New cycle - Nitrates off the chart

[Bear16]

Hi all, long time no post.

I have been doing a fishless cycle for my new 4ft tank for about 2 months I think and it is finally done. My issue now is with Nitrates, they're off the charts.

PH is sitting around 7
Ammonia is 0
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is maxed out
Temp is sitting around 20 after this most recent water change
No plants as they always die but I have ordered some Java Fern to give it another shot.

I have done 2 90% water changes over the past 4 days but they're not reducing at all. I have rinsed out the filter in tank water to get rid of the gunk floating around (please note I did not clean the filter, simply gave it a rinse)

I have cleaned the sand also, though sand is new to me so any advice is welcomed.

How do I maintain the cycle while trying to reduce my nitrates? I obviously don't want to put lottl in right now with the nitrates and fluctuating PH with water changes.

I'm at a loss, any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[wolfen]

try using porous rocks, what they call live rock, pumice rocks. most methods to remove nitrates apart from water changes involve using denitrifying bacteria which will grow inside porous/live rocks, also in deep enough substrate (its what produces the egg smell), you can also buy special ceramic block/media that will remove nitrates. it's the bane of most fish keepers and therefore big business for companies so there are plenty of items on the market unfortunately not always cheap though. what you have to remember when you are cycling a tank at 4ppm ammonia is that you are cycling it to maximum capacity where as once the axolotl is in the tank it may only produce a fraction of that ammonia and so the nitrates will be a lot lower.

 

[Bear16]

try using porous rocks, what they call live rock, pumice rocks. most methods to remove nitrates apart from water changes involve using denitrifying bacteria which will grow inside porous/live rocks, also in deep enough substrate (its what produces the egg smell), you can also buy special ceramic block/media that will remove nitrates. it's the bane of most fish keepers and therefore big business for companies so there are plenty of items on the market unfortunately not always cheap though. what you have to remember when you are cycling a tank at 4ppm ammonia is that you are cycling it to maximum capacity where as once the axolotl is in the tank it may only produce a fraction of that ammonia and so the nitrates will be a lot lower.

Thanks for the input.

For more context I bought a new aqua one 1100 canister filter for this tank. It came with sponges, porous balls and some ceramic noodles to put in it. I do also have some crushed coral.

I've had high nitrates before in lottl's current tank but it was quickly corrected with water changes. It doesn't seem to matter how much effort I put into this tank it just doesn't seem to budge. I'm also worried about doing too much at once and stalling the cycle.

Now that it is cycled, do you think reducing the amount of ammonia I'm putting in and doing large water changes would get it back on track?

 

[wolfen]

because the ammonia is a source for nitrates cutting back will reduce them. I assume you will be putting just one axie in the tank if so then 4ppm ammonia in a four foot tank is way more then it will produce, so you could reduce it to 2ppm or even 1ppm (the bacteria in your tank has been proven to be able to convert 4ppm of ammonia, reducing it to more realistic levels wont harm it)

 

[Bear16]

because the ammonia is a source for nitrates cutting back will reduce them. I assume you will be putting just one axie in the tank if so then 4ppm ammonia in a four foot tank is way more then it will produce, so you could reduce it to 2ppm or even 1ppm (the bacteria in your tank has been proven to be able to convert 4ppm of ammonia, reducing it to more realistic levels wont harm it)

Yeah I'll be moving my 6 year old girl in there, give her some more room to stretch and play. I always dose nee tanks way higher than necessary just to be sure.

I will give that a shot, thanks for your advice.

 

[Bear16]

because the ammonia is a source for nitrates cutting back will reduce them. I assume you will be putting just one axie in the tank if so then 4ppm ammonia in a four foot tank is way more then it will produce, so you could reduce it to 2ppm or even 1ppm (the bacteria in your tank has been proven to be able to convert 4ppm of ammonia, reducing it to more realistic levels wont harm it)

Hi mate, thanks again for your advice. Just thought I'd pop back on and let you know today is moving day for my baby. After a couple days of big water changes I finally have it sorted out and stable.

Time to acclimatize my girl, I hope she's as excited as I am haha. Thanks again for your help!

 

[JM29]

No plants as they always die but I have ordered some Java Fern to give it another shot.

Hi,

Sorry, I read this post late.

What are the plant species which "always died" in your tank ?
Java fern is a really hardy species and I'm sure you'll manage to grow it,
but, against nitrates in a tank, you'd better try fast-growing live plants.
Have you tested Egeria densa ? Hornwort (Ceratophyllum) ? Pistia ?

I ask this because, except water changes, I can't see any effective way to keep low nitrates levels.
I failed to find any convincing demonstration of denitrification (releasing of gaseous nitrogen) in an aquarium.

 

[Bear16]

Hi,

Sorry, I read this post late.

What are the plant species which "always died" in your tank ?
Java fern is a really hardy species and I'm sure you'll manage to grow it,
but, against nitrates in a tank, you'd better try fast-growing live plants.
Have you tested Egeria densa ? Hornwort (Ceratophyllum) ? Pistia ?

I ask this because, except water changes, I can't see any effective way to keep low nitrates levels.
I failed to find any convincing demonstration of denitrification (releasing of gaseous nitrogen) in an aquarium.

No problem at all.

I can't recall the species as it was a good few years ago now, it was something the store recommended for a low light, cold water tank.
I have tried anubias nana on some driftwood but I saw decay on it once I got it home and it ended up dying on me also.


I was jusy struggling to get my nitrates down after days of 90% water changes so I was at a loss as to things that may help. Thankfully we're now all done. As for plants, I'd absolutely love to keep some alive in there for my friend.

This is her this morning after 5 hours of slowly getting her acclimatized yesterday.
The black stuff on the coral and what-not is just some stirred up sand, don't worry haha.