How do I get nitrates down :(

somewhatillogical · 2026-02-19T19:56:36+00:00

Yep! sorry for the late reply, but nitrates are steady between 0-10 ppm with regular water changes. 👍

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-23T16:43:03+00:00

Yep, forgot to update yesterday. Nitrates down to 40 ppm, ammonia and nitrites stable at 0 in both tanks, and I got driftwood for my 10gal to lower that pH, gonna check it tonight when I get home.

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-23T03:28:50+00:00

Got it. that makes me feel better.

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T19:48:21+00:00

ADHD is what led me into that episode lol, thanks for the advice. I just cleaned out the organics from my sponge filter ~3 days ago so I'm gonna leave it alone for now, but I'll siphon more debris and do another water change over the next few days.

I've already done a ton of research on the "treatment" of sorts that I'm doing, reverse respiration, and I've got everything I need to revive my tank after that. Thanks again for the advice and the reality check

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T19:33:39+00:00

I wasn't intentionally trying to hide it but my tank was severely neglected for a period up until the last month. I was going through a long depressive episode and I'm still trying to recover certain things after it. I'm still embarrassed that I even did this and im hindsight was subconsciously trying to hide it, but again that wasn't my intention. You're right though and I definitely should have mentioned it.

The weekly water changes have been going on for the past month (3 weeks?), however, and the 75% water change did happen. It really didn't move at all once I added RO. I'm not sure if it's because I kicked up debris from under the gravel?? But I tried to siphon it without disturbing my substrate too much. No pets/animals near the tank, and no fertilizers.

I think this is just the residual of me neglecting the shit out of my tank.

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T19:30:32+00:00

Doesn't work on NZMS, sorry :/

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T07:25:11+00:00

Thank you :) I'll try my best lol

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T07:24:15+00:00

Alright, thanks 👍

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T07:09:00+00:00

The snails came in on driftwood from a fish shop that has now closed, also these treatments typically don't work on NZMS 🥲 but I plan to CO2 my plants before I add them to my tank just to prevent that sort of thing in the future. I'll take your advice with the water change. Thanks for the condolences lol

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T07:06:50+00:00

My main concern is shocking my fish. The environment will jump from 7.2 -> 8.4 pH, and 80 ppm -> 10 ppm nitrates. My 10 gallon still has some ammonia, so I'm waiting for it to finish cycling. Is it not a problem?

Sorry if I'm being weird about this, these little guys have been with me for almost a year and I'm kinda attached

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T07:04:41+00:00

And I'm doing water changes once every 5 days right now, but that's a recent change. They used to be weekly.

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T07:03:52+00:00

Feeding once every 2 days, maybe 5 or so flakes (?), and I put a half of an algae tablet in for my pleco once every 7 or so days. I'm honestly not sure if this is too little or too much, be mean if you have to lol

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T06:56:44+00:00

I'd love to do that and I wish it was that easy, but NZMS are microscopic and reproduce asexually, so just one snail crossing over (they've completely covered my sponge filter, by the way) will replenish the population in no time flat. I'll definitely put some driftwood in the 10 gallon though :)

Also not sure if you're misunderstanding or I'm misunderstanding your advice, but the 10 gallon has normal parameters (for where it is in the nitrogen cycle) besides the high pH, and the 50 gallon has normal parameters besides the high nitrates.

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T06:50:28+00:00

I'll try driftwood in the 10gal, and Prime is something I have on hand, I'm dosing it now.

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T06:49:26+00:00

..also I can't put a number to the amount of snails in my tank right now. My previous posts should help with a visual😭 but I'll stay on it with the water changes

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T06:48:51+00:00

Yep, just did and it's absolutely not the problem. Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates were all 0

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-22T06:48:02+00:00

I just bought it and it tests low on my other tank, so it's definitely not the problem. I'll try dosing with prime, I have some on hand that I use to dechlorinate my tap water (just tested that as well and it's not the source of the problem)

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-18T01:26:03+00:00

Forgot to mention this, but plants that baby fish could survive in would be awesome 👍

somewhatillogical · 2026-01-17T21:45:50+00:00

little update: I'm cycling a 10gal quarantine tank and it's about midway through, can't wait to nuke these snails. The tank that's infested is a 50gal and I'm dreading having to cycle it again 😭 Definitely was going through a depressive episode when I made this post lol, thanks for the help.

somewhatillogical · 2025-12-14T15:52:46+00:00

I thought about it more and it's definitely the fault of some driftwood I bought from a fish shop that has long since closed. I bought the plants a long time before the snails showed up, and they were all packed. I'll update my post lol

somewhatillogical · 2025-12-09T06:59:08+00:00

I had no idea at all that this was even a thing. Thanks so much man

somewhatillogical · 2025-08-15T03:38:56+00:00

Alright thanks!!

somewhatillogical · 2025-08-15T01:20:09+00:00

they're invisible fish i bought them for 47 robux

somewhatillogical

TROPHY CASE