Any fishkeeper/aquarists in? Nitrate levels

[CopperBolt]

Hi all

Ive got a fish tank 4' by 12" by 15"deep. Trying to run it down, just one fish left in it now, a pleco about 6 or 7" long.

anyway I seem to get lots of algae over the plastic plants and gravel etc real quick. replaced an old fluoro tube a week or so ago with a new LED job £80 odd from maidenhead. At their advice reduced the lighting hours down from 8 to 6 hours a day. (on a timer)
Anyway algae still doing its thing.
Decided to check nitrates and Ive got 25 'whatevers' the test kit measures, ppm I think. Ideally it should be lower than this. Around 12.
the "solution" is apparently to change water more often.
but... I've also nitrate tested my tap water and that's exactly the same reading, 25. So thats not going to help really is it?

Anyone know a way forward to reduce the nitrate levels?

Thanks

[budgie smuggler]

What kind of algae is it?

25 ppm is enough nitrate for algae, 12 ppm is enough nitrate for algae, 1 ppm is enough nitrate for algae. It's tough to battle it that way.

The best thing you can do is dim the intensity of the LED.
Secondly ensure no food is ever left rotting because that releases phosphate and trace amounts of ammonia and both of these are like rocket fuel to algae.

[CopperBolt]

budgie smuggler said:

What kind of algae is it?

25 ppm is enough nitrate for algae, 12 ppm is enough nitrate for algae, 1 ppm is enough nitrate for algae. It's tough to battle it that way.

The best thing you can do is dim the intensity of the LED.
Secondly ensure no food is ever left rotting because that releases phosphate and trace amounts of ammonia and both of these are like rocket fuel to algae.

Its like a blanket algae both green and brown. In some spots more than others.

LED is a fixed intensity. Well, it has both blue and white leds, in one setting they're all on (the one Im using) In the other only the blue come on.

Food wise I hardly ever feed the plec, assuming he eats the algae that grows on the glass. When I do feed I drop a slice of cucumber in for a day and then remove it. It never looks like he's been eating any of it. Cucumber is weighted down with plant lead strip things so sits on the bottom.

[budgie smuggler]

CopperBolt said:

Its like a blanket algae both green and brown. In some spots more than others.

LED is a fixed intensity. Well, it has both blue and white leds, in one setting they're all on (the one Im using) In the other only the blue come on.

Food wise I hardly ever feed the plec, assuming he eats the algae that grows on the glass. When I do feed I drop a slice of cucumber in for a day and then remove it. It never looks like he's been eating any of it. Cucumber is weighted down with plant lead strip things so sits on the bottom.

You mean blanket as in a sheet of slime or do you mean like hair algae?

Re. the LED, if it has a 12V DC plug you might be able to add a dimmer like this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165335093417

Edited by budgie smuggler on Tuesday 24th October 10:10

[Starfighter]

Put some genuine live plants in. They do help buffer the nitrate levels.

[CopperBolt]

budgie smuggler said:

You mean blanket as in a sheet of slime or do you mean like hair algae?

Re. the LED, if it has a 12V DC plug you might be able to add a dimmer like this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165335093417

Edited by budgie smuggler on Tuesday 24th October 10:10

sheets of slime, in small pockets, e.g on the small leaves of the plastic plants, patches of gravel.

Re dimming the light; the fluoro I took out was years old and I imagine extremely dim. The reason I went for the new light was to up the brightness and stop the brown algae. Hey ho.

Ive always been more of an algae keeper than a fish keeper. Even the ponds the same. Blanket weed and duck weed.

Tried real plants in the past, they just wither and die. Could have another go I guess. Any particular ones that are pretty hardy?

Thanks

[Simpo Two]

I know nothing about fish-keeping but I do know that light makes green things grow, not fish.

Aren't pond snails supposed to be good at eating algae etc?

[Turn7]

Purolite A520 nitrate removal resin if you are serious….

Edited by Turn7 on Tuesday 24th October 16:02

[budgie smuggler]

CopperBolt said:

sheets of slime, in small pockets, e.g on the small leaves of the plastic plants, patches of gravel.

Re dimming the light; the fluoro I took out was years old and I imagine extremely dim. The reason I went for the new light was to up the brightness and stop the brown algae. Hey ho.

Ive always been more of an algae keeper than a fish keeper. Even the ponds the same. Blanket weed and duck weed.

Tried real plants in the past, they just wither and die. Could have another go I guess. Any particular ones that are pretty hardy?

Thanks

Okay so cyanobacteria probably then.

Cyanobacteria can fix nitrogen directly when it is depleted, they do not require nitrate, so eliminating nitrate will most likely not eliminate it.


Specific products are needed and annoyingly, we cannot get products which work well any more because they contained anti-biotics and people insisted on misusing them.

Anyway so probably the best thing you can get to treat it now in freshwater is probably this product:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultralife-Green-Slime-Sta...

My suggestion is syphon the gravel, clean the decorations with tap water, ensure no sludge is left. Then do the treatment as per the instructions.


Another option is cleaning followed by a complete blackout (all tank lights off and cover tank with towels, ensure aeration still happens with an air pump). However it will most likely eventually come back and will need repeat cleanings.

Edited by budgie smuggler on Tuesday 24th October 12:30

[HustleRussell]

As you're running down you're unlikely to want to spend a load of money?

The plec has lived for many years with Nitrate as it is. Nitrate has always been in your tapwater. I don't think reducing it now is critical. Nitrate is harmful at mich higher concentrations than Ammonia or Nitrite which are the ones to watch. I also have about 25ppm nitrate in my tapwater so experience the same dilemma.

Live plants in the tank would help but successfully growing aquatic plants is not always immediately successful and introduces another difficult to balance factor with the light duration vs. Algae. There are a bewildering variety of plants but most you will not have success with in your tank. That said, in an established tank with a gravel substrate you'd probably have no trouble with easy growers Vallisneria, Elodea, Cabomba Caroliniana etc if you are so inclined.

The easiest and cheapest way to use plants to suck up Nitrates would be to grow a Philodendron or Pothos variety plant out of the top of the tank. Get hold of a cutting of one of these plants and immerse one of the leaf nodes in the water with the leaves above the water's surface. The cutting will send roots out and the plant will happily grow indefinitely, pulling its nutrients out of the water.

[HustleRussell]

ETA: Also hardy floating plants such as water lettuce will provide a double upside, gobbling up Nitrogenous compounds whilst also shading the water from the light.

Any plants you do introduce, particularly the water lettuce, do wash them to get any unwanted duckweed or pond snails off them. Neither are harmful but most people don't like them and try to avoid introducing them.

Edited by HustleRussell on Tuesday 24th October 12:50