Getting Nitrates out of tap water

[Fawke]

Hi again ppl,

I love summer, wish it could be all year round. But my fishies are getting pretty pee'd off with the heat - thus installing a more premanent fan to cool them off.

Also, ppl are using more water and thus the water treatment works are having less time to process and the problem of high Nitrates are gettin worse again....

My tap water is around 30ppm! and 20-25 in Winter......
This part of essex (pretty much London) is hard, high nitrates and baaaad water.

I With my water conditioner i can get it down to around 20ppm, but this is optimium and after a water change!.....

How can i get the damn nitrates out of the tap water, cheaply..... Amquel + ? RO (kind of expensive)??

Any ideas?

 

[Phantom Thief]

30ppm nitrates isnt exactly very terrible. Unless the fish you have are really delicate, there shouldnt be a problem.

P.T.

 

[Fawke]

Point take,

But the day before a water change (weekly) its around 40-50ppm, and i have Pictus
I just want a water change to make some difference, rather than brining down from high to slightly high

Cheers PT

 

[Phantom Thief]

Ahhh...

Ok. How about a natural method like plants? Should keep the nitrate levels real low if you have enough lighting

P.T.

 

[chkltcow]

I agree with the plant idea. Add a Water Sprite or two if you can. They're easy to grow, look pretty good, and soak up nitrates like you wouldn't believe. They can also help cut down on algae, because the outcompete algae for the nutrients in the water.

 

[Fawke]

OK, great idea.... i dont know why i have been put of by plants - probs cos fish are work enough

Ok, any idea on what plants are good for this? i like Java ferne, and will probs replace my plastic plants 1 by 1, rather than at a time.

Do you have to quarantine plants? wash them? how do i avoid snails and parasites infecting my tank?
I do have a UV steriliser,,,,,......

sorry for all the q's, just i dont have any idea about plant care and i reckon you could be onto a winner there

Cheers

 

[Tropjunky]

RO is the best way to go and i don't think its expensive i get it at £3.50 for a 25L barrel but there are filter media that can take it out.

 

[chkltcow]

Well the only thing with plants is... how much light do you have? Plants like lots of light, and really... they like CO2 injection as well. You can keep things like water sprite, java fern, java moss, etc in very low light... but they won't really flourish. Java fern is about the easiest plant you can find... it's almost impossible to kill it, except if you bury the rhizome and let it rot. Problem being, it's also very very slow growing, and won't use up much of the nitrates in the water. I still recommend water sprite for its "nutrient sponge" ability. It's a beautiful lacy plant too which would probably make good cover for fry if you have breeders and enough water sprite. Hopefully it'll be easy to find in stores around there.

Having a planted tank is one of those things that I didn't think I would like. After reading Takashi Amano's "Nature Aquarium World" and drooling over all his pics, I became inspired to add more plants... and then to do DIY CO2 injection in my tank. I'm still waiting on some plants I ordered on the internet, and on my local stores to get plants in stock... but with what I do already have, it's a rewarding and awesome sight to come home in the evening after the plants have been doing their photosynthesis thing all day and marvel at all the beautiful little oxygen bubbles clinging to the leaves of my cryptocorynes and my java fern

If you want to learn more about what types of plants are easy and get started on a planted tank, check out
http/www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php
http/www.tropica.dk

Lots of good info on those sites.

 

[Tropjunky]

hay kool sites chkltcow

 

[clutterydrawer]

Java fern is about the easiest plant you can find... it's almost impossible to kill it, except if you bury the rhizome and let it rot

I have to disagree there. I had one for a couple of months max then one day ALL the leaves detached from the rhizome and floated away before my eyes! took about 30 minutes tops. maybe it jsut felt like a change of scene?!

 

[Red]

I'd be interested to hear more about lowering high nitrate levels.
I checked my tank which was high and then my tap water which was off the scale! Over 80.

So I ran into Tesco's and bought 10 (yes, 10!) 5 ltr bottles of water. The nitrate level in them is 20.

Hope I did the right thing? (Fish are all alive and seem happy)

I've tested some of Narayan's water (drinking water not fish water) which goes through a Brita filter and the nitrate levels in this were low.

Does anyone use a water filter like this? It would take FOREVER to filter enough water for a tank, but is it possible or would it remove other necessary things too?

Answers on a postcard....

 

[FishDan]

Using Brita-type filters isn't necessarilly bad, as they do remove impurities from your tap water. The only concern I have is that they may also remove beneficial nutrients and trace elements from your water. This is probably not that big a deal for most of us (ie; fish only tanks) but it can be an issue with planted tanks, tanks with inverts, and especially salt water tanks. Of course, one just needs to readd the good stuff the filter may remove. Personally, if I had another option I wouldn't go the Brita route. The filters on those would start to add up, especially when I plan on getting a 125 gallon tank in the not-so-distant future. Adding a few plants usually helps, especially if they are fast growing plants. If you are only doing a few plants, I don't really think thee is huge need for CO2 injection, with smaller numbers of plants the CO2 requirement should easily be met by the inhabitants of the tank. CO2 becomes more necessary as you increase plant numbers. That's just my opinion and second hand experience (I know plant keepers, but I am not one). There are also chemical filter media that can (or at least claim to) remove nitrates. I personally have never used any, so I can't make any claims. There are a few that I found here if you want to get some more info.

\Dan

 

[Red]

Thanks Dan, that's interesting. Maybe I'll just get one plant to start with, I've heard that fish seem to like to nibble on them too and I won't be too distressed if the plant dies - as long as the fish are healthy.

 

[Narayan]

I do use my britta filter when doing a water change. Ok, so it takes a long time, but Im a patient person. So far Ive not had any fish deaths in my tanks (except for those caused by my lobsters or little red crabs).

Red tested my filtered water (as above), it would be interesting to test the water straight from my tap and see the outcome.

 

[Red]

DO YOU? I thought you didn't? I thought you used tap water or that unique YELLOW water that you produce yourself first thing in the morning!!