Duff0712 Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Before you answer "do more water changes!" Know I have rarely ever had a nitrate problem in any of my tanks. I have been doing water changes weekly on my 12g for the last couple weeks but before I would mostly top off and did a wc monthly. So my problem is I have some extremely high nitrates. The test (api) quickly got to 40 and i discarded it before it finished and did a 50% water change. A week or so ago I noticed I started to have some hair algae again (had lights too close b4) and I found a couple snails a couple days ago that had fallen out of the tank, onto the stand and for kicks and giggles did the test. I'm not sure how they got so high. I'm seriously shocked at this and kinda pissed. I feed some Mk breed (super small amount) 2-3 times a week. I used to feed once a day and never had a problem. The tank is also extremely heavily planted. I can barely see all my shrimp anymore lol. I am using Ada Amazonia and the tank has been set up around 8 months. I put in some grape vine in the beginning and some random rocks. Is it possible the Amazonia is leaching something? I haven't kicked up any soil. I had some detritus in flame moss that I knocked loose but that's about it. Is it possible the grape vine is rotting? What do you guys think? It could be just lack of water changes but I also have a less planted, way more heavily stocked 37g with fish and shrimp that I feed a shit ton (Cyclopes/baby brine/Mk breed/sinking wafers) either every day or every other day. That tank has ~5 nitrates and it has only been set up for 3-4 months. I have done 1 water change on it, which is why I'm skeptical of my 12g. Oooo I also stopped dosing plant ferts awhile ago so it can't be excess dosing. Maybe I need to dose excel/potassium for the plants to more utilize the nitrates? Ugh this is frustrating. I'm going to do another 50% Sunday with room temp/remineralized water since the test was at 40 after the first change. Sorry for a novel. Just trying to spout ideas. What do you think? -Duffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrimpy Daddy Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Dirty filter and substrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyeGuy411 Posted August 7, 2015 Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Grape vine is not good in aquarium, it rots and could very well be your problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted August 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2015 Dirty filter and substrate. I clean the filter periodically (sponge and mini eheim) so I figure it probably not that. I don't however disturb the substrate at all so it could be build up. I might siphon some of the substrate on Sunday during the water change. Grape vine is not good in aquarium, it rots and could very well be your problem. Yeah, The vine seemed to be doing fine and looks cool haha. I think I will do another big wc on Sunday and do a smaller one every other day for the next week and then none for one. I will also not feed for this time. If my nitrates significantly creep back up I'm going to assume it's something I can't control (vine or deep substrate) and probably redo my tank. I've been meaning to redo, but I kinda like the unkept jungle look. -Duffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyana Posted August 8, 2015 Report Share Posted August 8, 2015 Not sure what is going on but purigen works wonders for me keeping nitrates at near zero. gillznglass 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor3737 Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 Water changes lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ElevateShrimp and Duff0712 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElevateShrimp Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 amazonia does leach ammonia I think, I've never used it but if it does leach it will be dosing nitrates at the end of the day. Also if you dose your plants with macros that will lower your nitrates faster (with appropriate light) Aennedry 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctaylor3737 Posted August 17, 2015 Report Share Posted August 17, 2015 More water changes Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff0712 Posted October 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2015 Just an update and new frustration haha. I got frustrated and completely redid my tank. I was doing more frequent water changes and the nitrate would still jump quickly even with little being fed. Something was off and I wanted to change it anyways. After the rescape I was actually having the same problem, even with weekly water changes yay! That was probably due to my failed experiment with neo shrimp, my ph is really low so it slowly killed them off . However, I have my nitrates under control again after some water changes and adding purigen to my mini filter I have in the tank. The still frustrating part though is after all this I had lost quite a few shrimp. I still have a couple larger breeding ready shrimp, but most of them are still really young and I know they aren't ready to breed, but I haven't had a baby shrimp in any of my tanks for the last 4-5 months... I haven't given up, but if I don't see any saddles or berries or babies once the shrimp I have are adults I think I'm going to give up on caridinas and just do neos. I haven't been having deaths that often (when I was having problems I had a ton of loss which sucked) so I am hopeful that they will breed when they get older! Params for my three tanks which house mainly TBs and some mischlings: Amm: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0-10 PH: =<6, 6.4 KH: 0 GH:5-6 (not 100% sure, but my test never goes above 6. I know TBs are best around 4, but even testing salty shrimp RODI mixed to 120 TDS I have never seen mine around 4) TDS: 130-140 Temp: 75-76 I REALLY REALLY wish I had tested every parameter when my Mischlings were breeding like crazy last November. I haven't given up yet, but god can this be frustrating. Soothing Shrimp 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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