High nitrates in tap water - help!

[QueenBee]

Tested my tap water as advised by someone on here yesterday. Came back 40 plus on my API kit. It explains why I've.had high readings every few days when I've tested the water.

Before I tested my tap water I did a 25% water change yesterday after getting the high nitrate reading, adding Stress Coat as usual. Ammonia and nitrite levels normal.

After I discovered my tap waters nitrate levels I retested my tank, still high in nitrates of course.

I've since added Prime as per instructions. LPS for advice, got Seachem Matrix, added that to the filters (I have 2 tanks).added Stability at the same time as advised on Matrix bottle.

Nitrates still 40 plus this morning. Fish seem ok, eating etc.

Added another dose of Prime.

Just in case my kit / testing is somehow faulty, I'm going to take a tap water and fish tank sample to my LPS to be tested as well - but that's not for over 24 hours as I'm out of town for the day today.

What else can I do?

Tap water isn't always high in nitrates - 2 weeks ago I had low readings of nitrates in both my tanks (0-5) over the past few months, so I'm hoping this will be temporary!!!

 

[Retired Viking]

Do you have any live plants? Here is a site that list plants that can help reduce your nitrate levels by absorbing them.
https://www.amoskeagfishways.org/best-aquarium-plants-to-reduce-nitrates/

 

[Byron]

Nitrates this high in the source water need special handling. @AbbeysDad has succeeded in this, maybe other members I cannot remember, but they will advise.

A note on Prime. This is a conditioner and should not be used except to condition new (fresh) water. The buildup of chemicals is detrimental to fish. Also, the detoxification of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate by Prime is temporary, according to Seachem 24-36 hours, after which any ammonia/nitrite/nitrate still present will revert to the toxic form. Another thing, our test kits like the API will show ammonia, nitrite or nitrate when Prime is used; this is because Prime detoxifies them by binding them somehow, not removing them; while Prime is active the substances are not toxic, but once the effectiveness of Prime is gone, any of the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate still present will again become toxic.

It is true that plants, especially fast growers, will probably reduce nitrate, but not when it is already in the source water by very much. The reason nitrate is lower in planted tanks is not because the plants are taking up nitrate, but rather because they take up so much ammonia/ammonium and this results in much less being used by nitrifying bacteria which means less nitrite and less nitrate down the line. But overwhelming the tank with 20-40 ppm of nitrate is way beyond the capacity of plants.

 

[Naughts]

Seachem matrix and Seachem stability tackle ammonia and nitrite build up by providing surface area and bacteria to break it down to nitrite and nitrate, so they won't help here. And plants prefer ammonia so won't take up much nitrates (zero impact for me), they help by dealing with fish waste before it converts to nitrate, not by taking up nitrate directly.
I use API Nitra-zorb in the filters to deal with the nitrates from the source water. It works for me.

 

[QueenBee]

Gosh, it's all a bit depressing .

I tested the nitrate levels last might, they had come down to around 5 . Maybe it'll be temporary, but I slept bit better last night.

Cos the levels were ok, I didn't add anything else / do anything. I haven't re-tested my tap water - no point unless I'm going to do a water change; I will test my tap water if / when the nitrate levels go up though. Then it'll become a bit of a Russian roulette if they're still high.

 

[Byron]

Gosh, it's all a bit depressing .

I tested the nitrate levels last might, they had come down to around 5 . Maybe it'll be temporary, but I slept bit better last night.

Cos the levels were ok, I didn't add anything else / do anything. I haven't re-tested my tap water - no point unless I'm going to do a water change; I will test my tap water if / when the nitrate levels go up though. Then it'll become a bit of a Russian roulette if they're still high.

You have another thread dealing with cycling a used tank. In that thread, nitrates in the tap water were stated to be 4.7 (round it up to 5) ppm. There is nothing wrong with that level provided it does not begin to increase.

Are you testing the tank water or the tap water here?

 

[QueenBee]

You have another thread dealing with cycling a used tank. In that thread, nitrates in the tap water were stated to be 4.7 (round it up to 5) ppm. There is nothing wrong with that level provided it does not begin to increase.

Are you testing the tank water or the tap water here?

The 4.7 is what the last recorded nitrate level in the tap water, based on local council testing - i.e., very low amount.

It's when I've tested my tap water at home, it's come up as being 40 plus on my API test kit

 

[Essjay]

Can we rule out one possibility?

When you test with the API tester, do you shake bottle #2 and then the test tube as the instructions say? Not shaking them enough is the most common cause of an inaccurate nitrate reading.

 

[Byron]

The 4.7 is what the last recorded nitrate level in the tap water, based on local council testing - i.e., very low amount.

