Still puzzled why my nitrate level is still so high

[Mookie]

I have tested my nitrate level and it's still showing 40ppm, I have just done a 50% wc yesterday and also added 100g of Purigen to my filter about 2 weeks ago. Last test was only last week and was showing 40ppm. Shouldn't the nitrate level have halved?

My tank is just about 30L of water and bioload is light. Just 8 tetras and 10 shrimps. Although I have a thick layer of aqua soil 8-9cm, could this be the problem?

[milk_vanilla]

Sometime i don't trust well the test kit accuracy, they just hobbies level. If your is planted tank, you should be happy with that nitrate level


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[Mookie]

Sometime i don't trust well the test kit accuracy, they just hobbies level. If your is planted tank, you should be happy with that nitrate level


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup it's a planted tank, but I'm still trying to pinpoint the reason why my RCS are dying off one by one.. Had about 25, and now left with 11 after 2 months. And they seem to be less active as well.

[milk_vanilla]

I don't keep rcs, mine is fire red and cherries. They keep breeding, but their population is keep up and down from time to time,

In my environment, they are losing the population if i disturb the soil in medium/major scale - ammonia leaking to water, i dumped lot of co2,or terror by the fishes.


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[Urban Aquaria]

I have tested my nitrate level and it's still showing 40ppm, I have just done a 50% wc yesterday and also added 100g of Purigen to my filter about 2 weeks ago. Last test was only last week and was showing 40ppm. Shouldn't the nitrate level have halved?

My tank is just about 30L of water and bioload is light. Just 8 tetras and 10 shrimps. Although I have a thick layer of aqua soil 8-9cm, could this be the problem?

Its possible the nitrates are just being generated faster than your water changes and Purigen can remove... probably it climbed up to 80ppm over a week (since your last test), then when you did the recent 50% water change, it halved back down to 40ppm.

Next round, maybe try testing in the water before and then immediately after the water change to see if it was effective in reducing the nitrate levels. Note that in some water supplies, the tap water has some nitrate content too so it'll affect the results.

The higher nitrate levels in your tank could be a combination of higher soil to water ratio (as you mentioned you have a relatively deep aquasoil substrate for the tank size, hence more nitrate build-up), and perhaps not enough fast growing plants to take up sufficient nitrates to keep the levels in check.

I guess you could plant more fast growing plants, crank up the Co2 to help the plants photosynthesize more (but still within safe levels for the livestock) and do more water changes to flush out the excess nitrates. Eventually the soil's nitrates will deplete and you'll see the levels decrease accordingly.

[Mookie]

Its possible the nitrates are just being generated faster than your water changes and Purigen can remove... probably it climbed up to 80ppm over a week (since your last test), then when you did the recent 50% water change, it halved back down to 40ppm.

Next round, maybe try testing in the water before and then immediately after the water change to see if it was effective in reducing the nitrate levels. Note that in some water supplies, the tap water has some nitrate content too so it'll affect the results.

The higher nitrate levels in your tank could be a combination of higher soil to water ratio (as you mentioned you have a relatively deep aquasoil substrate for the tank size, hence more nitrate build-up), and perhaps not enough fast growing plants to take up sufficient nitrates to keep the levels in check.

I guess you could plant more fast growing plants, crank up the Co2 to help the plants photosynthesize more (but still within safe levels for the livestock) and do more water changes to flush out the excess nitrates. Eventually the soil's nitrates will deplete and you'll see the levels decrease accordingly.

yeah pressure is mounting as shrimping dying off one by one. Seems like changing water doing more harm than good haha

[Urban Aquaria]

yeah pressure is mounting as shrimping dying off one by one. Seems like changing water doing more harm than good haha

Maybe do smaller water changes spread over a few days, like 10-20% water change every 2-3 days, it'll help avoid large swings in water parameters and allow the shrimps time to adapt.