Can plants bring down Nitrates

[Franco7]

I went into my lfs hopping to get an anwser of how to bring down my nitrates in my qt tank. The sales guy said to do water changes which i have been doing with no success, he also said to not feed the fish for a couple days as you can not starve fish, but what was the total shock was he said buy a couple live plants. So that what i did, but will this work and if so do i need a certain kind of plant?

Thanks in advanced guys.

 

[Jchillin]

Plants do remove nitrates from water...it's a part of the nitrogen cycle. All plants do this quite easily.

The type of plants that you could use for your tank depends on your lighting level. The sticky at the top of the forum will give you some ideas.

That being said, it may be a little better to discover why you have nitrates and remove them naturally prior to adding plants.

BTW - Long time no see.

 

[An t-iasg]

For my first plant, I had java moss in a 5 gallon tank, and my nitrates were 0. Live plants use nitrates so well that now I have to add nitrates to my tank. I have more plants now too.

Like JChillin says, it's a good idea to find out why your nitrates are excessively high. Do you know your exact reading? The nitrate level in most unplanted tanks falls between 20-40 ppm nitrates with no harm to the fish.

If your nitrate reading is higher than that, you could be overstocked, or there may be nitrates present in your tap water. In that case, doing a series of water changes won't bring the nitrate level down.

 

[Franco7]

Hey Jc ya you to, things have been going good until now lol.... I actually did read the sticky already. I have to go with low light plants i was just unsure if certain plants were better or worse to remove them you know. About the whats causing it, im at about 120ppm, i can't be over stock i mean i keep it to 5 6 fish thats all i introduce to my big tank at a time, i learned alot from here lol.. Like i said its a qt so i don't have a lot of fish in it at all, there always coming and going, but i keep a couple fish to keep the cycle going in there. I don't use tap water, its all filtered water, but what could i through in there or what would you through in tap water to clean it up, maybe i can give that a short.

by the way its a 10 gal qt

 

[BlazerFRS]

How much/often do you feed?

If you're overfeeding the excess food could be rotting and contributing to your NO3 problem...

What type are the fish you keep in there on a regular basis?

 

[Jchillin]

120ppm of NO3 is toxic. What kind of tests are you using (strips, liquid re-agent)?

 

[Franco7]

BlazerFRS there all tropical fish, i mean i have 2 baby bala sharks, 2 gold guornami's, 2 neon blue gournami's, and 1 otto. i mean like i said i have all different fish caue its a qt tank, o and 3 neons are always in it to keep it cycled. the local fish store said to not feed them or like every 3 days give them some, and see if it goes down. i only feed once a day and i try to do the feed what they can eat in 3-5 mins. usually a couple pinchs.

JC i use the drops from the fresh water test kit, the one that you get from big al's, so i know its right.

 

[rubysoho]

do you have any snails? Perhaps a bunch died over time causing this spike? Check your filter to see if there is excess gunk (or dead snails). You may even want to break down your filter and clean it. Just make sure you are washing it all off in old tank water so you don't kill the good bacteria. And don't let it get dry either.

HTH!

 

[Franco7]

Ruby, i never had snails before cause i never put plants in my tank, but besides that i never seen any snails in my big tank or in my qt. I'll def have to clean the fliter never thought of that, also someone said you can wash your filter out with luke warm tap water and that won't kill the good bacteria is that right?

 

[Jchillin]

Use your tank water to clean your filters and media. Tap water will kill off the bacteria. I'm still worried about the nitrate results. Have you tested your tap water for nitrates?

 

[Franco7]

Don't use tap when i do a water change i use flitered water from one of those big fliter systems that get stored under your sink, not the ones u attached to the actual nozzel, but one that has its own nozzel and everything. Thats why i ask earlyer what people usally put in tap water to rid it from chemicals, i guess i could try throughing some in the flitered water?

P.S. sorry jc i mised read, i never tested my flitered water for nitrates didnt think i needed too. I'll try that? What is the solution or whatever it is that you put in water to rid all the bad chemicals in the water

 

[Franco7]

Does anyone know what you can put in tap water for conditioner or whatever its called, and should i put it into my filtered water before i add it to my tanks, does anyone know?
I thought by using filtered water i wouldn't need any conditionors or anything.

Frank

 

[Franco7]

Does anyone know what you can put in tap water for conditioner or whatever its called, and should i put it into my filtered water before i add it to my tanks, does anyone know?
I thought by using filtered water i wouldn't need any conditionors or anything. Maybe this is the cause of my high nitrate maybe? I am going to check the levels in my flitered water before pouring it in and see what i get.

Thanks guys

Frank

 

[Jchillin]

Sorry...I got distracted by of all things...work.

You need to test the actual water that you are using. You can then test it after adding dechlorinator.

 

[Franco7]

No no jc not a big deal i wwas curius what everyone thought, but what does dechlorinator do? maybe thats the stuff i was talking about. Is that an actual substance or actual name of the stuff, is there a certain kind or is that it?

 

[Jchillin]

dechlorinator (actual product) removes chloramines/chlorine from the water. There are a number of products out there that do this. Aqua-Plus (brand) is the one I use.

 

[Franco7]

is one better then the other, i mean i guess it all depends on what my readings are when i test the water i do my water changes with. I know there shouldn't be any chlorine in my filtered water, so i guess i will just wait till i test my water tonight, i'll post and let you guys know.

Thanks

 

[Jchillin]

The only one I heard negative feedback on is stress-coat.

 

[Franco7]

o really, stress caot is that the same as stress zime, i heard its a good idea to put stress zime in your tank before you do water changes to calm the fish down with all the activity they won't freak out, but i havnt done it yet, but i just heard it was good practice.

 

[fprintf]

I use Prime by SeaChem. So far it has worked flawlessly and while the bottle is somewhat expensive, it only takes the tiniest drop per gallon to remove all chloramines and ammonia.