Just started.... any help appreciated 😁

[Essjay]

The US uses a different scale from the UK. A bit like measuring tank volume in gallons and litres. The US uses nitrate -N while the the UK uses nitrate-NO3. And our test kits use nitrate-NO3.

10 ppm nitrate-N (USA) = 44.27 ppm nitrate-NO3 (UK). And if the UK upper limit was measured by the same scale as the US it would be 11.29. So in reality the US legal limit is only a tiny bit less than the UK.

@JennySolano that 5 ppm for your nitrate - is that what your water provider says or what your test kit says?


@Leemw87 I have just found where Yorkshire Water hide their water quality report! Remember the page where you found your hardness? It's lower down on the same page. If you enter your postcode here

Check your water hardness

Do you have hard water? Find out more about the water hardness in your area with Yorkshire Water. Water hardness is the measure of the concentration of calcium and magnesium salts in your water - two of the essential minerals that your body needs.

www.yorkshirewater.com

and look below the hardness info, you'll find what their expensive lab equipment says your nitrate is.

 

[Leemw87]

The US uses a different scale from the UK. A bit like measuring tank volume in gallons and litres. The US uses nitrate -N while the the UK uses nitrate-NO3. And our test kits use nitrate-NO3.

10 ppm nitrate-N (USA) = 44.27 ppm nitrate-NO3 (UK). And if the UK upper limit was measured by the same scale as the US it would be 11.29. So in reality the US legal limit is only a tiny bit less than the UK.

@JennySolano that 5 ppm for your nitrate - is that what your water provider says or what your test kit says?


@Leemw87 I have just found where Yorkshire Water hide their water quality report! Remember the page where you found your hardness? It's lower down on the same page. If you enter your postcode here

Check your water hardness

Do you have hard water? Find out more about the water hardness in your area with Yorkshire Water. Water hardness is the measure of the concentration of calcium and magnesium salts in your water - two of the essential minerals that your body needs.

www.yorkshirewater.com

and look below the hardness info, you'll find what their expensive lab equipment says your nitrate is.

This?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

This?

Yup...you have 38.01 mg/l of nitrate.
That's a tad high for a fish tank, but some floating plants should be able to reduce that level significantly.

 

[Essjay]

That's it, nitrate 38.01 ppm. That's pretty close to 40 ppm and the colours at that end of the chart are hard to distinguish.

So by water changes alone, 38 is the lowest you can get your tank nitrate and that's a bit high for fish. We should keep nitrate below 20 ppm.

There ways to lower tap nitrate.
Floating plants - if you have somewhere to set up a container of water these can be used in the container to remove nitrate before it's put in the tank.
RO water mixed with tap water will lower nitrate - and GH and KH.
Nitra-zorb pads

 

[Leemw87]

That's it, nitrate 38.01 ppm. That's pretty close to 40 ppm and the colours at that end of the chart are hard to distinguish.

So by water changes alone, 38 is the lowest you can get your tank nitrate and that's a bit high for fish. We should keep nitrate below 20 ppm.

There ways to lower tap nitrate.
Floating plants - if you have somewhere to set up a container of water these can be used in the container to remove nitrate before it's put in the tank.
RO water mixed with tap water will lower nitrate - and GH and KH.
Nitra-zorb pads

There is a place i can get RO water from would that reduce the nitrate much say with a 25% water change ?

 

[Myraan]

Slightly rhetorical question here. If one finds their tank is using up some of the nitrate from tap water by plant uptake; in the OP case if the nitrate went below the 38ppm during the week....

Should one avoid a water change, perhaps adding a mineral product to replenish the kH and other parameters that have been used?

 

[Essjay]

When using RO, half RO and half tap would reduce the 38 ppm nitrate down to 19 ppm. But it is a long term thing; that mix would have to be used at every single water change so the water chemistry in the tank remains constant - same nitrate going in and same GH, KH, same everything in the tap water. That's why using RO is not a decision to be made lightly, it needs serious thought.

Avoiding water changes is not good, that's the way to old tank syndrome. While it may be possible to add the things which are used up, it doesn't remove the things excreted or secreted by the fish and they would build up in the water.

 

[Leemw87]

I've ordered some tetra nitrate minus. Not expecting much but its worth a **** for a fiver.

The ro water is readily available at a local fish shop and I only have 100 litres so wouldn't be expensive. £4 for 50 litres

 

[Myraan]

Avoiding water changes is not good, that's the way to old tank syndrome. While it may be possible to add the things which are used up, it doesn't remove the things excreted or secreted by the fish and they would build up in the water.

Thank you. I thought that was the case but was half hoping I was wrong.

 

[Essjay]

The ro water is readily available at a local fish shop and I only have 100 litres so wouldn't be expensive. £4 for 50 litres

Don't forget that RO water will be needed at every weekly water change, forever........

 

[Leemw87]

My ammonia and nitrite now read ZERO but my nitrate is still at 40ppm. I put some nitrate remover in today so ill see how that goes

 

[Essjay]

With 38 ppm in your tap water, the tank nitrate can never be lower than the level in your tap water unless you do something to remove it.

Which nitrate remover did you use?

 

[Leemw87]

Tetra nitrate minus

 

[Leemw87]

So I did a 20% water change with RO and my nitrate dropped to 20 ppm

 

[ClownLurch]

RO every time will grow old quickly.
Id get as many floating plants in as possible ASAP.
Frogbit
Water Lettuce
Elodea Densa etc.

Oh and welcome.