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Will hornwort needle dropping spike nitrates?


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I recently moved a tank I had that wasn't really planted due to being gravel substrate to a larger sump experiment tank with eco complete like I run in my other tanks. I moved over some hornwort and some Anubis that was in the tank as well as some decorations and the livestock. The media was thoroughly cleaned with treated water to remove any waste I could reasonably get before placing it in the new sump. I then let it run and a couple days later the hornwort started dropping needles like crazy. So I tested the water and as I assumed everything was basically perfect since it was basically a brand new tank with cycled media added. Ph was 7.6 nitrate,amonia,nitrite where all undetectable. So I started to believe maybe the hornwort was starving. So I added 3 squirts of easy green. The tanks capacity is 75 gallon plus 20 gallons sump. Directions said 1 squirt per 10 so I assumed I was well u under 20 and just went on with my day. The following 4 days later I had a fish die that was under warranty so I returned it with a sample and the results come back and everything is perfect but nitrates which are around 100. I'm at a loss how this could of happened unless the hornwort needles could of raised it that much. It was a lot of needles that made it to the sump I tried to remove all that I could but they where everywhere. I'm gonna start water changes to bring the levels down just was wondering if anyone had any other idea what could of raised it so much?

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If I recall, the 2nd bottle (reagent) in titration tests needs to be really vigorously shaken up to render an accurate nitrate test result. It may be that your original test at home was not accurate. Conversely, it is possible that your LFS test was not performed properly.

For my part, I like to test water to determine major "out-of-bounds" parameters, but I like to rectify this way watching the tank carefully over time. None of my aquariums are show-stopping aquascapes. But I can typically tell by watching things for a few minutes if something is out of balance.

It may be that the hornwort needle droppings affected your nitrate. But perhaps something else is going on here too. It doesn't sound like you overdid the EasyGreen. I am not a chemist, and cannot say if there's any compositional changes that may occur to it if unused for any long period of time.

I have heard reports (I cannot confirm or deny) that decaying plant materials produce more ammonia in planted tanks than dying fish. If the nitrate increase was a steady rise, perhaps that's what happened. On the other hand, if it was a spike immediately following addition of fertilizers, perhaps something else went on here.

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I don't think you probably have anything to worry about. The reality is that fish die and especially new fish. They tend to go through quite an ordeal getting to our tanks. Dead plant material will decay, but it doesn't instantly decay. It's a gradual process taking days, weeks, months. I would suspect the LFS test was done to blame you more than the store. "Here's why your fish died. We didn't sell you a stressed-out creature. Nope. It's your fault!" If your nitrates were at one hundred that's not typically immediately deadly. It may not be ideal for the long-term health of your fish, but most fish will tolerate it for quite a while. I'd vac/net out whatever needles you can but I wouldn't worry about things too much. 

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On 4/26/2022 at 8:20 AM, Ben Ellison said:

eco complete

I’m not a scientist so bear with my anecdotal account.  I removed eco complete from 2 tanks due to nitrate.  Everything was great for for months my nitrates were lower than normal with my other tanks and the way they run until it was not.  It SEEMED the eco was sucking up nitrates then one day it was ?full? And the nitrates spewed.  I started more thoroughly vacuuming because of this and more water changing and in a day or two even without feeding after water change my nitrates would skyrocket.  I have never experienced this in decades of fish keeping. So my guess was the eco was releasing what it sucked up.  

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