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Hi

I have a 21 gallon freshwater planted tank. It has been up and running for almost a year and I have a problem.....!

I appear to have high nitrate levels.....I have tested my water and it came out at PH 7.8, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0 and Nitrate 80. I double checked the main reasons for high nitrate and have crossed out underplanting and too few water changes (I change 25% once a week).

I have a small hair algae problem so about a week ago I changed one of my course filter pads for a Nitrate Remover pad......!

AS a matter of curiosity I tested the water supply that I use for my tank and it came out almost identical except that the Nitrate was registering 60. What can I do?.....I have increased the frequency of my water changes but can't help thinking that if the water I'm putting in has high nitrate I'm only going to make the problem worse.....

The situation is getting pretty desperate as I have lost two dwarf gourami's, about seven baby guppies and have now just lost my 2 year old angel fish as a result and I'm gutted! Really worried about losing my BN Pl*co.....

FYI my stock list is as follows:

2 x Dwarf Gourami
1 x BN Pl*co
2 x Red Eye Tetra
5 x Neon Tetra
3 x Black Molly
1 x Banded Corydoras
1 x Albino Corydoras
4 x Guppy (Female)
3 x Guppy (Male)
2 x Honey Gourami

I'm pretty sure that it isn't overstocked but let me know if you think I've got it wrong....

A visit to my LFS suggested using mineral water....I'm not overjoyed at this option as the cost and effort involved in getting the water currently appears too much.....

Hope you can help

The 'very worried' Fish Lady

You can dilute your tap water nitrates by simply adding normal bottled drinking water found in food stores to your water change water...

Test to find the amount required to reduce the nitrates to a happy level, perhaps around 35ppm.

--garyroland.



Last edited by garyroland at 17-Jan-2005 07:33

I know that tetra does something that is called Nitrate Minus (Link) which they claim controls the nitrate levels. I have never tried it, so I don't know whether it works as they claim it does. To use this you have to place the substance underneath the gravel, which might be quite a headache...

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals make a tap water filter which removes the nitrates as well. They're not so expensive, but if your nitrates are so high it means the resins in the filter will be exhausted very quickly, which means frequent refills, which means they're not that cheap in the long run.

Then again, there's reverse osmosis, which will remove the nitrates as well. The initial cost is very high, but I know that on ebay.co.uk there are very affordable products which do not require too much technical installation. I think that if you get a cheap reverse osmosis filter, it will pay off in the long run, and instead of buying one of those RO Right product, you can just mix the filtered water with your tap water to get your required result.

There are also nitrate filters, but they're quite expensive.

These are all the options that I know of. I hope it helps.

Hi,
If your tap water truly has a nitrate reading of 60 and
your tank 80, that would indicate that your fish are
only adding about 20. You indicate that the tank is
planted. I would suggest that along with water changes
perhaps with water from the store (distilled or "purified"
you might be better served with some floating plants.

Floating plants take their nutrients directly from the
water and will soak up the nitrates. Plants such as
hornwart, wisteria, anacharis, and lilly type plants
will act as nitrate sponges.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I agreee with frank. Floating hornwort, will reduce your nitrAtes quite quickly (I'm @the point where I'm adding as I have a somewhat low stock load). Hygro polysperma is also somewhat low light plant (1.5-2wpg) and rather hardy that should do a good job of absorbing the nitrates.

^_^

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Floating too many plants on the water surface can also create a massive dissolved oxygen deficit in tank water...

Open water must be had to allow gas and oxygen exchange, no matter how many plants you believe can provide the dissolved oxygen.

Nitrate takeup also varies from plant to plant so don't be too confident.

--garyroland.



Last edited by garyroland at 18-Jan-2005 12:29

Hornwort is known for consuming nitrAte quickly which is why it's being suggested. It doesnt take that much and since plants also produce oxygen shouldn't lead to a deficit in oxygen in the tank. I'd suggest a very small ammount to start with.

^_^
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I haven't seen any figures proving Hornwort has a large nitrate uptake not have I seen the amount required to control nitrate...

There's no bio load figures and no tank size figures to go by either.

Rarely do you see a tank full of plants without a filter running to circulate and move surface water.

--garyroland.

I never saw that there wasnt a filter in the tank.

My experience may have been mistesting however the 30 gallon had 80ppm nitrates. Two days after adding a somewhat large handful of hornwort it was down to 20ppm.

It's just a suggestion that I feel would work if you insist on criticizing me for my experiences then fine.

^_^

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