How Can You Lower Nitrates?

[LolaLouie]

I would like to breed my Bolivian Rams but have heard that their fry are very sensitive to nitrates. I have 40ppm in my tap so i was wondering way to reduce this...

Are there any chemicals you can buy? If so do people recommend these?

Do plants help at all? I have a quite a lot of plants in my tank but the reading never gets below what's in my tap!

Any advice would be really appreciated

 

[kewskills]

there are chemicals out there that claim to do this like tetra easy balance. i dont know how well they work.
40ppm is not that bad, but there again i dont know how sensitive those fish are to nitrates, hope someone else can help more.

 

[Colin_T]

you can get a denitrator. It is a type of filter that develops anaerobic bacteria that break the nitrates into nitrogen gas and other bits. Sera does a good denitrator.
You can also use nitrate removing granules, available from any good aquarium store. They are normally used on marine tanks but work in freshwater too.
Grow lots of plants in the water and they will utilise the nitrates.

 

[rdd1952]

The problem with nitrate removal media such as Nitra-Zorb, is that they become saturated relatively quickly and must be recharged. They usually also remove ammonia and nitrite which will have a negative effect on your bacteria colony. No food means the bacteria will begin to die off thus uncycling your tank.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Huge numbers of fast growing plants keep my nitrate close to 0ppm at all times.

 

[rdd1952]

Her problem is 40 ppm of nitrate in her tap water. I doubt even a heavily planted tank would use that much nitrate.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

tetra nitrateminus works very well!!!!

 

[rabbut]

Yes Tetra do two products that may work here. Easybalence and Nitrate Minus. I have no real idea asto how they work and have never used either myself. I have read many reviews of Easyballence, and aquarists that trialed the product have always given good reviwes. I belive PFK did a review of the product not so long ago.
I was helping a customer with some RO, at my lfs, where I work, when nitrate minus first came to my attention. When they got to the tills, they paid for a bottle of the stuff, and I asked them what they thought of it. They told me that they had been using it for 3 months, and diden't realy see any effect. For that reason, they stopped using it, and their fish started to look a little flaky. Apparently their nitrate reading also increased, and thus they opted to start using it again. Overall they were happy with it, but this is just one customer, and as it was the height of the Saturday rush, I diden't have time to ask specifics about their tank, to find out how they were using it and with what fish E.T.C
From customer reviews, they sound like good products. I re-iterate though, by saying I haven't used either of these products myself, and don't have a clue asto how they work. This makes me sceptical. I also belive that some may substitude waterchanges for this product, which IMO is possibly a very bad thing.

HTH
Rabbut

 

[LolaLouie]

Looks like theres a lot of bad points with messing with nitrate. It really sucks coming from a place with such bad water but I just can't lug 100 litres of RO water up 3 flights of stairs each week... not to mention the cost!!

 

[MHunt]

There are nitrate filters out there that you can use to treat your tap water before you put it in the tank. You could also go down the route of getting an RO filter and mixing say 50% RO-Tap to get a lower Nitrate, as well as softening the water nicely for the rams. A small one suitable for a breeding set up may not be that expensive but would give you the ability to breed these lovely fish. Good luck.

 

[seems very fishy]

i use prime before i add water to the tank and it does take nitrate down out of my tap water, i leave it to stand before adding to the tank

 

[LolaLouie]

maybe i will try adding something like that BEFORE I add the water to the tank and then it wont mess up the bacteria in my filter. I can't put in a RO unit as my apartment is rented.

Thanks.

 

[backtotropical]

You could also go down the route of getting an RO filter and mixing say 50% RO-Tap to get a lower Nitrate, as well as softening the water nicely for the rams.

Agreed. Something like this wouldn't break the bank and would solve your problem.

[URL="http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph.../products_id/35"]http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph.../products_id/35[/URL]

Although, to be honest, i'm not convinced you should be worrying at all about 40ppm of nitrate. Where did you source that info, G?

 

[MHunt]

maybe i will try adding something like that BEFORE I add the water to the tank and then it wont mess up the bacteria in my filter. I can't put in a RO unit as my apartment is rented.

Thanks.

I believe (but don't know as I don't own one myself) that most RO units have the same fittings as a washing machine. you may well find that you can connect one to the cold water supply of the washing machine while it isn't being used to make the RO for your water changes, then put it back to use the washing machine.

 

[backtotropical]

Sorry Gemma. I just seen your previous post saying you can't connect a RO system.

This is a good alternative.

http/www.aquatics-warehouse.co.uk/acatal...RATION_126.html

Its a deioniser. It will remove the nitrate and soften the water in the same way an RO unit does, but it does not need to be plumbed in. You just connect it to the tap like a hose when you want to use it.

Is that better?