# Nitrates Spike



## RayN83 (Nov 26, 2014)

As the title says it,
i came home to find 90% of my fish and Red cherry shrimp dead in my 10 gal
Did an immediate test; and the only thing that is reading too high is the nitrate. It is well above the 160ppm that the test kit can read (API Mater Kit)
I did an immediate water change, 2x (50%) with no indicative drop in nitrates.

I traced back the potential high nitrates the root tabs that i bought on ebay that look like maricle gro in capsules.
I also do have flourish tabs in the subtrate (all sand); however i do not think that this would cause this.


I removed all the capsule tabs from the substrate and did another 75% water change; cleaned the canister filter media as well.
However i do not see a drop in the nitrates.
I have added Seachem prime to the tank; however i do not see how it can cope with such high nitrates.

I did a control nitrate read on the tap water and it is at 0.

Any help or suggestions is most appreciated.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

"cleaned the canister filter media as well" What do you mean by this??? DO you have bio mediai in the canister? What are you sing in it? 

How long has the tank been running? 

What were the other readings? Ammonia. PH, Nitrite?

IMO keep doing water changes until the Nitrates fall. They have to eventually. Sounds like you figured out the issue being the cheap root tabs. Maybe some are still in the substrate???


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## kim86 (Sep 5, 2012)

How many fish were in the tank? How long has the tank been running? When you cleaned the filter did you use old tank water or did you rinse things out under tap water?


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## RayN83 (Nov 26, 2014)

Thanks for the response.
The tank has been running for approximately 3 months.
Other readings
pH 6.7-6.8
NH3/NH4 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
Conductivity ~210-220uS
Typically i do a reading every 12 hours; everything has been in line and the tank went through a fairly smooth cycle.

Just the sponges within the canister filter were rinsed with RO and placed back,
the water was then replaced with RO.

I did another water change out using RO and remineralized to spec.
So far NO3 is reading at 0; keeping my fingers crossed....


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## Philip (Nov 28, 2013)

RayN83 said:


> I traced back the potential high nitrates the root tabs that i bought on ebay that look like maricle gro in capsules.
> I also do have flourish tabs in the subtrate (all sand); however i do not think that this would cause this.


root tabs seem only release it nutrition after a week and spread out to substrate. when they are not deep enough into the substrate , most of the elements will go into water which make nitrate spike. even u could remove the root tabs but im sure that u can't remove them all . the problem can only be solved after a few more water change.( it may take up to 2 months if 50% water change every week) . be aware with root tabs especially diy ones.


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