High nitrates in water supply

[DBrossman]

We moved in the last couple of months and since we moved, I have had an issue with the Nitrate levels in my planted tank. I know in the past to remove nitrates I have always done water changes. The problem I encounter now, is that my water supply is running at about 20ppm. I have found several products that will remove nitrates from the water, however all the products also state that they remove ammonia and nitrite. I do not wish to remove ammonia and nitrite from the tank as I already have biological filtration to accomplish that.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I am on a limited budget so RO units are out of the question. I have an idea to maybe run some of the products on the water before putting it into my tank. Any help is appreciated.

 

[aaronjohn20]

Are you on municipal water or well water? If your on city water I would call someone in your city about it bacause the epa has a strict limit on nitrates (10ppm)

 

[FeldmansFish]

+1 ^. If it isn't to late, some plants may help if they're fast growers.

 

[DBrossman]

Nitrates in water

It is city water, I have heard that the city was working on the water supply because of the water quality. I just don't know how long that could take. If I don't do anything, the water won't change for several months, conversely, if I was to do something in the next few weeks, the water would be good by the time I finish.

 

[DBrossman]

Planted tank

I have bamboo, several amazon swords, several anubias, a narrow blade grass, and a medium sized red leaf plant in the tank, all of which are growing great and I have CO2 in the tank. I only have 2 african cichlids and one pleco.

 

[jlk]

What type of products are you considering? Does your water company acknowledge the 20ppm of nitrate? The thing with the API nitrate test is that the color chart for the master test vs individuals tests is a bit different. What looks like 20+ppm on the master test chart is more like 5-10ppm on the indivdual chart. Thats why I am curious what your water co has to say about the levels because legally, they are not allowed to have levels this high for public water.

 

[DBrossman]

I was thinking about either the de-nitrate, or the chemical resin compounds that you put into your tank. I don't want to mess around with the additives. I recently bought some test strips, and while I know they are not that accurate, they showed little to no nitrates in the water. I talked to the personnel at the LFS, and they recognized the issue with the water. They made the recommendation that I get some large containers and let the water sit for a few days after adding Prime to the tap water.