High Nitrate

[random]

Tank Size: 95 litres
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.00
Nitrate: 80

I have done my water change last night and my Nitrate levels are so high. The nitrate level has been high for few months now. Is there any way I can reduce this.


Many Thanks

 

[Harlequins]

How big was your waterchange? and what are the nitrate reading from your tap?

The best way to lower nitrates is to do a large waterchanges.

Depending what test kit you are using...if an API the nitrate bottles needs a really good shake,especially the second one,may give false readings if not shook well.

 

[random]

How big was your waterchange? and what are the nitrate reading from your tap?

The best way to lower nitrates is to do a large waterchanges.

Depending what test kit you are using...if an API the nitrate bottles needs a really good shake,especially the second one,may give false readings if not shook well.

I did water change of about 20%.
Nitrate reading from tap 40.
yes I do use the API test kit and i do shake all the bottles well.

 

[PDSimon]

Do a proper gravel clean with a bigger waterchange?

 

[Gilli]

You should be more worried about your ammonia reading - anything above 0 is a concern! Assuming your tank is fully cycled as you have a nitrite reading of 0 and a nirtrate reading have you added new fish latley? Something is causing your bio load a problem in coping. You need to be doing a 25% daily water change until it reads 0 for a few days running without the need for water changes or your fish will suffer.


Once your ammonia problem is sorted out if you have a high nitrate reading from your tap water then your tank reading will be higher than normal. 80 is nothing to worry about. Just make sure you do at least a 30% weekly water change and a good gravel vac and dont overfeed your fish. The other thing that will bring it down a bit is plenty of live plants which will use some nitrates up.

 

[hamfist]

The other thing that will bring it down a bit is plenty of live plants which will use some nitrates up.

Yes. If I had a nitrate of 40ppm out of the tap, I would strongly consider a well-planted tank to keep that under control.

Thankfully I am very lucky with my local water, which only has a nitrate of 5ppm ... which is lucky as I am useless at keeping live plants well (this could well be linked to the low nitrates).

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

As hamfist has written above, a heavily planted tank with fast growers is the best way to lower nitrates! Typically, upto 5ppm of nitrate can be removed from the water each day. This may mean you need to also invest in some plant substrate eg. Deponitmix; a carbon dioxide system; fertiliser (lucky for me my Dennerle CO[sub]2[/sub] came with a great pack of three different mixes); possibly upgraded lighting.

hamfist, have you verified your test kit recently? I'm also in Southampton (Bitterne) and my tap water readings over the last six weeks have varied from 20-40, Aquajardin and Maidenhead Aquatics in Fairoak have both tested my water about two weeks ago and they got 12-20 readings a few days after a 50% water change. What fish do you keep by the way (put them in a signiture)?