what can i actually add in tank to reduce nitrate etc ? rock etc ?

[clivealive]

what can i actually add in tank to reduce nitrate etc ? rock etc ?
I have freshwater cichlid tank and am fighting nitrate , not trying to reduce water changes etc.

bio blocks ?
rocks help ?
media ?
anything that will help and will look natural or easy hidden.

clive

 

[Byron]

Is the nitrate occurring solely within the aquarium (i.e., no nitrate in your source (tap) water)? Or do you have nitrate in the source water, and if yes, what level? The approach to either is different.

 

[Colin_T]

Floating plants.

If you have big pieces of limestone or sandstone in the tank there will be some de-nitrating bacteria living in the middle of that.

If you have a trickle filter/ sump you could put an algae scrubber in that. It's basically a couple of sheets or Perspex that have water flowing over it and algae is allowed to grow on them. The algae and plants use ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

There are granulated substances that you can put into filters to remove nitrates from water.

Reduce the amount of food going into the tank and the nitrates won't go up as quickly.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I had the same problem but starting floating a lot plants and it helped. Also did water changes twice weekly for a while with less food. Nitrate pads did nothing.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Culturing anoxic or anaerobic bacteria (to convert nitrates into nitrogen gas) is difficult in the highly oxygenated fresh water aquarium. API Nitra-Zorb sold in pouches intended for filters is a resin that works well adsorbing nitrates and is rechargeable many times with ordinary salt water. The use life is reduced by detritus film that coats the resin so it should be placed last in the filter after a fine polishing pad or media.

For bio-medias, Marinepure's Cermedia, Biohome Ultimate, and Seachem's Matriix/De*Nitrate (which is pumice, a type of lave rock) all claim to have recesses or pores that allow these bacteria to populate. Some I haven't tried, some I tried, but did not see any reduction in tank nitrates.

As others have mentioned, fast growing floating plants, reduced feeding, routine filter maintenance to get the crud out, and weekly (or more) 50-75% water changes are all good measures,

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

Seachem's Prime solution reduces nitrates. It's pretty effective. To me Nitrates=Dirty Tank. So repeated water changes until it goes down.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Seachem's Prime solution reduces nitrates. It's pretty effective. To me Nitrates=Dirty Tank. So repeated water changes until it goes down.

Not exactly. Prime (and Safe) claims to detoxify ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, (I believe for 24-48 hours) but does not reduce or remove them.