# Frogs & Toads > Aquatic Clawed Frogs >  Couldn't help myself - got a new frog already

## reptileszz

Hi all, I just couldn't help myself. I went in to Pet Supplies Plus to get dog food and hay and they just so happened to have 3 ACF's, one bigger and fatter than the other two. I bought him/her. He is an albino. I covered the holes completely and lowered the water line too. I just tested my nitrates AGAIN and it is still at 40ppm or thereabouts after taking out 10 gallons and replacing it. I think that is just where my water is going to be. I also tested the kH which is in the 95-96 range which seems normal from the chart they give you. Nitrite and ammonia still ZERO  :Smile:  I still feel awful about Norm and it actually kept me awake some last night. It made me sad to look at the empty tank. Hoping a new frog to dote on helps. I am hoping to give this new little guy a great home!

Carole

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## Michael

Did you ever get that duckweed? It will absorb nitrate very quickly (also reproduce quickly!) and floating plants will lower your frogs inclination to leave the tank too (seriously i've read this). I like anubias a lot myself, it's a really nice looking plant but kind of pricey.

I've had a lot of luck with water wisteria in the past, it grows very quickly as well if you want to add some additional foliage to your aquarium. Not sure what your lighting is but standard aquarium lighting should grow all of the above. If you do decide to get additional plants beside the ones listed I would do a thorough google search on that plant because a LOT of plants sold at PetCo/PetSmart are NOT true aquatic plants and will rot.. die.. make your nitrates worse.

Make sure your lid is secure and you should be back in business.

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## reptileszz

> Did you ever get that duckweed? It will absorb nitrate very quickly (also reproduce quickly!) and floating plants will lower your frogs inclination to leave the tank too (seriously i've read this). 
> 
> I've had a lot of luck with water wisteria in the past, it grows very quickly as well if you want to add some additional foliage to your aquarium. Not sure what your lighting is but standard aquarium lighting should grow all of the above. If you do decide to get additional plants beside the ones listed I would do a thorough google search on that plant because a LOT of plants sold at PetCo/PetSmart are NOT true aquatic plants and will rot.. die.. make your nitrates worse.
> 
> Make sure your lid is secure and you should be back in business.


Hi, I didnt get the duckweed as I couldnt find it. I have wisteria in there and it seems to be doing well. I also got 2 moss balls. The real ones, not the styrofoam **** ones. They are about 2 inches across. I want to get more of them. They say they are nitrate inhalers. I vacuumed a bit before I put him in there and probably replaced about 8 gallons of water. the nitrates are still in the vicinity of 40. Some other frog people said that 40 was ok so hoping it really is. 

So far he isnt doing much. He must be freaked out by the car ride in a plastic bag. 

Oh the lid is secure now.  :Embarrassment:   I checked uber carefully.

Thank you!
Carole

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## Michael

It will take the frog some time to adjust, they mostly hide in the bottom until they get used to their new home.

Those moss balls I assume are Mariamo Balls? Believe it or not those are actually a type of algae. I am not sure what effect they have on water quality, they grow slowly if at all so probably not much. They are cool though I had a few once but they got ripped up by the frogs and when I would rinse them out I found they were kind of nasty after a few months. I would take them out weekly and 'squeeze' them out in the sink, you'll see what I mean. They do collect detritus, it's true, very popular in shrimp tanks or breeding tanks, they tend to collect 'things' that shrimp/fry will eat.

Do acquire duckweed when you can for this tank, I think if you have water quality issues there's really no plant on earth that can stabilize it better than duckweed. It grows like nuts and you'll have to cull some of it weekly but it's just a superb plant for it's purpose. I keep it in all my tanks and no regrets other than it seems to be starting out my other nutrient hungry plants (mostly my water sprite, oh well).

40ppm nitrates isn't lethal, probably will not want to spend it's entire life in water with nitrate that high though, could lead to problems down the road. These frogs are really tough and very hardy so if there is a water quality issue it some times takes a while to effect them.

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## Carlos

Congrats on your new ACF Carole!  I noticed your continual problems with Nitrate levels on your other thread and would like to raise up and discuss some points.  Obviously this is a mature settled tank with en established bio-filter with a good colony of bacteria.  Also, 40PPM isn't low, but it's not terrible numbers either.  So let's leave that alone and look at other posibilities.  

Your test kit might be bad (compare with friend's kit or take water sample in clean bag to local pet shop for complimentary test to compare your test result.  

If test kit bad, replace, if good, then test tap water again after using your de-chlorinator/conditioner.  If Nitrates are detected; then your water company is using chloramines in their treatment facility and you have to counter it.  There are few conditioners that will do that.  I'm currently using Seachem's VITRO (saltwater) line product "Alpha."  Bottle appears more expensive than others; but when you consider it's highly concentrated and you use just a bit, it's actually cheaper in the long run.  

If no Nitrate reading in tap; now it's becoming a real challenge.  Only thing I could think of is that you might have used or are using an Ammonia/Nitrite neutralizing conditioner that is giving you false Nitrate readings across the spectrum.  I do not recommend those products unless and emergency is at hand due to the fact that they sequester so much Ammonia and Nitrites from water they can starve your beneficial bacteria to point your whole bio-filter could crash.  Also, once you use them there is no way to tell where your actual levels of Ammonia and Nitrites are because many kits continue to read the "sequestered" Ammonia and Nitrite levels.

Other methods of lowering Nitrates in freshwater systems are available but are either costly (sulfur based anaerobic reactors); or of limited short timed results (liquid removers, de-nitrate pebbles, nitrate removing media) and in my experience are inefficient.  You can certainly help the issue with any of the above but don't expect miracles unless running a reactor that off gases N to air.  

Natural plants will obviously use Nitrates as a nutrient; but in order to get a great benefit from them you have to grow plants aggressively and do a weekly pruning.  By removing that plant biomass is how you rapidly export extra nutrients from the tank. If plants are left in tank with little to no pruning the Nitrate lowering will be much reduced compared to aggressive plant growth and removal.

Sorry I get long winded but I know you've been baffled by the mysterious Nitrate problem.  The fact that you so many water changes with very limited effect is what has me thinking problem is related with water source, test kit, or some unknown chemical messing with test kit readings.  Apologize if you previously checked items I mentioned and do hope we can bring your Nitrate levels down a bit, at least to establish a larger buffer zone in case something goes bad.  Congrats again on new frog and may it have a long winded life with you  :Frog Smile:  .

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## Michael

Also Carole did you purchase SeaChem's Prime water conditioner? It will not only detoxify Ammonia but also Nitrite and Nitrate, it's a fantastic product. 

And Carlos is absolutely right, using a water conditioner and THEN testing water will always give a false positive, usually with Ammonia. API also recommends that you thoroughly clean and DRY the tubes before testing between uses.

I've actually tested my tap water the other day and my API test kit tells me there is actually .50ppm ammonia in my TAP! I'm not sure if this is accurate, water kits aren't always accurate but they're the best tools we have really to test with.

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