High Nitrates

Hi all, I have, I think issues with nitrates and I wonder if you can help. We got our axy, Spotted Crystal, in January, they were about 6-7cm and have since doubled in size to 12-13cm/ 5 inches approx. She/ he arrived with a missing front left limb and chewed gills and has regrown the limb beautifully particularly, the gill stalks on the left have recently lengthened. She/ he is busy, comes to stare at me through the glass and is eating chopped earthworms. I am clearing out uneaten food when I feed - at the moment twice a day. Poo gets removed then too. The tank was cycled for probably 2.5 months before we got him/ her and the local pet shop tested the water for us and said we were good to go. The tank is 55L with a Ciano filter and we plan to go bigger soon, we have 3 live plants, 2 growing really well, 1 a little scrappy, some driftwood and a cave. Until a couple of weeks ago we were using another brand of liquid tests for the water, but seeing posts on here I got the API freshwater kit instead, as our original set only tested nitrite, ammonia and PH. The first test with the API kit came out PH 8, ammonia 0, nitrite 0 and nitrate 5. I then tested 3 days later and got the same readings, apart from nitrates were 10 so I did a 20% water change. I tested again 4 days later and got the same readings so did another 20% change. Since then I have tested most days and the nitrates have been more like 20 (did a 50% change at this point), and yesterday seemed maybe slightly higher than 20, it's hard to tell those oranges apart sometimes. We are using Seachem Prime and Stability as directed on the bottle with each change. We had a Riccia fluitans plant that died about a week ago, so I assumed this may have been the cause and have got rid of the debris. However I also tested our tap water yesterday and the nitrates are also 20, maybe slightly higher so I am at a loss to how I am going to bring them down in the tank and would really welcome any suggestions.

normally nitrates are removed via water changes but because your tap water also contains nitrates you might have to also use other means to reduce them.
first thing to note is that although it is preferable to have minimal amounts of nitrates ie.. 0ppm - 10ppm, axolotls tolerance to nitrates are quite high 110ppm (see here for ideals and tolerances Water Quality Explained: How It Can Affect Your Axolotl's Health - WSAVA 2015 Congress - VIN )
as for dealing with nitrates in tap water pozzani filters can be used as well as R.O. filters, pozzani filters remove nitrates and sulphates where as R.O. filters remove nearly all contaminants (R.O. water needs to be remineralised before use).
nitrates in tanks are mostly dealt with by using water changes, utilising plants, using special filter media, nitrate reactors.
the size of tank will also affect the nitrate levels (20ppm axolotl produced nitrates in a 20 gallon tank is only 10ppm in a 40 gallon etc..).
be aware that 55l is going to be very cramped for your axolotl (axolotls have the potential to get to 18 inches in length although most are between 8 - 12 inches)

wolfen said:

normally nitrates are removed via water changes but because your tap water also contains nitrates you might have to also use other means to reduce them.
first thing to note is that although it is preferable to have minimal amounts of nitrates ie.. 0ppm - 10ppm, axolotls tolerance to nitrates are quite high 110ppm (see here for ideals and tolerances Water Quality Explained: How It Can Affect Your Axolotl's Health - WSAVA 2015 Congress - VIN )
as for dealing with nitrates in tap water pozzani filters can be used as well as R.O. filters, pozzani filters remove nitrates and sulphates where as R.O. filters remove nearly all contaminants (R.O. water needs to be remineralised before use).
nitrates in tanks are mostly dealt with by using water changes, utilising plants, using special filter media, nitrate reactors.
the size of tank will also affect the nitrate levels (20ppm axolotl produced nitrates in a 20 gallon tank is only 10ppm in a 40 gallon etc..).
be aware that 55l is going to be very cramped for your axolotl (axolotls have the potential to get to 18 inches in length although most are between 8 - 12 inches)

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Thanks so much for your reply- I wasn't aware how high the tolerance could be to nitrates and will read the link you gave. Have started to research R.O. filters, and will look into the others you mention. We are going to double the tank size imminently and get a bigger/ better filter.

I actually have questions about changing over the tank. If we take all the water (55L) from the old tank and put it in the new one (looking at a 110L one) this will function like a 50% water change right? so I'm thinking that will be ok? However the new filter won't be cycled and we'll need more plants, wood, a bigger cave etc. Should we instead set the new tank up to cycle first for a number of weeks? How is the best way to do this?

it would be best to cycle the new tank/filter rather than swapping over water etc..
once the tank is cycled the plants etc.. can be changed over but it would be pointless swapping water over as it would just be waste water with no benefit (the majority of beneficial/nitrifying bacteria reside in the filter) the only advantage would be that it would be already dechlorinated and might contain nutrients for the plants.

20ppm nitrate is fine. If you really want to reduce it further you could get some floating plants like salvinia or giant duckweed (don't get the regular kind of duckweed, its terrible).

Regarding changing tanks, bacterial will grow on literally every surface in the tank. So simply moving the filter over won't necessarily result in a brand new cycled tank. Its pretty much impossible to say if the majority of the heavy lifting of your beneficial bacteria is done by surfaces inside the tank, inside the filter, or a pretty even split between the two until after you move stuff over. Unless its a real hardship, its generally better to cycle the new tank independent of your existing tank that way you don't end up with a situation where neither tank is really cycled. This advice is contrary to some popular youtubers, but I have found it to be the case whenever I start up a new tank, simply moving filter media over has never resulted in an 'instantly' cycled aquarium.

minorhero said:

20ppm nitrate is fine. If you really want to reduce it further you could get some floating plants like salvinia or giant duckweed (don't get the regular kind of duckweed, its terrible).

Regarding changing tanks, bacterial will grow on literally every surface in the tank. So simply moving the filter over won't necessarily result in a brand new cycled tank. Its pretty much impossible to say if the majority of the heavy lifting of your beneficial bacteria is done by surfaces inside the tank, inside the filter, or a pretty even split between the two until after you move stuff over. Unless its a real hardship, its generally better to cycle the new tank independent of your existing tank that way you don't end up with a situation where neither tank is really cycled. This advice is contrary to some popular youtubers, but I have found it to be the case whenever I start up a new tank, simply moving filter media over has never resulted in an 'instantly' cycled aquarium.

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Thanks so much for this, makes perfect sense! We better get cycling Will try some giant duckweed/ Salvinia too

wolfen said:

it would be best to cycle the new tank/filter rather than swapping over water etc..
once the tank is cycled the plants etc.. can be changed over but it would be pointless swapping water over as it would just be waste water with no benefit (the majority of beneficial/nitrifying bacteria reside in the filter) the only advantage would be that it would be already dechlorinated and might contain nutrients for the plants.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot, we'll start cycling a new tank as soon as possible

SpottedCrystal said:

Thanks so much for this, makes perfect sense! We better get cycling Will try some giant duckweed/ Salvinia too

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Ah something I forgot. If you are on city water, not much you can do. But if you are on well water, look into shocking your well. Its possible that with this much nitrate you need it. Good luck.