Nitrate Removal Products

[Andari]

I know I'm going to get burned for even going here but have a a bit of a delima.

This may be a SW question but hear me out. I'd tried for months to successfully get my SW tank up and running. I found that my Nitrate levels were pretty much always to high and no matter how many water changes I did it didn't get better. My tank did fine with just two clowns in it but whenever I tried to add a new fish they shortly dropped dead. I was told that tap water would work. (I was seriously misinformed). The tap water we have here on base is generally about a 40 in nitrates. I was told to use R/O water, but the base will not let me install and R/O filter in on base houseing. This town is so small that I there is no business here that sells water other then walmart and I hate to have to go by 40 1gal jugs. We tried a Nitrate remover product that resulted in the deaths of my clowns speedy and shamus. After it was to late my husband read that the product was for freshwater not SW. Needless to say my SW tank now houses only a couple snails and a few crabs.
So being that Freshwater fish aren't generally as sensitive as sw I'm going to try to convert to fresh water. Finally I'm to my question. Is it ok to add a Nitrate removal product to the water I'll be using for water changes? I'm set up and ready to add some shrimp to my tank but I wondered if I should add the nitrate remover since I know that my tap water has a high nitrate lvl to begin with? I'm not sure how much of a prob this will be. I hate to think that I need to sell my tanks until we PCS somewhere else and pray that it is a place with good water. Thanks for any advice.

[Jchillin]

I assume your with the military eh? Yeah, we freshies frown on nitrate removers as well. The best natural nitrate remover is live plants. To be honest, there are a few of us planted folks who would love nothing better than to get our hands on your water.

If you are to consider going planted, head on over to the planted tank forum. We will be glad to help assimilate...erm, help you out.

[Andari]

Originally Posted by Jchillin

I assume your with the military eh? Yeah, we freshies frown on nitrate removers as well. The best natural nitrate remover is live plants. To be honest, there are a few of us planted folks who would love nothing better than to get our hands on your water.

Bahaha ha.. sorry had to get that out.

Yes we are an Air Force Family.

Ok I'll head over that way.. lol..

[joannde]

What ^he^ said !! I agree that the best way to remove nitrates is with live plants - and it looks nice too And it doesn't have to be complicated at all - you get go as fancy as you want with the plants, but my tank is very simple, the fish love it and the nitrates stay in check.

[Andari]

I went to Boise today and bought some plants for my saltwater and my freshwater tanks. I'm going to test everyday for a few days to see how the plants do with the nitrates.. Thanks for the help. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[theotheragentm]

Clams and other filter feeders will remove nitrates from the water, but they're very hard to keep alive apparently.

[STARFYRE]

I would rather not go the route of using additives either. One thing I have found that works pretty well is Nitra-zorb. It's a pouch you stick in the filter box. It worked pretty good for me. That may be a quick fix till you have the plants set-up in your tank.