High NITRATE

Question
Hi Karen,
why is my Nitrate always on the high side? between (10-80ppm)       I am still doing 35-40 water changes on Sundays, Every Sunday!!!! but after 6+ hours, my nitrate would go up. Does it have anything to do with my planted tank?
what do you suggest I do  besides my regular water changes, from what I've read, water changes is the best remedy for this problem..  

Answer
Hi TSL,
Maybe you need to do more frequent water changes, even if it means doing smaller percentage. Make sure there isn't a lot of organic debri builtup in your gravel and/or filter. I have found in planted aquariums that you can develop even severe pollution problems if the gravel isn't cleaned or unclogged regularly. Clogged areas where you cannot vacuum really well (due to plant roots) can even harbor Anerobic 'bad' bacteria and excess debri can even lower oxygen levels!

I once had a beautifully planted aquarium with small schooling fish that did well for years. But suddenly there was a problem with all the fish gasping constantly at the surface, they would do it all day for days. Quickly I rescued them to transfer to a 75-gallon tank and they even continued to gasp in the bag water as they were being moved! Once in the 75-gallon it took them no more than 5 minutes to recover and start behaving naturally once more! I later found that the lovely planted tank was severely clogged in the gravel bed because it was difficult to vacuum very thoroughly without chopping or otherwise disturbing plant roots. I even had a nitrite reading! And this aquarium had been setup for many years! After many 50% water changes and gravel vacummings, the nitrite level dropped back to normal and it was able to hold fish safely again. I now make sure to carefully disturb all areas of the gravel bed and prevent too much clogged debri from overwhelming the tank.

Of course water changes are indeed the best solution to high nitrate problems, but finding the cause is also obviously important as well. Just be careful with feedings and try more frequent water changes and try to gently disturb the gravel with your fingers in all areas and vacuum up the swirled up debri. If there is a lot of organic matter buildup you may have to do several of these 'gravel disturbances' until you have the all the organic matter down to a reasonable level.

Let me know if this helps!

Best wishes,
Karen~