High nitrate in tap water

[Graeme]

Just found out that I am fighting a losing battle here :-)

Tank has been setup for a few months now, all fish are fine and ammonia is 0
and PH is around 7-7.5. Water looks clear when the tank lights are off, but
once they come on there is a kind of milky colour to the water. This I
believed was the tank still going though a cycle. Now after this length of
time I not too sure.

While Ammonia and Nitrite are 0, Nitrate is always around 50-100. This is
the cause of the cloudy water, as I can't see any other reason. I have been
performing a water change every 2 weeks for about 2 weeks now to try and
remove the problem, no luck.

I always add Tetra Aquasafe to the water before adding it to the tank, so
once I made up a bucket of water as I normally do I tested the Nitrates, and
it registered at about 50.

So it seems each time I do a water change I just add to the problem.
Looking at products available (in the UK) to remove or help there is
Interpet's Nitrasafe, which sounds like it is added into the filter, I have
a Fluval Plus 2 filter so not sure if that will fit or even work?

But even if I do add something like that to the tank, when I do water
changes it will just add the Nitrates back in. Maybe I should treat water
before adding it to the tank?

Or maybe there is a solution I am over looking?

Graeme

[Mel]

How big is your tank?
Was that a typo when you said that you've been performing a water change
every 2 weeks for 2 weeks? I assume it is?If you are doing a water change
once every 2 weeks then that probably isn't enough.
I do know that Juwel now make nitrate removing sponges which slot into their
filters. Perhaps you could get hold of some of them and cut them to fit your
filter? Or get yourself a new Juwel tank (although that's rather an
expensive way of going about it!) lol
Mel.

"Graeme" > wrote in message
...
> Just found out that I am fighting a losing battle here :-)
>
> Tank has been setup for a few months now, all fish are fine and ammonia is
0
> and PH is around 7-7.5. Water looks clear when the tank lights are off,
but
> once they come on there is a kind of milky colour to the water. This I
> believed was the tank still going though a cycle. Now after this length
of
> time I not too sure.
>
> While Ammonia and Nitrite are 0, Nitrate is always around 50-100. This is
> the cause of the cloudy water, as I can't see any other reason. I have
been
> performing a water change every 2 weeks for about 2 weeks now to try and
> remove the problem, no luck.
>
> I always add Tetra Aquasafe to the water before adding it to the tank, so
> once I made up a bucket of water as I normally do I tested the Nitrates,
and
> it registered at about 50.
>
> So it seems each time I do a water change I just add to the problem.
> Looking at products available (in the UK) to remove or help there is
> Interpet's Nitrasafe, which sounds like it is added into the filter, I
have
> a Fluval Plus 2 filter so not sure if that will fit or even work?
>
> But even if I do add something like that to the tank, when I do water
> changes it will just add the Nitrates back in. Maybe I should treat water
> before adding it to the tank?
>
> Or maybe there is a solution I am over looking?
>
> Graeme
>
>

[Graeme]

> How big is your tank?
> Was that a typo when you said that you've been performing a water change
> every 2 weeks for 2 weeks? I assume it is?If you are doing a water change
> once every 2 weeks then that probably isn't enough.

Sorry yes, I have been doing water changes every 2 days for 2 weeks. The
tank is quite small, about 20G. I may go and buy Interpet's Nitrasafe, read
a few comments online which says it works, so will be cheaper than a new
tank :-)

I don't think it will do any harm, just will keep an eye on the water
condition. I do feel its a safe bet that the cloudy water is caused by the
high nitrates. There is no gravel in the tank, so its not just dirty water.

