[aritg3]

My nitrates have been over 30ppm for over a month. I have been doing 25% water changes around every 3 days. I have kept my sand substrate clean. I have 3 power heads and three more than sufficient filters running. I am feeding every other day.

Why can't I get my nitrates down any further?????

Help :-?

 

[remarkosmoc]

A couple things i would consider:

1) Have you tested the nitrate level of the water you are putting into the tank?

2) Is the test kit expired?

 

[dreday]

what types of filters are you using??
how big is the tank??
if they are HOB like aquaclears, you might want to clean out sponges. do not remove the biomedia but clean out the sponges really well. they can house a lot of bacteria also which can create a lot of nitrate.

and bring some water in to a LFS. ask them to test along with some tap water. this way you can get a second opinion. if you tap water has high nitrates like tannable was saying then you might not be able to get it any lower.

also 30ppm is not bad. but at 25% water change you are only going down by 7ppm or so. which can come back with heavy filtration. do 40-50% everyday for 5 days. (only if your tap water nitrates are low or else it wont matter). that should bring it down. then just keep the mechanical part of the filter clean and you should be ok.

 

[Spewn]

What does your source water read?

 

[moto_master]

Like they've said already, check your source water for nitrates. Bacteria is good to have, but if you have a lot of food and waist stuck in your filter, sand, etc. it breaks down into amonia, and eventually into nitrates. I usually do 50% water changes. If you do several larger water changes, and your tap water has 0 nitrates, then your tank water should lower. let us know.

 

[juissed]

Is your tank overstocked?