help...high nitrare

[charlieisleofwight]

hello all,
is anyone able to give us some advise.... we have had the fish for about a year now, doing regular water changes. the ph is 7.6 & nitrate 160ppm. our water is hard, so we have just started pinching the rain water from our neighbours water butt!!!!
we have been advised to do 10% change every 3 days.... we have but still 160ppm !
any ideas??
regards charlie

 

[Fiori]

Have you check for a nitrate reading in your tap water? Some areas can actually have high nitrates in the water we're supposed to drink

 

[WILDER]

Have you looked at your sponges in the filter might need a rinse in old tank water if they are really clogged up and messy.

 

[charlieisleofwight]

checked them & tap water is 10ppm nitrate??

 

[Rodders]

Im just about to put a interpet nitrasafe sachet in my filter that absorbs nitrates cause my tap water has extremely high levels of it in it.
If you havnt got any live plants, theres no other way of removing nitrates besides water changes or these sachets that soak it up.

Nitrate isnt has harmful to fish as nitrite.

There is a product called Amquel that removes, nitrites, nitrates, ammonia, chlorine the lot. but its more chemicals, i've used it and its great, but i'd prefer to use this sachet im getting that just soaks up nitrates without putting chemicals in.

Theres another product called Nitrazorb, does the same thing as the interpet nitrasafe.

 

[Silly me]

what about a Denitrator coil??

removes nitrates out of water, and some can do as much a 30l of water a day..

 

[Rodders]

Interpet nitrasafe is spose to bring the tank down to a safe level of 25mg in a few hours. Ofcourse it will depend on the size of the tank, but this is why i went for that. It also has a capacity to soak up 7000mg, so should last for a while too.

Never heard of a Denitrator coil, how does it work?

 

[Bignose]

If you have had the fish for a year, does that mean you have had the nitrate test kit for about that year, too? If so, you might consider replacing it, or at least taking a sample to the LFS to have them test it. Nitrate tests can expire very quickly and then you may get results like what you are saying.

Also, a few more live plants will suck that up -- though with nitrates that high, I am surprised you dont have some algae soup plus fish. Something like some hornwort is almost a nitrate sponge -- a few floating aorund my tank keeps the nitrates between 5 and 10 ppm. Hornwort is also great since it helps uptake some heavy minerals, like copper, out of the water, too.

Amquel+ detoxifies nitrate, I suspect by reacting with the ion and effectively hiding it in the water. But it is still floating around in your tank, somewhere and who knows when that is going to come back and bite ya.

Otherwise, water changes, again and again. 10 ppm is not dangerous. 160 is well above 100 which is considered an absolute max. Under 50 is far better. But, you need to do the water changes gradually (hence the 10% every day) so the water chemistry does not change too much and stress your fish (any more than living in 160 ppm nitrates!)

 

[Rattler71]

Water butt?


Scott

 

[Hogwash]

Water butt?


Scott

A big barrel that collects rainwater