Only visible when the lights are on, so that could be another solution -
leave them off ;-)

Graeme


> I do know that Juwel now make nitrate removing sponges which slot into
their
> filters. Perhaps you could get hold of some of them and cut them to fit
your
> filter? Or get yourself a new Juwel tank (although that's rather an
> expensive way of going about it!) lol
> Mel.
>
> "Graeme" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Just found out that I am fighting a losing battle here :-)
> >
> > Tank has been setup for a few months now, all fish are fine and ammonia
is
> 0
> > and PH is around 7-7.5. Water looks clear when the tank lights are off,
> but
> > once they come on there is a kind of milky colour to the water. This I
> > believed was the tank still going though a cycle. Now after this length
> of
> > time I not too sure.
> >
> > While Ammonia and Nitrite are 0, Nitrate is always around 50-100. This
is
> > the cause of the cloudy water, as I can't see any other reason. I have
> been
> > performing a water change every 2 weeks for about 2 weeks now to try and
> > remove the problem, no luck.
> >
> > I always add Tetra Aquasafe to the water before adding it to the tank,
so
> > once I made up a bucket of water as I normally do I tested the Nitrates,
> and
> > it registered at about 50.
> >
> > So it seems each time I do a water change I just add to the problem.
> > Looking at products available (in the UK) to remove or help there is
> > Interpet's Nitrasafe, which sounds like it is added into the filter, I
> have
> > a Fluval Plus 2 filter so not sure if that will fit or even work?
> >
> > But even if I do add something like that to the tank, when I do water
> > changes it will just add the Nitrates back in. Maybe I should treat
water
> > before adding it to the tank?
> >
> > Or maybe there is a solution I am over looking?
> >
> > Graeme
> >
> >
>
>

[Kodiak]

How often do you flush your filter out?
No matter how often you change water,
if your filter is very cruddy, your water will always be cloudy.
....Kodiak

"Graeme" > wrote in message
...
> > How big is your tank?
> > Was that a typo when you said that you've been performing a water change
> > every 2 weeks for 2 weeks? I assume it is?If you are doing a water
change
> > once every 2 weeks then that probably isn't enough.
>
> Sorry yes, I have been doing water changes every 2 days for 2 weeks. The
> tank is quite small, about 20G. I may go and buy Interpet's Nitrasafe,
read
> a few comments online which says it works, so will be cheaper than a new
> tank :-)
>
> I don't think it will do any harm, just will keep an eye on the water
> condition. I do feel its a safe bet that the cloudy water is caused by
the
> high nitrates. There is no gravel in the tank, so its not just dirty
water.
>
> Only visible when the lights are on, so that could be another solution -
> leave them off ;-)
>
> Graeme
>
>
> > I do know that Juwel now make nitrate removing sponges which slot into
> their
> > filters. Perhaps you could get hold of some of them and cut them to fit
> your
> > filter? Or get yourself a new Juwel tank (although that's rather an
> > expensive way of going about it!) lol
> > Mel.
> >
> > "Graeme" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > Just found out that I am fighting a losing battle here :-)
> > >
> > > Tank has been setup for a few months now, all fish are fine and
ammonia
> is
> > 0
> > > and PH is around 7-7.5. Water looks clear when the tank lights are
off,
> > but
> > > once they come on there is a kind of milky colour to the water. This
I
> > > believed was the tank still going though a cycle. Now after this
length
> > of
> > > time I not too sure.
> > >
> > > While Ammonia and Nitrite are 0, Nitrate is always around 50-100.
This
> is
> > > the cause of the cloudy water, as I can't see any other reason. I
have
> > been
> > > performing a water change every 2 weeks for about 2 weeks now to try
and
> > > remove the problem, no luck.
> > >
> > > I always add Tetra Aquasafe to the water before adding it to the tank,
> so
> > > once I made up a bucket of water as I normally do I tested the
Nitrates,
> > and
> > > it registered at about 50.
> > >
> > > So it seems each time I do a water change I just add to the problem.
> > > Looking at products available (in the UK) to remove or help there is
> > > Interpet's Nitrasafe, which sounds like it is added into the filter, I
> > have
> > > a Fluval Plus 2 filter so not sure if that will fit or even work?
> > >
> > > But even if I do add something like that to the tank, when I do water
> > > changes it will just add the Nitrates back in. Maybe I should treat
> water
> > > before adding it to the tank?
> > >
> > > Or maybe there is a solution I am over looking?
> > >
> > > Graeme
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

[Tim Neobard]

Norfolk in the UK is especially high in nitrates. Mine comes out 20ppm from
tap.
Makes you wonder how safe it all is...