Pimpseyj

Cool.... I'll give it shot! Thanks you two!

Do mean like between the gravel and the glass? I haven't disturbed the gravel very much so I'm not sure how much is there. Should I get all that junk out and then do the water change? I'm assuming I should turn off my filter prior to cleaning so it doesn't get sucked into the filter. Sorry... total noob here!

I would say that the only thing dead or decaying in the tank are my plants. They just don't take very well and my larger fish have a bad habit of uprooting them and they just end up floating around the tank because they have no more roots. I do suppose that the NO3 could be so high that even a 50% waterchange could have just brought it down closer to 120ppm but not under. I tested it the day after the change. Test strips are not even a month old and they are kept sealed in my aquarium stand. The tank is outside and does not have a lid but it is under my car port and I have 4 dogs that keep any birds out. I suppose a geko could get in there but I have never found anything floating in the water. I'm super stumped. I suppose I should just break down and get the chemical water tester so I can get a more accurate reading.

Thanks for the response! I've tested my home water and nitrates read 0. I just recently started water changes. I did 1 that was about 80% and another that was about 50% since I didn't see a difference after the 80%. I have to add about 2 gallons of fresh water about every 2-3 days which is why I justified to myself that large water changes weren't needed. I've had this tank running for about a year now and the 2 water changes mentioned above are the only ones ever conducted. 😳 they were in the past month.

Hello Everyone, I'm new to both the forum as well as the hobby. I have a 55gl tank with a Cascade cannister filter. A few planted plants that don't seem to be doing that well. Quite a few different species of fish in the tank that all seem to be doing well together. I'm having an extremely hard time correcting water conditions though. I've been using the API test strips and ever since I started the tank it always reads the same. GH 180ppm, KH 0ppm, PH 6.5, NO2 0, and NO3 120ppm! I've tried water changes to reduce NO3 as well as using Prim and Stability when I do top offs. I live in Hawaii and my tank is outside so this happens about every 3 days. I also added bio-home media puragen to the filter. The water is always a little yellow and I don't have any drift wood in it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!