio-load within the tank.
If you add more fish to your community, you add bi- load and the ammonia, nitrate, nitrite cycle will occur again. Maybe not
to the scale you see with the initial cycle, but you'll see a bump in your numbers. Wanna bump the numbers on purpose?
Just toss a hand full of flake food into the tank that's larger than the inhabitants can consume, then wait a couple of days, then test.

Keeping filters too clean can destroy the bacteria colony too, so that can help bump the numbers, as can gravel washing, which is why
you should never gravel wash more than half your tank at a time. Loss of power in the aquarium can cause a re-cycle too if the bacteria expire.
That's why we water change during power outages...tap water spilling into the tank will help oxygenate the aquarium, especially if you use cold water.
BTW.....for those of us who think they are experience aquarists....who's got a generator? You've got hundreds invested in your fish. Have you ever thought
about going to a discount tool store such as Harbor Freight and spending $150 on a generator in case you lose power? It's an easy sell to your non-fish loving spouse.
You can always get it to keep the fridge cold and the tv on. I'm just saying.

The bottom line is not to spend too much money on test kits, nor too much time worrying about the cycle or nitrite levels. Fish can handle higher nitrite levels
than ammonia or nitrate. We've all lost fish due to bad water for one reason or another, but I've never heard anyone claim to be losing fish due to nitrite.

Kyle "non-test kit owning" May

[csmock]

Thanks for the info, Kyle.

My Nitrites are fine... it is the Nitrates that seem high, even after a water change.

There isn't any noticeable smell from the water.

Here is my tank. I have since added some more rocks to it, but had this one on my phone.

[Lotsapetsgarfhts]

Kyle, I agree for the most part. I have never owned a Nitrate/Nitrite test kit for freshwater. I do keep a hardness, Ph, and Ammonia kit around. The first 2 are because I keep so many soft water fish and I need to check to see where the values are when I mix RO and tapwater. The ammonia kit will give me a quick look at the water quality if I see a problem suddenly. The first thing I will usually do is a water change after a quick check for ich or bacterial problems, but recently for some reason I had an ammonia spike in a tank and it was high. I had cleaned the box filters too good and changed too much water. You are also right about smelling the water, a healthy tank has very little odor.

As far as over crowding goes watch for an article I'm working on for the club magazine the title will be something like "Funny Stuff I've Seen and Done That is too Stupid to Mape up".

Your tank appears to be fine...

[Kyle May]

John...that sounds like a great article....I can't wait to read.
The best articles come from the experience of club members....it was one
of my regrets as Bulletin Editor..not enough member content.

Kyle

[Kyle May]

Sorry...csmock...I think I've got Nitrites and Nitrates backwards in my post.
Nice tank by the way...very cool background too.

Kyle

[Ken Grimmett]

The nose works well - filter media should smell like dirt if anything.

Frank Mueller pointed this out to me and I found it out to be true - filter carbon meterial will absorb impurities and works like advertised - the however is - when the problem cause is resolved - the carbon will release what it has absorbed back into the water slowly.

So I use carbon to treat and "polish" but I remove and replace it after a day. I keep doing this until levels get back to norm.

I don't test very much - but - I do know what my well water has in it and how my tanks should read. This way if I see fish acting funny - like - dying - I test and react.

Just don't live by testing - for one thing some of those testing chemicals do require rubber gloves.