Anything That Truely Removes Nitrates?

[LolaLouie]

I am desperate to get my nitrates down and was wondering if there is any product that can help. I have clearmax which is supposed to do the job but seems to have no effect. I also found peat removed nitrates but as a member on this forum told me (and i soon found out for myself) this is only temporary.

So has anyone found anything that works (other than RO water) to really remove nitrates?!?

Thanks

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Plants (in large enough quanties compelte remove nitrate, a small amount of fast growing or floating plants will help though).

There are lots of nitrate removing filter media out there, Nitra-Zorb is one good one that springs to mind. Often these kinds of chemical media do only have a limited lifespan so will need to be replaced regularly.

Do you have high nitrates in your tap water? If not then just more regular water changes will bring the nitrate down in the tank.

If you have high nitrate in your tap water then chemical removal media or RO water is probably the best option (RO water has to be treated to raise the KH and get the PH to the right level though).

To be honest if your tap water has high nitrates but the tank is below 70-80ppm I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[tigermoth2]

I agree with Barney - plants are the way to go.
Having been through the water testing with my tank I thought it would be interesting to test my pond water.
My pond is very heavily planted and my tap water shows 10 ppm of nitrate and my tank between 5 and 10 ppm when last tested.
The pond showed 0 ppm which was a real surprise to me. This was done last month before the plants start this seasons growth. Plants will have fertiliser tabs added to there soil, especially the water lilies.
Goldfish and orfe came through the winter happily!
Bob

 

[LolaLouie]

Thanks for the replies, in my 200l tank i have around 30 plants so it's faily heavily planted. My tap water is between 40ppm and 80ppm in the tank I have normally kept it between 20ppm and 30ppm but since I have raised the stocking levels I can't seem to get the tank water below 40ppm. I have german Rams which I know are intolerant of high level of nitrates.

I have just bought a second filter to run alongside my 1st, the filter I have now is for 300 litres and my tank is 200, I will be getting another filter which also filters 300 litres so I will have 3 times the filter capacity of my tank... will this remove any nitrates?

Thanks again for replies

 

[seangee11 4]

Thanks for the replies, in my 200l tank i have around 30 plants so it's faily heavily planted. My tap water is between 40ppm and 80ppm in the tank I have normally kept it between 20ppm and 30ppm but since I have raised the stocking levels I can't seem to get the tank water below 40ppm. I have german Rams which I know are intolerant of high level of nitrates.

I have just bought a second filter to run alongside my 1st, the filter I have now is for 300 litres and my tank is 200, I will be getting another filter which also filters 300 litres so I will have 3 times the filter capacity of my tank... will this remove any nitrates?

Thanks again for replies

Filtration itself won't remove nitrates as this is the end product of the nitrogen cycle. I think your options are

• Add more plants
• Do more water changes
• Use a chemical to remove it

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Not by itself no, you would have to add some type of chemical media that removes nitrate.

The bacteria that convert nitrate to a gaseous form can only survive in a anaerobic (oxygen free) environment. There is too much oxygen in the water going through the filter for these bacteria to live (which is why in FW setups your nitrates will constantly rise unless you do water changes or have another way of removing them).

You can make de-nitrification filters fairly easily. The most common method is using some form of “deep sand bed”. Basically somewhere within your setup you will have a low flow area with a layer of sand. Typically this layer will be over 5-8 inch’s (or more) deep which creates an anaerobic environment for the bacteria to grow.

 

[CFC]

If your nitrates are only 40ppm then you are already doing a great job considering you are on London tapwater. To be honest your only real option is to do water changes with R/O water if you want to get them any lower, chemical media's become saturated and stop working very quickly.

 

[LolaLouie]

Thanks for the advice. Ok so say I leave my nitrates at 40ppm or at best 30ppm are my German Rams going to suffer?

 

[Colin_T]

you could invest in a de-nitrater. Basically a filter that breaks down nitrates into nitrogen gas and a few other components. This leaves you with clean nitrate free water. We were discussing this a few weeks ago on here and someone found a brand that has sulpher in it and doesn't need feeding. Perhaps check out the marine section for denitraters.