# NitrAte Spike



## Simplestmind (May 30, 2012)

My nitrate and spiked for some reason all the way up to 60! I did a water change, is there anything else I can do? What would cause this to happen?


ammonia 0, nitrite 2, nitrate 60

I realize nitrite should be 0 but I am doing water changes every day to try and keep it down. This sucks, i thought my tank was cycled, but apparently it isn't *frown


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## snail (Aug 6, 2010)

Yes nitrites should be 0 in a cycled tank but nitrates start to spike at the end of the cycle. Nitrates are not consumed by bacteria like ammonia and nitrites so you need to get rid of them with water changes, live plants also consume them. Nitrate is normal in a cycled tank. Levels should be kept below about 30ppm for fish (up to 40ppm is probably okay). Your nitrate is 60ppm so if you do a 50% water change it should bring it down to 30ppm, if it doesn't then you may have nitrates in your tap water (you can try testing the water from the tap). After that weekly water changes should keep it from getting too high. Nitrates are only hard to keep down in an overstocked, unplanted tank.


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## Simplestmind (May 30, 2012)

I did a 30% water change yesterday, I will do another 50% today. Hopefully that will clear it up. Thank you for your help.


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## holly12 (Apr 21, 2011)

If the spike is because you are nearing the end of the cycle, then yes a large partial water change should fix the Nitrates.

If it's not because of that, check for any dead fish (unless you are doing a fishless cycle.)

Live plants (and lots of 'em) help with water quality as well. They consume ammonia and nitrates as food.


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## Robin Roy (Jun 28, 2012)

Look good


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## zero (Mar 27, 2012)

also seachem stability can help with a nitrate spike.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Simplestmind said:


> My nitrate and spiked for some reason all the way up to 60! I did a water change, is there anything else I can do? What would cause this to happen?
> 
> 
> ammonia 0, nitrite 2, nitrate 60
> ...


60ppm in an aqaurium that is cycled and has limited nitrate consumers is normal and infact expected. Even with water changes.


To me the best method of lowering nitrates in a cycled aquarium or preventing ammonia spikes in a cycling aquarium is to simply increase the nitrate and ammonia consumers which I use live plants for.

but that's just me and my

.02


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

With regular (weekly) water changes of at least 30-40% 60ppm is not normal or expected. Readings can tend to get higher at times possibly, but this is more of user action (overfeeding) vs in-action (no water changes). Very easy to jack up nitrate levels with even slight overfeeding. Bottom line is no matter what % you change every week it needs to be enough to reset the water completely, not just partially with something like a 10% change. This needs to occur whether you have plants or not.


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