# Need Some Advice Please Guys



## the-bruce (Feb 28, 2007)

I'm sure some folk might remember me rescuing a inch O well hes 10 inches now and really bulking up!

But i'm having problems with the nitrates guys :-?

I do a 30% water change every 5 days, indeed i do the same with all my tanks, but i just checked the nitrates in my O's tank and its between 20-40 ....

My tank is a 92 gallon approx

Fish in with my oscar, 2 parrot fish (About 3 inches) these 2 parrots were brought up with my O, also 2 tinfoil barbs (4/5 inches)
And lastly a small green severum (2 Inches)

Now i did a 30% water change yesterday (saturday) so its a bit worrying tbh

My Oscar seems very healthy, but i have the feeling my tanks overstocked? they all have plenty of room by the looks of it, but would like your thoughts on this please ...

Cheers Brucey


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## BlackShark11k (Feb 16, 2007)

How often do you feed them and how much? Too much food would be my first guess (assuming filters are working, etc.)


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## the-bruce (Feb 28, 2007)

I feed them once a day m8, but i must confess i do put a lot of food sticks in for the oscar ...

But there eaten within 10 seconds

Brucey


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## moto_master (Jun 23, 2006)

You sure you don't have dead plant matter, or a dead fish in there? When they rot away they make ammonia. Also, when you do the water changes are you just changing the water or do you vacuum out the substrate?


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## the-bruce (Feb 28, 2007)

I clean half the gravel every water change as is recomended here ...

Brucey


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## Al'Thor (Mar 11, 2006)

I would either change the same volume of water every 3 days, or change a much greater volume every week. At their current size, I would personally be doing a 80-90% water change once a week. But that's me. Some people don't believe in large water changes and that's OK. On all five of my tanks, I never do a smaller change than 75%. Smaller more frequent changes are fine, and the nitrate swings aren't very large at all. I simply don't have time to do that on all the tanks. I just prefer keeping mine under 20ppm at all times with this method.


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## the-bruce (Feb 28, 2007)

Thanx for the reply guys, well i'm gonna start doing a 50% water change every 5 days on my Oscar tank, and ill see how that goes ...

Brucey


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

Have you ever checked your tap water for nitrates. If everything else is checking out, then that may be the culprit.  Both public and well water sources can have nitrates present.


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## the-bruce (Feb 28, 2007)

MalawiLover said:


> Have you ever checked your tap water for nitrates. If everything else is checking out, then that may be the culprit. Both public and well water sources can have nitrates present.


Good idea m8, i'll check that out after i've finished doing a 50% water change on my Big Boys tank

Brucey


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## the-bruce (Feb 28, 2007)

Just checked there m8, zero nitrates in the water

Brucey


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

Too bad, that would have solved the mystery. You would still have had to deal with them, but at least you would know where they were coming from.

Back to the drawing board.


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## the-bruce (Feb 28, 2007)

MalawiLover said:


> Too bad, that would have solved the mystery. You would still have had to deal with them, but at least you would know where they were coming from.
> 
> Back to the drawing board.


Aye m8, i will monitor the tank and see if doing a bigger water change helps ...

I know someone who has a fish shed, and breeds malawi's, and swears by doing 50% water changes every week ...

Cheers For Your Help Guys

Brucey


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

the-bruce said:


> ...
> 
> I know someone who has a fish shed, and breeds malawi's, and swears by doing 50% water changes every week ...


Actually, that what most of us do. 50% weekly is sort of the standard. I do it twice a week on my fry tank, but everybody else get the 50% every Sunday.


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## trimac (Mar 27, 2003)

What kind of filtration do you have?


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

trimac said:


> What kind of filtration do you have?


To whom are you directing the question?


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## the-bruce (Feb 28, 2007)

I have two external bin Filters connected to my 92 gallon tank a Fluval 404 and a Fluval 304 ....

The 404 can do up to a 100 gallon tank, and the 304 a 70 gallon tank, so filtration isnt a problem me thinks 

Feeding once a day helps keep the nitrates down to around 20

Brucey


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## sdbeth (Oct 2, 2007)

MalawiLover said:


> Have you ever checked your tap water for nitrates. If everything else is checking out, then that may be the culprit. Both public and well water sources can have nitrates present.


 :fish: agreed, my tap water tests 100ppm nitrates and .85 for ammonia.... :fish:


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