nitrate question

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DougInPA

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 17, 2017
Messages
16
My tap water has around 20ppm so when I do a water change Im putting nitrate right back in. I bought some drift wood to help and seachem prime. Any other advice?

Thanks!
 
Using RO or distilled water would eliminate the nitrates..You just need to remineralize ..
The wood with only effect the hardness and parameter related like Ph Gh ...
There are ways used in marine aquariums to reduce eliminate water changes needed due to nitrates..
Bio plastics
Carbon dosing
Neither expensive long term or that difficult.
Just need a test kit and time...
That being said 20 is not all that bad :hide:
Possibly try doing 75% removal 50% fill and another removal to 25% left or less then refill with 20 ppm..Should not be much over..
Plants will help possibly if your fish allow them...
 
Your Tap Water

My tap water has around 20ppm so when I do a water change Im putting nitrate right back in. I bought some drift wood to help and seachem prime. Any other advice?

Thanks!

Hello Doug...

Most public water supplies have a trace of nitrate. I wouldn't fret over it. Just keep to an aggressive water change routine by removing and replacing most of it every week or so. This will keep the dissolved fish and plant waste to a minimum. This will guarantee stable water conditions and that's all the fish need to be healthy.

B
 
Thanks for the replies. I saw a post where someone did a 10% water change on a 55 gallon tank so approx. 5 gallons. They mixed 2.5 gallons of tap with 2.5 gallons of spring water. Wonder if that works to reduce nitrates.
 
Water Chemistry

Thanks for the replies. I saw a post where someone did a 10% water change on a 55 gallon tank so approx. 5 gallons. They mixed 2.5 gallons of tap with 2.5 gallons of spring water. Wonder if that works to reduce nitrates.

Such a small water change on a larger tank will have little or no affect. RO and distilled water are expensive if you're going to dose a larger tank. You're attempting to change the water chemistry and that's risky for the fish because you can't maintain the change long term. It's best to keep it simple and just use a standard water treatment and change most of the water every week.

B
 
Using RO or distilled water would eliminate the nitrates..You just need to remineralize ..
The wood with only effect the hardness and parameter related like Ph Gh ...
There are ways used in marine aquariums to reduce eliminate water changes needed due to nitrates..
Bio plastics
Carbon dosing
Neither expensive long term or that difficult.
Just need a test kit and time...
That being said 20 is not all that bad :hide:
Possibly try doing 75% removal 50% fill and another removal to 25% left or less then refill with 20 ppm..Should not be much over..
Plants will help possibly if your fish allow them...

Carbon dosing sadly only works in salt water :(

You're attempting to change the water chemistry and that's risky for the fish because you can't maintain the change long term.

Try telling that to discus keepers....

Many people with your problem use a mixture of reverse osmosis water and tap water. If you mix both at a 50% ratio then you will drop the water you're adding in down to 10ppm of nitrates which isn't great, but better than 20. Sadly this necessitates a place to store the water with access to electricity to keep the water heated. I personally use trash cans in my basement for storing water.

Otherwise, I would heavily increase the water change schedule to a 50% 2 - 3 times weekly. You should shoot at keeping the nitrates below 40ppm. It can be done without changing the source water, but it's just harder to do.
 
I personally use trash cans in my basement for storing water.

I thought I was the only one. But I use the living room, because no basement. ;-)

My tap water issue isn't nitr8s, but PH. It's 8.4 out of the tap, even after sitting for 24, 36, 48 hours. So while the water is in the garbage can I treat it with Prime and PH Down. I have a heater, an airstone, and a small sponge filter in there too, just because. By the time the water gets to my tank, it is close to PH 7.0 and 78 degrees F.
 
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