[LuluCocoPopoRoro]

My girlfriend ended up taking my 10g tank that I was going to tear down.

We rescaped it with dirt capped with pool sand. It looks awesome. That was about three months ago (mid September). We used the same canister/bio media, and haven’t had any issues with Ammonia, or Nitrite. However, the nitrate has been through the roof.

I understand that’s a result of the dirt and the BB doing their jobs.

But we do 25% water change every two days, and the nitrates still sit at 80ppm.

The growth has been awesome, and don’t have any issues with algae. (We had some diatoms, stag horn, and cyano, but they all passed on their own)

Should we do anything, or just wait it out?
I’m think increasing the lighting time might encourage more plant growth, which will lower the nitrates.

 

[ElleDee]

Hmm, probably need some more info for this one.

What else do you have in your tank? Livestock? And your nitrates have been 80 ppm this whole time or is this a recent change? What did you use for your dirt? What's your typical water change schedule? How are you fertilizing? How dense have you planted? A photo of the tank might help too.

Edited to add: At 80 ppm I would not suggest waiting anything out. Something in your system needs to be changed, but I can't tell what based on the information given.

 

[LuluCocoPopoRoro]

What else do you have in your tank? Livestock? And your nitrates have been 80 ppm this whole time or is this a recent change? What did you use for your dirt? What's your typical water change schedule? How are you fertilizing? How dense have you planted? A photo of the tank might help too.

Thanks for putting the time in to help.


The fish is 5 amano shrimp, 1 betta, 6 minnows
It creeps up to 80 ppm every two days
It was organic black soil
At the moment it’s 20-25% every two days
We aren’t fertilizing because everything is growing well on its own. We do co2 though
Tank is still well planted, but we did just remove a lot of the plants because they were blocking the light out. It made to change to the nitrates.

I’ll get a photo ASAP

 

[minorhero]

How thick a layer of soil did you use and how thick a cap?

I typically do a 70+% water change every week. I am in the process of taking down my last dirt tank but that's how I maintained it.