High nitrates

Greg

I have a 29 Gal. planted tank with high nitrates.
will a protein skimmer help

Nick

How high are the nitrates? A simple step to cutting down Nitrates is getting live plants in the tank. Do you have any live plants? Regular water changes will help this a lot also. Depending on how high the nitrate's are than I would do a big water change...

Nick

girlofgod

since you already have a planted tank i would recommend regular water changes...you can do one large one, or several small ones over the course of several days, and then i would do a 15% change once a week after that. good luck!

bri

Nick

Ooops Strike that I overread the planted tank part.

Greg

My nitrates are a little over 60 ppm.
I change out 5 gal. per week with API tap water filter.
PH 6.8
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
KH 4
GH 8

Lupin

Try to add more plants particularly elodea densa and Hornwort to reduce nitrates and do more water changes.
Have you check your tapwater for nitrates?

Greg

are elodea densa and Hornwort low light plants

Lupin

They require light but not as much as some plants do. They are undemanding IMO.

crazie.eddie

Regarding your nitrates, several water changes for the next few days should help.

A protein skimmer in a freshwater tank is useless since there is not enough proteing buildup in a freshwater tank.

Just curious...Have you tested or tap water if there are any nitrates?

What kind of filter do you use?

How much do you feed your fish? How many times?

What kind of fish do you have in the tank?

Greg

As I mentioned above, I use the API tap water filter which takes out all nitrates.
My filter is a Fluval 205
I feed twice a day
and I have 26 inches of fish
1 angel
3 blackskirts
and small tetras