High Nitrates

[Sasha]

Hey everyone.

The Nitrates in my 29 gallon is really high for some reason. It's reading over 80 ppm, on the edge of becoming 160 ppm. I noticed the Nitrates were high on Wednesday, after I found one of my Koi angels dead. I immediately did a 50% water. So far, I've lost four fish in four days - two Black angels, one Koi angel and one Platy. I did another 50% water change on Friday, but the Nitrates are still pretty high. I stopped feeding the fish for a few days to see if that helps bring the Nitrates down.

The other readings for the 29 gallon are . . .
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 80+ ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
pH - 7.0

Surprisingly, the Nitrates in the tap water is also high. I think that the large amounts of rain that we got over here a couple weeks ago has caused the Nitrates to go high, since I have well water over here.

The readings for the tap water are . . .
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
pH - 6.0 (I always knew that the pH was low in the tap water)

Is there anything else that I can do, beside frequent water changes, to help bring the Nitrates down?

 

[Phantom Thief]

The best way to keep nitrate down actively is a fast growing plant, like some of the swords. They grow very quickly and absorb lots of nitrate.

Other than that, i'm not really sure.

P.T.

 

[Sasha]

I have live plants in the tank, mainly some unknown plants that I bought at the LFS and some Java ferns.

The Nitrates is also a bit high in my 46 gallon, but not as high as in my 29 gallon. My 46 gallon has several live plants as well, including Amazon swords.

 

[Phantom Thief]

Have you checked the nitrate levels in your tap water?

P.T.

 

[Sasha]

Yes, the Nitrate level is my tap water is 40 ppm. I posted it above too.

 

[jkc]

The readings for the tap water are . . .
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
pH - 6.0 (I always knew that the pH was low in the tap water)

Is there anything else that I can do, beside frequent water changes, to help bring the Nitrates down?
[/quote]

You could try a a product by Hagen called Green. i think it is a phosphate remover but does also remove nitrate & Nitrite. You just place the bag in your filter or by the outlet of your filter so that the water passes through it. I believe it lasts for around 3 months as well.
I think ive seen it at our LFS.

 

[andywg]

Nitrates of 80 have not been proven to damage any fish, they have only been found to be detrimental to fishes health over long term exposure once they are over 100ppm.

To lower I would recommend trying either rain water or RO. a 50/50 mix should keep the nitrates down and keep the essential minerals in the water.

 

[fozzy_wozzy_woo]

you can also buy a material called nitrex. you can put it in a bag and place it into a sump filter if you have one. or if you have an external pump it will fit into the exteral pump. How ever this is only a temp solution . Max 6 months so it is an idea to follow some of the other posts

As andy says you could use RO water. i use my RO all the time and i have a Nitrate and Nitrite level of 0 . but my plants get there minerals and every thing else from the fertiliser

 

[phlawed]

you can also buy a material called nitrex. you can put it in a bag and place it into a sump filter if you have one. or if you have an external pump it will fit into the exteral pump. How ever this is only a temp solution . Max 6 months so it is an idea to follow some of the other posts

As andy says you could use RO water. i use my RO all the time and i have a Nitrate and Nitrite level of 0 . but my plants get there minerals and every thing else from the fertiliser

could also add another filter or get a filter with more gph. Are you overfeeding the fish?

 

[andywg]

could also add another filter or get a filter with more gph. Are you overfeeding the fish?

This will not aid with nitrate reduction however, or have I misread your post?