Nitrates in tap water

[xxamyxx85]

Hi all,
So my tap water has around 20ppm nitrates possibly slightly more, is this a problem? If so is there anyway to reduce it without spending a fortune! I recently had activated carbon and zeolite in my filter which reduced the nitrates. I was wondering can I run the tap water through zeolite or leave my water change water sitting for a few days with zeolite in it!

 

[Essjay]

Zeolite does not remove nitrate. It removes ammonia, so that the bacteria can't convert it to nitrate; it does not remove nitrate which is already there. And carbon does not remove ions like nitrate.

I would remove the zeolite asap as it starves the filter bacteria. Then when the zeolite gets full and stops absorbing ammonia, there aren't enough bacteria to deal with the ammonia so the level shoots up. With zeolite in the filter you have to replace it before it gets full. Forever.



There are ways to remove nitrate such as prefiltering water through a nitrate filter or by allowing it to stand in a container full of plants. Other members who have high tap nitrate can help you with this better than me.

 

[xxamyxx85]

Zeolite does not remove nitrate. It removes ammonia, so that the bacteria can't convert it to nitrate; it does not remove nitrate which is already there. And carbon does not remove ions like nitrate.

I would remove the zeolite asap as it starves the filter bacteria. Then when the zeolite gets full and stops absorbing ammonia, there aren't enough bacteria to deal with the ammonia so the level shoots up. With zeolite in the filter you have to replace it before it gets full. Forever.



There are ways to remove nitrate such as prefiltering water through a nitrate filter or by allowing it to stand in a container full of plants. Other members who have high tap nitrate can help you with this better than me.

I took the zeolite out a few days ago, i was just wondering how the nitrates were so much lower and how to apply this to my tap water going forward.

thank you essjay.

 

[Essjay]

God that you've removed the zeolite.

Does your nitrate level usually increase between water changes? Zeolite would stop it increasing by removing ammonia before the bacteria have chance to turn it into nitrate. But it can't remove the nitrate that comes in with your tap water.

Nitrate is also the most difficult to make home testers for. It is the least accurate of our testers.. You can check your average tap water nitrate in the Water Quality Report on your water company's website - that will give you a figure to compare your tester with.

 

[xxamyxx85]

No nitrate level doesn’t really increase between water changes, maybe slightly.

I checked with water company and my tap water is at 26ppm nitrate which is what I was roughly getting from the tests. I’m hoping there is a way to reduce it before I add it to the tank.

 

[xxamyxx85]

My Betta looked so much better when the nitrates where lower.... we’ll at least that’s what I thought!!

 

[Wills]

I have similar issues, all the tap water around me has quite high - my last house it was well over the legal limit of 50ppm but my new house seems to be between 20 and 30ppm. I've used a nitrate filter in the past which is something you can pre filter your water with when you do the water change, you have to run the water through it at a trickle to remove it so you need to plan accordingly. I used the Pozzani brand ones.

An other option would be to add some fast growing plants to your tank something like Pennywort or Hygrophila 'Siamensis 53B' really soak up nutrients. The Pennywort can be floating or you can plant as a stem like plant. Other floating plants would help as well and your Betta will like some of the long roots they send down

Wills

 

[xxamyxx85]

I have similar issues, all the tap water around me has quite high - my last house it was well over the legal limit of 50ppm but my new house seems to be between 20 and 30ppm. I've used a nitrate filter in the past which is something you can pre filter your water with when you do the water change, you have to run the water through it at a trickle to remove it so you need to plan accordingly. I used the Pozzani brand ones.

An other option would be to add some fast growing plants to your tank something like Pennywort or Hygrophila 'Siamensis 53B' really soak up nutrients. The Pennywort can be floating or you can plant as a stem like plant. Other floating plants would help as well and your Betta will like some of the long roots they send down

Wills

Thank you for getting back to me. I’ve just been looking at the Pozzani nitrate filter removal system! So when you say you used it in the past, what do u do now that ur nitrates are 20-30ppm do u bother about it? do all your fish stay healthy?
I do have frogbit and Anubias in the tank but they haven’t been there long! I’m not sure if this is something I should be worrying about or not.

 

[Wills]

Ah sorry should have said I closed my last tank down a while ago before we moved and am just in the process of setting up a new one now but dont have any fish yet. I only used it for 2ish years of a 10 year old system but I did notice a difference when I was using it especially as I had a lot of plant eaters at the time so couldnt keep them to help the situation.

Some plants could be a good first step the test would be to add your plants and as they start to establish check your nitrates over time and see if it dips down to below 10 by the time of the next water change. Obviously as you add more tap water as you do water changes you will be adding nitrates to the tank but the plants will then take it up.

 

[xxamyxx85]

Ah sorry should have said I closed my last tank down a while ago before we moved and am just in the process of setting up a new one now but dont have any fish yet. I only used it for 2ish years of a 10 year old system but I did notice a difference when I was using it especially as I had a lot of plant eaters at the time so couldnt keep them to help the situation.

Some plants could be a good first step the test would be to add your plants and as they start to establish check your nitrates over time and see if it dips down to below 10 by the time of the next water change. Obviously as you add more tap water as you do water changes you will be adding nitrates to the tank but the plants will then take it up.

okay thank you, I’ll Do that first!

 

[Wills]

okay thank you, I’ll Do that first!

Cool - definitely worth looking at the Hygrophelia I mentioned I think you can buy it in in-vitro tubs now as well which will mean no snails or hitchhikers. I would look online as well (unless you have a good shop near by) as plants can sometimes be a bit hit and miss from average shops IME.

 

[seangee]

How big is your tank and how much water do you change weekly. The Pozzani filter is good but as I was changing 200 liters per week, and my tap water is 50ppm the cartridges only lasted 6-8 weeks. It doesn't deplete gradually - one bucket will be at 0ppm and the next will be back up to what's in the tap. So you have to test the water every time and always have a spare cartridge. Since my tap water is also hard and I keep soft water fish I ended up switching to RO.

FWIW I tried everything to bring nitrates down in the tank. The best I could do was stop it from going up - but no way to reduce it.

 

[xxamyxx85]

Just out of interest, what are the problems that can arise from having 26ppm nitrates from your tap water?

i have another tank that is 200l that I will be setting up in the near future and I’m wondering when I come to stock it will there be certain fish that won’t be able to tolerate it? should I be looking into a solution to this I.e. nitrate removal filter on all new water? All advice much appreciated.

 

[xxamyxx85]

How big is your tank and how much water do you change weekly. The Pozzani filter is good but as I was changing 200 liters per week, and my tap water is 50ppm the cartridges only lasted 6-8 weeks. It doesn't deplete gradually - one bucket will be at 0ppm and the next will be back up to what's in the tap. So you have to test the water every time and always have a spare cartridge. Since my tap water is also hard and I keep soft water fish I ended up switching to RO.

FWIW I tried everything to bring nitrates down in the tank. The best I could do was stop it from going up - but no way to reduce it.

Sorry didn’t see this before I posted, thank you! my tank is 40l but as previously mentioned I intend to set up a 200l. I guess I’m going to have to look into to RO systems. Thanks again.

 

[seangee]

Just out of interest, what are the problems that can arise from having 26ppm nitrates from your tap water?

Your fish won't live as long as expected and their colours won't be as bright. At 26ppm you might be ok if you get a routine that never allows nitrates to go up. Lots of plants, large weekly water changes and diligent cleaning. Or you could mix it 50/50 with RO or Pozzani filtered water. At 50ppm the average life of my fish was 12-24 months which meant I was replacing half of my fish every year