Matthew savant
New Member
My tank has finished cycling about two weeks ago and I finally got to plant it on Saturday. My water parameters have been normal post cycling and pre-planting, I last tested my tank the day after planting it and everything was good (no ammonia, no nitrites and very low nitrates) but I tested it today and the nitrates were through the roof…I don’t The exact number , I use the API master test kit and when it turns red it’s at least 40ppm (possibly close to 80)
I haven’t added or changed anything other than plants, ferts and a second light. The only non-plant living creature in my tank at the moment is 1 black Molly which I used to cycle the tank( I wasn’t aware of Fishless cycling until after I started so I did it the old school way because that’s all I knew) I don’t over feed, literally 1-2 flakes every 4-5 days, so it’s definitely not from excessive fish food.
Attached is a pic of my tank as of yesterday.
The water has been very clear since adding plants, before planting it was slightly cloudy I assume due to my substrate (a mix of Fluval stratum and eco-complete) but it cleared up nicely though I am dealing with some diatoms which I think is just part of the growing pains of a new tank(?)
Anyways it was back to being slightly cloudy today which is what prompted the testing today as opposed to on the weekend when I normally do it.
When I tested the tank today it was: ammonia 0, nitrites .25, nitrates 40-80
So the nitrites went up a little as well.
I did a massive water change, maybe a little more that 50% and then tested a couple hours after and it read: ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates maybe 40 (still very red on the test)
I was thinking I would do 25% or so water changes everyday until the nitrate levels are low, do you think that’s a good solution?
Additionally what could have possibly caused this?? I know I’m not over feeding I know I’m not overstocked (with only 1 single fish) and I am diligent with maintenance, 40% water change once a week, change the filter media every couple of weeks etc. for filtration I have 2 HOB filters, 1 has only bio-balls and bio-cylinders in it that one I never touch or clean to handle the beneficial bacteria and the second HOB filter is filled with polyfill, that one I change most off every couple weeks as it becomes visibly dirty and I rinse out some of it in tank water. Today I replaced along with doing the massive water change.
I don’t know what else to do nor do I know why this happened. My main theory is that it’s due to a large amount of decaying plant matter from adding so many plants, though I’ve scooped out all of the floating plant matter I can get to I’m sure there’s some random leaves/stems etc mixed in with the planted plants that I can’t see or get to. Other than that maybe it’s something with the ferts? I added a bunch of root tabs before planting and dose daily with GPA dry ferts using the PPS system.
I really am banging my head against the wall trying to get to the bottom of this, should I be freaking out or is this to be expected?
I was going to wait about a month for everything to grow in and then start slowly stocking my tank (shrimp, sparkling gouramis, cobra danios) but I don’t want to stock with anything until I figure this out.
So what do you guys think? Any advice and recommendations would be helpful.
I haven’t added or changed anything other than plants, ferts and a second light. The only non-plant living creature in my tank at the moment is 1 black Molly which I used to cycle the tank( I wasn’t aware of Fishless cycling until after I started so I did it the old school way because that’s all I knew) I don’t over feed, literally 1-2 flakes every 4-5 days, so it’s definitely not from excessive fish food.
Attached is a pic of my tank as of yesterday.
The water has been very clear since adding plants, before planting it was slightly cloudy I assume due to my substrate (a mix of Fluval stratum and eco-complete) but it cleared up nicely though I am dealing with some diatoms which I think is just part of the growing pains of a new tank(?)
Anyways it was back to being slightly cloudy today which is what prompted the testing today as opposed to on the weekend when I normally do it.
When I tested the tank today it was: ammonia 0, nitrites .25, nitrates 40-80
So the nitrites went up a little as well.
I did a massive water change, maybe a little more that 50% and then tested a couple hours after and it read: ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates maybe 40 (still very red on the test)
I was thinking I would do 25% or so water changes everyday until the nitrate levels are low, do you think that’s a good solution?
Additionally what could have possibly caused this?? I know I’m not over feeding I know I’m not overstocked (with only 1 single fish) and I am diligent with maintenance, 40% water change once a week, change the filter media every couple of weeks etc. for filtration I have 2 HOB filters, 1 has only bio-balls and bio-cylinders in it that one I never touch or clean to handle the beneficial bacteria and the second HOB filter is filled with polyfill, that one I change most off every couple weeks as it becomes visibly dirty and I rinse out some of it in tank water. Today I replaced along with doing the massive water change.
I don’t know what else to do nor do I know why this happened. My main theory is that it’s due to a large amount of decaying plant matter from adding so many plants, though I’ve scooped out all of the floating plant matter I can get to I’m sure there’s some random leaves/stems etc mixed in with the planted plants that I can’t see or get to. Other than that maybe it’s something with the ferts? I added a bunch of root tabs before planting and dose daily with GPA dry ferts using the PPS system.
I really am banging my head against the wall trying to get to the bottom of this, should I be freaking out or is this to be expected?
I was going to wait about a month for everything to grow in and then start slowly stocking my tank (shrimp, sparkling gouramis, cobra danios) but I don’t want to stock with anything until I figure this out.
So what do you guys think? Any advice and recommendations would be helpful.