The Puffer Forum

What does it mean when your amonia and nitrite are o and you have a high nitrate? Like 20ppm. It's a 30 gallon with two f8's. Have had the two f8's for about 2 months or so. Completely cycled the tank before I got them. I do water changes about every 3 to 4 days. So what's up?

Have you checked the nitrate reading in your tap water? That or you might want to rinse out the filter.

Assuming I am not confusing nitrate and nitrite-which I sometimes do! So, Please wait for someone else to respond!

Your nitrate level should be at or below 20 (the lower the better)...High nitrates may mean excess waste in the water..so do some vacuuming!

A level of 20 is not to good, it is ok, but for puffers you really want it lower..

If you are doing regular water changes and the level is still at 20..I would look all over the tank..underneath plants and decor for uneaten food and poops..and do some extra vacuuming of the gravel/sand or whatever you use!

And sometimes in my filter machine gunk can gather up..so a LIGHT rinse with water at the same temp as the tank might help..do not mess with the media itself aside from a light rinse (your bacteria is in the media!)..I am just saying a LIGHT cleaning to get rid of and extra nasties!

Maybe some else can chime in to make sure I have said all of this correctly!!!!!!!!!!

How large are the water changes? Are they 10% or something like 50 or 75%?

That'll make more of a difference than the frequency

I change about 50%

Check your tap water for sure. If you have nitrates in your tap water, you are replacing some of the ones you are taking out, which can make it tough to bring levels down. 20 isn't horribly high, but puffers seem to do better around 10 or so.

If you are getting it nice and low with your water change, and its back up to 20 by the next week, then you are either overstocked or overfeeding.. Two figure 8 puffers in a 30 gallon tank is just about right, so I'm betting its either nitrates in your tap water or overfeeding Be sure to clean up any uneaten food if you aren't already.

Second Myaj's comments. Most captive fish are seriously overfed or improperly fed. But you do need to compare tank water conditions to the source water conditions, otherwise you cannot draw valid conclusions.

IMHO & IME, learning to feed properly is the hardest thing about keeping captive fish. I'm still working on that one,

I had already checked my tap water. it is 0 ppm. I am leaning towards me over feeding them.

After all these years, I am still learning to feed. It is one of the hardest things to learn in long-term fish-keeping. And it does make a huge difference in water quality upkeep.

Yea prolly overfeeding. Also I just wanted to note that when ever you clean filter or media try not use tap water. The Chlorine in the tap can harm the beneficial bacteria. Try rinsing the media in the tank water( not the tank, the bucket of water you removed). The filter shell itself I wash in the sink with tap and havent had any issues with mini cycles. as long as the media itself is rinsed in tank your all good. I only feed my puffers once a day and not a ton either. once a while they have a day with no food.