Fishkeeping - Nitrate Problem

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Hi,

I slackened off water changes whilst the Kribensis fry were still tiny in my
community tank. I've lost a pair of rams, no thought I'd better test the
water. Nitrite and Ammonia zero,
but Nitrate is running off the clock, somewhere above 150ppm. The Kribs are
big enough now so I've done 25% water changes every 4 days, thats 3 *25%.
The nitrate is still off the clock.

I mentioned this to LFS who said to check the tapwater, as numerous
customers were reporting high nitrate tapwater.

My tapwater reading varies day to day, but the lowest reading over the past
4 days is 80ppm. So water changes will have very little effect, (probably
caused the problem in the first place). Anyone else have high nitrate
tapwater? what do you suggest ?

Rich

Rich wrote:
Hi,

I slackened off water changes whilst the Kribensis fry were still tiny in my
community tank. I've lost a pair of rams, no thought I'd better test the
water. Nitrite and Ammonia zero,
but Nitrate is running off the clock, somewhere above 150ppm. The Kribs are
big enough now so I've done 25% water changes every 4 days, thats 3 *25%.
The nitrate is still off the clock.

I mentioned this to LFS who said to check the tapwater, as numerous
customers were reporting high nitrate tapwater.

My tapwater reading varies day to day, but the lowest reading over the past
4 days is 80ppm. So water changes will have very little effect, (probably
caused the problem in the first place). Anyone else have high nitrate
tapwater? what do you suggest ?

Rich

How many live plants do you have in the tank? I would tackle it by over
planting (get some stuff that grows like wildfire that is relatively
cheap). I'm not sure what level of nitrates I have in my tap water but
the planted tanks rarely get above 10ppm.

Gill

Gill

My tapwater reading varies day to day, but the lowest reading over the
past 4 days is 80ppm. So water changes will have very little effect,
(probably caused the problem in the first place). Anyone else have high
nitrate tapwater? what do you suggest ?

There are a variety of ways to lower nitrate in the tank, but you need to
ensure that you are not putting more in, as it would seem you are. At 80ppm,
that would seem to be above the legal limit which I believe is 50ppm and in
the first instance I would contact your water company, then Ofwat.If there
is a supply problem, the water company are legally obliged to provide you
with an alternative water supply, sometimes bottled, usually a bowser in the
street.

The cheapest way I can think of for reducing tap water nitrates is a
Nitragon. This is rechargeable with salt, so really cost effective at about
£25 (I think). This will drastically reduce what you are putting into your
tank.

What filtration do you have? Unfortunately, the end product of filtration in
our aquariums is nitrate, so it is a continual battle. If you have a
canister, maybe put some Siporax/ Biohome/ Alfagrog in it. Although not a
miracle cure, over time the bacteria required to reduce nitrate to nitrogen
will colonise and help to complete the cycle. You could also reduce the
amount of food you are giving. Less food = less waste = less nitrate
produced in the cycle. Plants are also reasonably good a removing
nitrogenous compounds, maybe some fast growing surface plants that are
easily scooped out as they reproduce? That said, in PFK a couple of years
ago it was said that plants prefer to feed on the free ammonia and only take
nitrate as a last resort. Hopefully you have no ammonia, nitrite reading in
your tank, but if you plant, then they may remove it before there is a
chance for it to be converted to nitrate.

Regards

Mark
www.marksfish.me.uk

Rich wrote:
Hi,

I slackened off water changes whilst the Kribensis fry were still tiny in my
community tank. I've lost a pair of rams, no thought I'd better test the
water. Nitrite and Ammonia zero,
but Nitrate is running off the clock, somewhere above 150ppm. The Kribs are
big enough now so I've done 25% water changes every 4 days, thats 3 *25%.
The nitrate is still off the clock.

I mentioned this to LFS who said to check the tapwater, as numerous
customers were reporting high nitrate tapwater.

My tapwater reading varies day to day, but the lowest reading over the past
4 days is 80ppm. So water changes will have very little effect, (probably
caused the problem in the first place). Anyone else have high nitrate
tapwater? what do you suggest ?

Rich

Try distilled water and see what result you get. I don't know about
Europe, but US standards limit tap water nitrate to 45 ppm N03- (10 ppm
nitrate-N), and readings of over 10 ppm outside of farming communities
are rare. Your test kit reading of nearly double that concentration
means that the kit is probably reading somewhat high.

Here's some info on nitrate kits and how unreliable the readings can be.
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.u...?article_id=96

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On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 18:02:39 +0000 (UTC), "Rich"
wrote:

Anyone else have high nitrate
tapwater? what do you suggest ?

While your tap water is no use collect rainwater.

I don't believe anybody's pa****er hs 80ppm NO3. I do believe,
from observation, hobby NO3 testkits are not accurate.

It's my guess that this problem is more to do with old
tank syndrome than anythig else, that is a pH shift up
makes the small amounts of ammonia in the currently acidified
water turn very toxic.

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