High nitrate problem in a neocaridina tank

[bmol01]

I have a 5.5 gallon tank with about 5 adult shrimp,10 baby shrimp, planted, sponge filter,driftwood, and some rocks. Every time I do a 50% water change I get high nitrates in a day or two. Nitrate goes up to 40ppm which is very bad for my shrimp. Does anyone have any advice as to why the nitrate is so high? I usually feed the shrimp every other day with 4 pellets of Hikari crustacean food. My tap water has about 3-5ppm of nitrate. I also drip the water back in to my tank during water changes as to not shock the shrimp.

 

[Doctorgori]

… left turned into a saltwater forum ha ha but…
you got any plants going in that tank at all? I always kept our shrimp with najas and or java moss

 

[Samz]

How long does it stay at 40ppm? Have you tried doing smaller water changes more often? Is there ammonia or nitrite in your source water?

 

[bmol01]

… left turned into a saltwater forum ha ha but…
You got any plants going in that tank at all? I always kept our shrimp with najas and or java moss

I have like 10 plants, 4 are wisterias

 

[bmol01]

I have like 10 plants, 4 are wisterias

 

[bmol01]

How long does it stay at 40ppm? Have you tried doing smaller water changes more often? Is there ammonia or nitrite in your source water?

I usually do 50% water change every 3-4 days. Usually within 24 hrs after the water change, nitrates are about 30-40. My tap water has 1 ppm nitrate, 0.25 ppm ammonia, 3-5ppm nitrate. Could this be the cause?

 

[Samz]

I usually do 50% water change every 3-4 days. Usually within 24 hrs after the water change, nitrates are about 30-40. My tap water has 1 ppm nitrate, 0.25 ppm ammonia, 3-5ppm nitrate. Could this be the cause?

It would seem to be. It may be worthwhile to try water from a different source if you can. You could also extend the period of time between water changes or maybe just reduce the amount of water you replace at each change. Cherry shrimp seem to do better with clean water, but in this case it's possible that the water changes are doing more harm than good.