reducing nitrates?

[Dawney G]

Hi, what is the best way to reduce nitrates? A girl at my LFS said to not use chemicals but she knew no other way to do it.
A mate of mine has just set up a new tank and they want to know the best way to get the water safe!!! can someone please tell me?!
thanks
xx
dawney g

 

[Fiori]

What is your nitrate reading at the moment? The easiest way is usually to do a 50% water change and keep an eye on the readings every day, doing smaller water changes, until the reading is within acceptable limits, 0 - 20 ppm. If your friend's tank is just set up, they will also need to check the ammonia and nitrite readings. Until these sit at zero, after going high and then dropping, the tank will not be cycled. There are some pinned threads in the beginner section on the forum which you might find useful on cycling a tank and could pass this on to your friend (or better still, get them to join the forum ).

 

[Jo and Gra]

water change is best way.......

and arguabnly the only reason you do weekly water changes.....

 

[Bloo]

Anything up to 40ppm is absolutely fine and you shouldn't worry about. Weekly water changes is the best by far. Make sure you have good filtration and don't bother with chemicals.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

^The only reason?? Ummm I would argue that. To remove poop and any algea from the glass (scrubbing it off to then be hoovered up.). Live plants will use nitrAtes so if they are an issue once the tank is cycled live plants will help lower them.
Hugs,
P.

 

[andywg]

Live plants will prefer to use ammonia than nitrates though.

Also, unless you have some super sensitive fish then there shouldn't be too much trouble with nitrates below 60ppm. Over 100 is considered bad.

The level you can get it down to would depend on the nitrate level of your tap water (unless you use RO).

some more extreme methods to reduce nitrates include:

Deep Sand Bed filtration: Widely used in marine setups, not so common in FW.

Algal Turf Scrubber: Growing algae to use up all the nutrients (although these will normally take up ammonia before nitrate and as there will be no bacteria to change ammonia to nitrite to nitrate you shouldn't see nitrate).

Cryptic Zones: Basically an anaerobic (no oxygen) area that allows bacteria to develop to cturn nitrates into nitrogen gas. Difficult to get flow right to ensure it works.

The moral of the story is, it's best and cheapest to just water change.

 

[boxman]

Remember though, test your tap water - mine is over 40ppm and dependant on what the weather has been like (more rain, less nitrates usually) then it could potentially be higher.

Doing a water change to lower nitrates is great and regular water chanegs is vital, but you may end up replacing like for like as far as nitrates go.

RO water I've found works best, or even rain water. Ask your LFS about RO water.

Of course, if you're a budding plumber and have some cash spare you could always setup an RO system at your home!

 

[Dawney G]

Thankyou all for your answers.
My friend is very greatfull.
xx
dawney g