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Afi Tests - False Readings? High Nitrates


duh duh duh
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Tank in balance for years. Bought new food (NLS Flake and NLS Pellet). Intersperse with algea pellet for the pleco and algae eater once a week. Frozen food once a week.

Had an issue with my water chemistry a few weeks ago - low PH and high nitrates. Have black algae as well. Got the ph sorted out and have done water changes every few days since - 3+ weeks ago. Each water change is about 20 to 25%. one change had to be close to 50%. Nitrates levels are not dropping.

Black sand substrate. Not planted until after the chemistry issues.

Other changes I made:

Changed chemipure media in my cannister filter

stopped feeding flake food (now when I feed all of the pellets are gone within 30 to 45 seconds. maybe one or two will hit the bottom. Not quite sure what the bottom feeders are eating these days)

added some plants

Just tested again tonight and the nitrates are still way high (like 40+) according to the AFI measurement kit.

Im wondering if i'm screwing the test up some how, or if there is a better test kit for nitrates out there.

Otherwise, i'm all ears for solutions.

Should I change half of my bio filter media?

Should I toss out the filter sponges and go with new ones?

Should I be taking a stick and stirring up the sand?

Edited by duh duh duh
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Not sure why but a cheap plant like duckweed or hornwort would take care of that nitrate real quick. Don't do anything you said at the bottom the only thing that will reduce nitrates besides live plants is water changes. Unless you have that specific set up for the nitrate bacteria to grow (lava rock pvc pipe set up I doubt you have much of it growing in your tank if you have high nitrate). So if a 50 % water change every 3-4 days doesn't take care of them I'd say your messing the test up. Don't change any filter media you'll just mess with yer ammonia and nitrite bacteria that way. I also wouldn't change more than 10-20 % water a day until the levels go down. Large water changes anything over 50% once a week can mess with your balance as well and should be avoided. For now if your worried about it just dose some prime after a 20 % water change.

Edited by Percilus
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A well established tank with high nitrates says to me that something big died and is rotting. It's not big enough for the biofilter not to handle it (unless you're also getting ammonia and/or nitrite readings), but big enough to continue to drive the nitrates up.

Just from your description, I'm inclined to think the test kit is faulty. If it's old, get a new one; if not, take a sample into the LFS and get them to confirm (or borrow a kit from a friend).

Unless you have very sensitive fish, 50%+ WCs are not a bad thing. I change 50-60% on my Tropheus tank every week, and they're happy as clams. Heck, I've been doing 50% WCs on just about all of my tanks for years. That being said, if you're using buckets to do your WCs, 50% is a lot of work, and can be overkill - IMO, it's not necessary if your nitrates are <20.

Get confirmation on your readings fom another kit; if your nitrates are infact high and climbing, find that dead fish or pile of rotten food and take it out; once it's removed a 50% WC should reset the tank and you can go back to normal.

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