high nitrates

[fish_r]

my discus in my bigger tank are breathing hard so i thought i better do some tests and every thing was good except my nitrates are very high @ 20-40ppm.
i dont use any buffers/chemicals except for prime, how do i lower my nitrates, other than doing water changes, i do 30% water changes twice a week. high nitrates means i'm over stocked right ?
thx
Rob...

[samir]

put a couple of plants in, if you haven't any. a nitrate filter is also an option

[FishLover]

I would find out the reason why nitrates are so high. It can't be good for your discus.

How many discus in the tank? How big are they and how big is the tank? How much do you feed them?

You may also want to find out how much nitrates in your tap water.

These are the contribute factors I can think of.

[taksan]

, how do i lower my nitrates, other than doing water changes,
thx
Rob...


You don't

You do bigger more frequent WC's if your overstocked 30% twice a week isn't much
As you the breathing are you sure you don't have lack of DO? Got a airstone in there?

[fish_r]

thx for the reply...
the tank is heavily stocked with plants already, never really had any problems with nitrate b4, just the last few days.
the tank is 5 foot approx 72g, i think i'm a bit over stocked, i have 6 discus in there, approx 15 harlequin rasbora, approx 20 cardinals, 10 rummy nose, 3 SAE, 5 BN's, 2 small clowns and 1 pakastani loach and 5 julii cory's.
i feed twice a day, usually 3 frozen cubes morning 4 x frozen cubes night, + flake food @ each feed, food is usually gone with in 15 mins or so.
will test the nitrates of the tap water today...


You don't
You do bigger more frequent WC's if your overstocked 30% twice a week isn't much
As you the breathing are you sure you don't have lack of DO? Got a airstone in there?
looks like i'll have to start doing water changes every second day and c how that goes...
did about a 40% water change last night and they seem to be breathing better today. acording to the kH and pH i am running at a safe level of co2
approx 25-30ppm. i dont really want to run an airstone if i can help it cause it's a planted tank and an airstone wont help with co2, but maybe another thing i will have to do, i would rather my fish are happy than my plants.. hmmm maybe time to go bare bottom in this tank..

i also just bought some Nitra-Zorb and going to give that a go ?
anyone used this and is it ok ???
thx again guys :)

[axl]

run a airstone on a timer when the lights go off. This means that they will be getting oxygen while your co2 is not on. Good for your fish