Nitrate at continuous high please help!!!

[minnowbouy88]

Hi guys i have been battling my nitrate level for too long now and quite frankly have ran out of ideas,
Every week i complete a 50 - 60% water change whilst i siphon the gravel and clean the tank then mid week complete a further 30%, i gravel vac daily after feeding with my marina battery powered vac and still cannot manage to lower my levels, i even use nitrate minus every week,

tank mates are 3 white clouds, 5 zebra danio and 2 sterbai cory, the tank is 26 gallon. Readings from my api liquid test are as follows

Ammonia 0

Nitrite 0

Ph 7.4

Nitrate 80ppm

Please help as i cannot stand to loose any fish due to this.

Thanks



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[Fresh2o]

How long has the tank been setup?
How much are you feeding the fish?
Have you tested the nitrate in the tap water?


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[minnowbouy88]

Hi thanks for the reply, the tank has been set up over a year now, i feed them very little amount for the exact reason of the high nitrate, i have not actually checked my tap water for nitrates, how would i go about this would i take results straight away or leave it for a while before i measure this? Also if it turns out to be the water how would i go lowering if its straight from the tap?

Thanks


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[Fresh2o]

Just measure it from the tap; no need to let it sit.
If it turns out that there are nitrates in your tap water, continue to do water changes. Depending on your lighting, you may want to try using plants to reduce the nitrates.
In 2012 I had 1.0 ppm ammonia and 5 ppm nitrate out of the tap. I kept the WCs on the low side (25-30% per week) so that the filter would not be overwhelmed. The bioload and feed were low. Conditions improved in 2013.


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[wildroseofky]

Gravel traps a lot of gunk and can keep the nitrates high. Each time you disturb the gravel it releases this stuff into the water and produces ammonia which creates more nitrates. Did you check under plants and decorations? A lot of stuff can build up under them. Have you cleaned your filter? Try taking it apart and cleaning tubes and impeller housing. That can reduce nitrates some. Floating plants like water lettuce, duckweek, and hornwort will help use up nitrates too. I have my tanks so heavily planted that I barely have nitrates.

 

[minnowbouy88]

I have just done a test on my tap water and have discovered my tap water nitrates are 80ppm this would be why my nitrates are so high, with out this they would be normal, i re did the test 3 times just to be sure and i am truly shocked that humans drink this stuff, any one have any ideas as i am completely lost now??? Thanks


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[thing fish]

are you shaking the heck out of bottle number 2 until it feels like your arm will fall off? im not sure that failure to do so would give you those high readings or not, but it is worth asking anyway.

 

[minnowbouy88]

Haha yeah like literally thrashing it to pieces for over 30 seconds lol, im just stuck now in finding an option to solving the high nitrates, long term effect will be devastating on me and my fish


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[PNWaquarist]

Sorry to hear that. The EPA limit is 10 ppm. If you get city water, call your local water department.

 

[Brookster123]

Where do you live? That's far above allowable limits where I'm from. You can use Rodi or distilled water for changes?

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[BillD]

With that fish load, it would take a long time to get to 80ppm, even if you changed water only once every month or two. You need to check the validity of the test kit.
Sorry posted this before I saw all of it. Regardless, there is no way there should be that much nitrate in water you should be able to drink.

 

[minnowbouy88]

I live in the uk im from london, i am beyond shocked at then readings myself its ridiculous, i am absolutely gutted as it appears one of my white clouds has just become unwell he is finding it hard to balance but still very much active, he is also not eating either but is not bloated atall, very much a bad start to the week for me


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[trennamw]

Here in the US high nitrate in tapwater happens a lot in areas that have farmland, or ones that have/had septic tanks instead of sewer systems. The gov't intervenes on public water supplies but less so on private wells.


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[wildroseofky]

Can you get something like a PUR water filter that fits on the faucet? We do not use our water here without filtering it. Our water department is awful. I don't know if the 3 stage filters will remove nitrate but it couldn't hurt. I go through a filter every month because our water is so bad.