Nitrate Filter For Tropicals

[clivealive]

hi
is there any  nitrate filters i can use for tropicals.
vodka etc ?

 

[gmc1]

How high are your nitrates.

 

[clivealive]

80-100

 

[Ch4rlie]

Weekly 50% water changes and live plants, moderately planteed are your best best for nitrate control.
 
My planted tank is rarely over 5ppm nitrate at end of week before i do my water change and my tap water is around 30ppm nitrate.

 

[StevenF]

 
80-100

Your nitrates are very high.  your tank might be overstocked or you are not cycling your water enough.  You should be cycling water out once a week (at least 50% given your current nitrate levels and adding clean nitrate free water.  Check you tap water to insure it is nitrate free.
 

 
Weekly 50% water changes and live plants, moderately planted are your best best for nitrate control.
 
My planted tank is rarely over 5ppm nitrate at end of week before i do my water change and my tap water is around 30ppm nitrate.

 
plant will absorb nitrates however they need a lot of phosphate, potassium, and micro elements to reduce your levels down to a safe level.
 
I frequently had zero nitrate, nitrite and ammonia.  however my plants didn't have enough nitrogen to absorb phosphate.  Phosphate levels got very high and I had an Algae bloom that was hard to control.  Once I discovered high phosphate I cycled more water to get it down and then added nitrogen to help keep it down.  I kept adjusting the nitrate dose until phosphates started to stay under control.  But then i ran out of phosphates.  
 
Now I always have about 10ppm nitrate and barely 1.5ppm phosphate.  And very slow plant growth.  I have now started adding  phosphate fertilizer.  But I have not yet managed to get back to the nitrate deficient condition I had.  
 
If you have 80 + nitrates you probably are low in phosphate, potassium, iron, calcium, or some other elements your plants need.  If you are using RO or distilled water  then this might be the reason for your problem.  RO and distilled water has very few elements in it and frequently plants and algae will not grow in this water unless it is fertilized.

 

[AbbeysDad]

As others have mentioned, you need to step up your partial water changes either volume, frequency or both. Assuming your tap water is nitrate free you could do up to 50% weekly, although 25% weekly is usually enough once under control and assuming you're not over stocked or have some other poor maintenance issue like dirty loaded filter or neglected gravel that's become a nitrate factory.
In a pinch you can use API's Nitra-Zorb in your filter. It removes nitrates and can be recharged several times with salt water.

 

[AbbeysDad]

With good lighting, you could have a planted tank. Plants will use both ammonia and nitrates effectively filtering the water. Plants are also the ticket in creating a more natural environment for your fish.
Also, Seachem has Matrix and DeNitrate both are a (different sized) pumice stone with tiny pores that can be used in a filter to encourage anaerobic bacteria (like live rock in SW).
Then there is a filter called Aquaripure. It contains a porous sponge media and anaerobic bacteria that you feed once or twice a week with vodka or a sugar solution. Water travels through the filter at a drip rate. I do not know how effective this filter is. Like coil denitrators, Personally I question how effective drip systems can be in keeping a larger tank free of nitrates.
Consider more frequent and/or greater volume partial water changes AND a planted tank as the best long term solutions.