Juwel Nitrate Sponges

[ShinySideUp]

Do Juwel nitrate sponges do what they are supposed to do, remove nitrates?

As I mentioned in another post, my nitrates are quite high and since I'm on a water meter changing huge quantities of water to reduce nitrates can get a bit pricey. My small tank was supplied with green nitrate sponge and I used it for a while but never got another one preferring to replace it with an extra, normal sponge.

While my small tank is OK I was wondering if one of these sponges in my larger tank might help; but do they work?

 

[The Taffy Apple]

I have read a few posts that have returned some sort of success, but water changes and/or a heavily planted tank are usually most prefered. If a water meter governs your amount and frequency of water changes have you thought about using rain water? If you are able to collect it via a water-butt, and the water is tested (heavy industry nearby can cause concern) then it is perfectly plausable to use it .I can't because i live within the vacinity of heavy steelworks, but it's worth a think...

Terry.

 

[ShinySideUp]

I have read a few posts that have returned some sort of success, but water changes and/or a heavily planted tank are usually most prefered. If a water meter governs your amount and frequency of water changes have you thought about using rain water? If you are able to collect it via a water-butt, and the water is tested (heavy industry nearby can cause concern) then it is perfectly plausable to use it .I can't because i live within the vacinity of heavy steelworks, but it's worth a think...

Terry.

I live in Cornwall, up on the moors, the nearest industrial plant west of me is probably Newfoundland; my rainwater might be OK.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

I have read a few posts that have returned some sort of success, but water changes and/or a heavily planted tank are usually most prefered. If a water meter governs your amount and frequency of water changes have you thought about using rain water? If you are able to collect it via a water-butt, and the water is tested (heavy industry nearby can cause concern) then it is perfectly plausable to use it .I can't because i live within the vacinity of heavy steelworks, but it's worth a think...

Terry.

I live in Cornwall, up on the moors, the nearest industrial plant west of me is probably Newfoundland; my rainwater might be OK.

Then research a water-butt... many commercial ones these days include a small kit that allows to 'tap-in' to your household down-piping. I have mine set-up behind my shed though, which cost me no more that 30 quid in guttering and downpipes.. that plus my old tank water feeds my plants in what small sunny days we have here across the Bristol Channel from you.

Terry.

 

[prankster705]

Don't personally know about the juwel nitrate sponges.
However, I have in the past used JBL nitratex with limited success and bionitratex with a little more but still limited success.
If nitrates are a really big problem, another possibility might be something like this (works very well from what I read; however, start-up costs are very high):
http/fish.aquaristic.net/ab-Aqua-Medic-Nitratreductor-NR-10000-closed.html

By "high", how high do you mean?

 

[cornclose]

How much does it cost for a m3 of water where you are ? And how much is the nitrate sponge ? A m3 is a lot of water, and it might be more cost effective than you think.

But I'd second the rainwater idea. You can get a lot of rain water fairly quickly, especially with the weather as it is now. There is a setup cost of course, but it's relatively small for what will give you potentially decades of 'free' water.

The only other thing to consider with rainwater is that it's very soft and often somewhat acidic. How suitable this is for your tank/fish depends on what you keep in there.

 

[ShinySideUp]

The only other thing to consider with rainwater is that it's very soft and often somewhat acidic. How suitable this is for your tank/fish depends on what you keep in there.

Everything I have in the tank likes acidic water so that's not a problem as my pH is very low already.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

The only other thing to consider with rainwater is that it's very soft and often somewhat acidic. How suitable this is for your tank/fish depends on what you keep in there.

Everything I have in the tank likes acidic water so that's not a problem as my pH is very low already.

Same here, i have very soft water and have to combat it with crushed coral for a regular, stable PH. Would the hardness/softness of rainwater affect the buffering capacity of tank water though? Waterdrop would know..

Terry.

 

[fluttermoth]

I live quite near you, SSU, and I've used rainwater in my tanks for a long time without problems. Admittedly, pH crash can be an issue, but that's an issue with our tap water as well, it's so soft. I use one third tap to two parts rain to try and buffer it a bit.

 

[paulyoung666]

use the water you remove from the tank to water the garden .....

 

[Ruthc1985]

use the water you remove from the tank to water the garden .....

I stumbled across this post after googling about a nitrate problem I have in my tank. I have been struggling with high nitrates for some time now, and no amount of water changes would help with it, which I think was partly due to my tap water containing amounts of nitrates and gravel washing being sub optimal.

I decided to try juvel nitrate sponges as a first (and cheap!) attempt, and within 24 hours my nitrates are almost at zero. I sliced the sponge down to size and shoved it in next to my carbon filter and so far so good. I have yet to see how I go on long term, but so far so good I know this isn't a replacement for good tank hygiene but at least it means I can resume standard tank water changes instead of doing massive changes and altering water chemistry vastly each time.

I think my nitrates were caused by two things mainly.....poor gravel washing (I didn't realise how bad my washer was!) and tap nitrates. I've also bought a new washer which is much better, so I hope in the future to be able to remove the nitrate sponge thing and just keep on top of nitrates with water changes.

 

[Akasha72]

the nitrates test in the API kit is said to be so inaccurate that I've stopped testing it. My Juwel filter has the green sponge in there, no idea of it's 'magic' properties though. I did ask on here a while back about changing it and was told it was pretty much a waste of time and money so never bothered.

I'm on a water meter too but I'm such a low water user that I don't worry about it much - I just shower instead of bath a few extra days a week - that should cancel some of it out for me

 

[Ruthc1985]

I didn't know It was inaccurate, it always suggests the right trends for me thought....tap water having lowest nitrates, dirty water having highest and tank water after a change being in the middle somewhere. Is there a more accurate test kit?

 

[stu40]

Yea.They're called Rummy Nosed Tetras

 

[fluttermoth]

Yea.They're called Rummy Nosed Tetras

I didn't know It was inaccurate, it always suggests the right trends for me thought....tap water having lowest nitrates, dirty water having highest and tank water after a change being in the middle somewhere. Is there a more accurate test kit?

I find the API one accurate enough; you don't need to be that accurate with nitrate, IMO; to the nearest 20ppm is good enough, but if you do want more accuracy, the Salifert ones are very good.