nitrate very high

[jim from sydney]

the nitrate level has gone very high...higher than 110mg/l...some plants' leaves are curling up at the ends......i have made a 30% water change..this is in a non-discus tank....all other parameters are fine.......is this enough or what else to do?????Jim

[Merrilyn]

Jim, a good clean and gravel vac and keep changing about 20% of that water each day till you get those nitrate levels down.

For a non discus tank, you should be looking at about 20. The plants will remove some nitrates from the water, but the rest has to be removed by water changes.

What's your normal water changing routine on this tank?

[Proteus]

on top of what Merrilyn has suggested, do a Nitrate test on the new water (about to go into the tank).

It may sound silly, but there are some crazy things going on with Sydney water atm. (quite often you get a high phosphates reading from the tap in Sydney)

[jim from sydney]

Merrilyn....did a 50% w/c this morning...down to about 60 now...will do another 2morrow.....i change about 25% every 2 weeks... normally that is fine unless i have a problem....lost a few fish in this tank, that woke me up.....by the way no activity in my discus tank.....can girls change into boys?????.....de-worming completed now...Jim


Proteus......i checked the water supply...nitrate hardly reads anything i would say about 5mg/l...so not bad.......Jim

[duck]

i change about 25% every 2 weeks... normally that is fine unless i have a problem
IMO I think thats your problem.
You might be overstocked,Maybe a fish died and you hadn't notice before the problem.
Discus or no discus i change water everyweek up 30-70% a week.

[jim from sydney]

thanks Duck.....did some BIG w/c and now nitrate levels are fine....Jim

[merman]

Duck do you this much of a water change in your planted tank? Was told not to dp to many regular water changes in a planted tank?