It's when I've tested my tap water at home, it's come up as being 40 plus on my API test kit

This suggests a problem with your testing. Essjay mentioned one possibility...you need to shake Regent #2 for a good 2 minutes before adding drops to the vial from this regent. The solids in Regent 2 can dissipate to the bottom and this vigorous shaking re-mixes them.

 

[QueenBee]

I add drops from first bottle, shake tube for 30 secs, then add drops from 2,nd bottle - after I've shaken that for 30 seconds ... Then shake the test tube for 1 minute.

For interest, I tested without shaking the tunes as much and got the same reading. I've also had nitrate readings of zero, a couple weeks ago, and haven't changed the way I do the test.

It's definitely my tap water - an experienced fish owner at the LPS has sky high nitrates too. She couldn't understand why she had a whole heap of fish die. She lives in a street of mine, so same water supply.

I've contacted my council - closed for the weekend now - someone from the Environmental team will phone me. Monday hopefully.

Readings yesterday from my tap water - 40-80 plus. I tested it at home, then took a sample to my LPS, where they also tested it.

I did a 30% water change in my tanks once the reading a got over 80 .. I'm testing daily, and continuing to add Prime when level gets over 40 (prime helps keep levels below 40 so it seems)

Local environmental info says putting a filter on my tap or boiling the water won't fix the nitrates.

Hopefully the Council sort it, and SOON.

 

[StevenF]

I strongly suggest you contact Abbeysdad he does filter out nitrates from his tap water. Most low cost filters you can buy won't do it. RO systems do but they can be expensive and you need to remineralize the water and refertilize it. Abbeysdad uses a filter that specifically removes nitrate and that filter can be recharged and reused multiple times. It took some digging but here is an old thread about it. I don't know if he is still doing this.

https://www.fishforums.net/threads/high-nitrates-in-source-water.442928/

As to using plants to reduce your nitrate it won't work at the high levels you have. for every bit of nitrate the plants take in they plant will need a lot of CO2 and a lot of the other nutrient plants ned There are at total of 14. And really bright light to drive fast plant growth. The best plants are ones that float on the surface of the tank Its not as easy as most people think. In my experience you can get it down about 15ppm but that is about it. If you are at 40 using a filter is probably the most effective solution.

 

[Byron]

I add drops from first bottle, shake tube for 30 secs, then add drops from 2,nd bottle - after I've shaken that for 30 seconds ... Then shake the test tube for 1 minute.

This needs correcting. Shake Regent #1 for the time they suggest (30 seconds I beelieve) and then add the required number of drops to the test tube of 5 ml of tank water, cover and agitate as they advise. Then shake the bottle of Regent #2 for a good two minutes before adding the required number of drops to the test tube [this is the critical aspect of all this, it can be difficult to get the solids re-dissolved into the liquid of Regent #2]. Cover the test tube and shake as advised by the instructions.

 

[QueenBee]

This needs correcting. Shake Regent #1 for the time they suggest (30 seconds I beelieve) and then add the required number of drops to the test tube of 5 ml of tank water, cover and agitate as they advise. Then shake the bottle of Regent #2 for a good two minutes before adding the required number of drops to the test tube [this is the critical aspect of all this, it can be difficult to get the solids re-dissolved into the liquid of Regent #2]. Cover the test tube and shake as advised by the instructions.

Ok, I'll try that.

I've found out the figure quoted on the Council webpage about the level of nitrate is actually the level of nitrate-nitrite. So when they report its 4.7mg /l, the pure nitrate level is close to 25.

My tap water comes from two sources, and blended together, one source is low in nitrate (around 2mg/l, the other however, is 50mg/l. I'm not sure if that is pure nitrate or nitrate-nitrite, the later being what is toxic to humans

 

[Essjay]

There are two ways of measuring nitrate - the whole nitrate or just the nitrogen part. They are usually called nitrate-NO3 and nitrate-N. Our test kits measure nitrate-NO3. My water company uses nitrate-NO3. From what has been said on the forum in the past, American water suppliers use nitrate-N. Your water supplier may also use nitrate-N which could well account for the difference between their reported value and your test results.

The conversion is nitrate-NO3 = nitrate-N x 4.427.

So the 4.7 quoted for your tap water would convert to 20.8 with our test kits if they do use nitrate-N



My water company gives these three in the water quality report:
nitrate as NO3
nitrite as NO2
nitrate/nitrite formula as NO2

I have no idea what nitrate/nitrite formula is, but nitrate as NO3 and nitrite as NO2 are the ones I need to look at.

 

[QueenBee]

Your water supplier may also use nitrate-N which could well account for the difference between their reported value and your test results.

The conversion is nitrate-NO3 = nitrate-N x 4.427.

So the 4.7 quoted for your tap water would convert to 20.8 with our test kits if they do use nitrate-N

what you put made a lot more sense -but just to clarify,

the nitrate is the 4.7, and the N they report, and my tap water is N03, which is my test kit measurement?
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