Doing my head in - High nitrates

[fishmosy]

Highly possible. It seems weird though that a substrate would leach nitrate instead of ammonia. Maybe there is ammonia in the substrate but it is being converted to nitrate by your filter. I wonder how long it could continue to leach nitrate/ammonia?

 

[larrymull]

@fishmosy that is the question. I have also added an airstone to the tank too fyi.

[jayc]

2 hours ago, larrymull said:

I have put something in do reduce nitrates

Excellent.

What are you using?

 

It could be the ADA soil.

Only way to test it is to take a cup of it out and add RO water and test each day.

[larrymull]

1 minute ago, jayc said:

Excellent.

What are you using?

 

It could be the ADA soil.

Only way to test it is to take a cup of it out and add RO water and test each day.

some nitrate remover pad i was suggested to use by the aquarium, they have used it successfully before.

I won't worry about taking the soil out to test my number 1 priority is getting nitrates down. I'll report back maybe tonight.

[jayc]

30 minutes ago, larrymull said:

nitrate remover pad

Okie dokie. Well if you need to get more ... Macropore is the recommendation.

[perplex]

whats the main differences between Macropore and purigen?

 

i use purigen 24/7 just keep recharging it, it is the same thing kinda? just different brands?, i saw Macropore can be recharged with salt water, where pruigen is bleach

[jayc]

39 minutes ago, perplex said:

whats the main differences between Macropore and purigen?

The only difference is price as far as I know. Macropore is cheaper.

Macropore can be recharged with salt water, but bleach is more effective.

[perplex]

2 hours ago, jayc said:

The only difference is price as far as I know. Macropore is cheaper.

Macropore can be recharged with salt water, but bleach is more effective.

oh ok so guessing purigen can be recharged with salt water too then?

[jayc]

I think so.

When used in a Salt Water Marine tank - use bleach.

When used in a Freshwater tank - you can use bleach or strong saltwater. But bleach is more effective.

[salvanost]

rather than finding the cause, i would suggest reset the tank

the casualities would be more expensive than building new tank

 

and i don't understand why u got failed molting when the gh already 4

4 should be a good parameter

Edited December 10, 2015 by salvanost

[larrymull]

OK little update. Last night I did a 25% water change and came back with these figures this morning:-

6.2

0 ammonia

0 nitrite

20-40 nitrates

1 kh

6 gh

180 tds

 

From my eye the nitrate test colour has come down a bit, but obviously not enough for my liking. My next plan is to do another 25% water change tomorrow and then retest parameters about 6 hours later.

 

I will restest nitrates tonight again and see if there has been any movement. There has been no deaths since, but interestingly enough the YCS in the tank are not moulting and it has been a long time since i have seen them moult, especially the berried females.

 

@salvanost I have thought about a reset, but with a baby due any day now I don't really have the time to start again and devote too much time to it. 

 

[jayc]

Larry mate!

Stop mucking around with nitrate pads and water changes. They are not working fast enough.

Get the Macropore asap.

Here is a reference ... http://shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/topic/4431-nitrate-removal-product/#comment-68820

Dean himself used in on his tanks that measured 80 and after 3-4 days it was less than 5ppm.

Just saying ... 

 

[larrymull]

@jayc i hear you. I'll pick up some purigen or macropore on my way home. 

Thanks for the push.

[jayc]

8 hours ago, larrymull said:

Thanks for the push.

Just looking out for your shrimp first.

[Jo]

I've been having exactly the same problem with my tank for months now.  Thing is, there aren't that many shrimp deaths and there are berried females/successful juvies/moults.  If anything I worry that I don't feed the shrimp often enough.  I'm wondering if my test kit is wrong (I don't think it is as I've tested my other tank with it fine) or if I've managed to breed a super-hardy Taitibee colony. 

I'm going to add some more iron and potassium to see if that works, but (as you'd expect for a tank with high nitrates) my plants are looking super awesome and I'm going to need to do a big moss trim shortly.

My tank has been set up for nearly 3 years now, and it does use ADA soil.  I try to do a 15% water change every week, but it's a 440L tank so refilling is a massive chore and some weeks it gets missed.  The nitrates never used to be a problem, so I'm not sure if it's something that could have changed in the soil over time, or whether another product I've started adding has tipped the balance. (From memory, it'd be beta-glucans, biozyme, and occasionally blue exit - also used to use brighty K and green brighty step 3 but obviously haven't used those for a while).  I upped the lighting period a few weeks ago but that doesn't appear to have made any difference at all to the nitrate levels.

 

[larrymull]

14 hours ago, jayc said:

Just looking out for your shrimp first.

Lost another TB last night it had discolouration, never seen it before. I took a photo but for some reason iPhone didn't save it to the album...the discolouration was like an orange on a black tb.

[jayc]

3 minutes ago, larrymull said:

the discolouration was like an orange on a black tb

That means the shrimp has died for a while.

Dark coloured shrimp will change colour to orange after death as it looses it's pigmentation. 

 

Have you picked up some purigen or macropore yet?

Edited December 12, 2015 by jayc

[Jo]

I'm now also trying to source some macropore or purigen this weekend, but I'm having trouble finding any.  All the online stores mentioned appear to be sold out, and none of my local (Melbourne) aquarium stores carry it.  One did recommend continuum powercleanse XL instead, has anyone trialed this with shrimp and compared the performance to macropore?

[larrymull]

1 hour ago, jayc said:

That means the shrimp has died for a while.

Dark coloured shrimp will change colour to orange after death as it looses it's pigmentation. 

 

Have you picked up some purigen or macropore yet?

Ordered from the tech den, already posted hopefully get it on Monday.

just went to an aquarium and tested the water all the same readings as I get, except nitrates between 10-20.

the shrimp would have been dead for a max 14 hours as I checked before I went to bed last night and all good.

41 minutes ago, Jo said:

I'm now also trying to source some macropore or purigen this weekend, but I'm having trouble finding any.  All the online stores mentioned appear to be sold out, and none of my local (Melbourne) aquarium stores carry it.  One did recommend continuum powercleanse XL instead, has anyone trialed this with shrimp and compared the performance to macropore?

I got it from the tech den, suggest buying it from there.

Edited December 12, 2015 by larrymull

[perplex]

10-20 isnt to bad, its getting better from what it was, couple more daily water changes and it might be ok, just do daily tests to keep an eye on it

[larrymull]

35 minutes ago, perplex said:

10-20 isnt to bad, its getting better from what it was, couple more daily water changes and it might be ok, just do daily tests to keep an eye on it

Thanks mate, will do.

[Jo]

6 hours ago, larrymull said:

I got it from the tech den, suggest buying it from there.

I swear I checked their site earlier and it was all sold out.  Maybe I was hallucinating?!

I found some in a local hydroponic store, so tested the nitrate one more time and then added it in (tonight I've just hung it in front of my powerhead, tomorrow I'll put it in the filter).  Looking forward to seeing what the results are. 

[perplex]

Just now, Jo said:

I swear I checked their site earlier and it was all sold out.  Maybe I was hallucinating?!

I found some in a local hydroponic store, so tested the nitrate one more time and then added it in (tonight I've just hung it in front of my powerhead, tomorrow I'll put it in the filter).  Looking forward to seeing what the results are. 

yea let us know!

[larrymull]

I added the macropore in to the tank s couple of days ago @jayc is it ok if it sits in the filter?

[perplex]

i have mine in the filter, as long as it in a bag