Sponge for reducing Nitrate?

[Tttay89]

My source tap water is 20ppm Nitrate.
I water change weekly around 40% or more, feed once smal daily. By the time it comes to a water change my Nitrate is always sitting at around 35ppm.
I also use 1/4 RO in an attempt to lower it slightly but don't want to use any more as I have hard water fish. I however have a bristlenose pleco also.
I have seen some sponge media by Juwel called Nitrax Nitrate remover I was thinking of adding some to the filter.
1) Any reviews on this product or similar
2) Would this stop any algea at all forming hence the natural food source for the pleco?. Granted I do not get a lot of visable algea just enough for them to suck on ornaments and glass every now and then perhaps.
I do feed him algea wafers and stuff but I wouldn't wish to cut off this algea supply completely if the sponge would do this?

 

[Colin_T]

Juwel Nitrax -nitrate remover

www.aquaristikshop.com

This looks like a gimmick. Bacteria that get rid of nitrates live in anaerobic (lacking oxygen) conditions. Having a sponge with bacteria in a filter is not going to get rid of nitrates because there will be too much oxygen rich water moving through the sponge and only aerobic (requiring oxygen) bacteria will grow.

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You could use Reverse Osmosis (R/O) water and add minerals to increase the GH. Then you would have 0 nitrates.

You can fill a large plastic container with tap water and put a heap of floating plants in it. Leave the plants in there until the nitrates are 0 and then use that water in the main tank.

Look for a Pozzani Filter, they remove nitrates.

A company called Sera used to do a Denitrator, which was an external anaerobic filter that removed nitrates but took a couple of months to start working.

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Removing nitrates might help reduce algae but you can leave the light on for longer to encourage algae. Alternatively, put a container of water outside in the sun. Add 1 level tablespoon of lawn fertiliser for every 20 litres of water. Put some smooth rocks or plastic ornaments in the container and leave it to get covered in algae. Then put the ornaments/ rocks in the tank for the pleco to clean the algae off. Have a number of ornaments in the container and rotate them through the tank.

 

[Naughts]

That sponge did nothing for me. I use Nitrozorb which reduces the nitrate well. I've got enough algae for a swarm of plecos!

 

[seangee]

Reducing nitrate in a tropical tank is almost impossible. Controlling it is much easier. I have masses of floating plants and minimal filtration in all my tanks. The idea is to try to prevent the filters from doing much biological filtration (which results in nitrate) and allowing the plants to deal with the ammonia produced by fish and food. Obviously you also have to avoid overfeeding and keep things clean, but this will prevent your nitrates from going up significantly between water changes.

My most successful tank in this area is the one in my signature - which now has a lot more plant growth than when I took the pic a few months ago. In Jan / Feb I went on a 3 week holiday which meant no water changes. When I came back I tested and there had been no increase in nitrates whatsoever. Obviously I did not feed in that time but this particular tank but it is very over stocked. Normally nitrates do not increase from one weeks water change to the next in this tank.

 

[Colin_T]

The OP has problems with nitrates in tapwater, not just the tank.

 

[seangee]

Yeah - but 20ppm is ok as long as you could keep it there.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I have high nitrates in my well water (95 acre farmers field across the road). I 'invented' a nitrate filter for my source water by re-purposing a now discontinued API Tap Water Filter. I removed the spent resin and filled the cartridge with API Nitra-Zorb. Hooked up to my sink faucet and trickle water through it. I get about 200g before I recharge with non-iodized salt water. To date I have filtered over 8k gallons with the same resin and still going!

Nitra-Zorb is sold in pouches intended to be used in filters. The resin is very effective at removing nitrates from tank water. It can be recharged many times with ordinary salt water. It's use life can be compromised by a detritus coating that seals the resin. It should be placed after fine filter media to reduce this coating. I am not sure if the resin will hold up to or tolerate reclaiming with chlorine like Seachem's Purigen. (50/50 bleach/water burns off organics). Mars Technical Support could not answer the question.
I offer the following suggestions:
> Feed high quality food(s) as they produce less waste and less waste translates into lower nitrates.
> Feed less - just enough to keep fish healthy as over feeding produces more nitrates.
> Use fast growing floating plants as they convert ammonia into plant tissue eventually removed by trimming. Less ammonia indirectly produces less nitrates.
> Letting algae grow on the back wall and sides helps as algae reduces nitrates. You will need to fertilize plants for good growth.
> There is an effective hang on glass algae scrubber HOG1, but I can't recommend it due to it's high cost.
> Keep the tank and filter clean. It's organic nitrogenous waste that breaks down to form ammonia > nitrites > nitrates.
> Use Nitra-Zorb pouches in the filter. Have one in the filter and another recharging in salt water. Switch out at least weekly when you do partial water changes. Ensure the pouch is last n filter water flow so it sees the cleanest water.
> Explore another source for partial water changes that does not have nitrates.
> Explore obtaining a Pozzani water filter to pre-filter source water to remove nitrates for water changes. (I do not know if they have a US distributor).
> With 20ppm nitrates in your source water, and taking other options above into account, you might do two weekly water changes of 50% (like Wednesday and Saturday) to keep nitrates lower.

Footnote: In the 40g sump on my 110g stock tank I am experimenting with anoxic biocenosis clarification baskets as outlined by research done by Dr. Kevin Novak. However, this isn't practical for most setups.

I hope you find some of the above helpful
Tank on!

 

[Martyn87]

If you're running a cannister filter deNitrate by Seachem or the Fluval Clearmax pouches both work well at removing Nitrate. Or you could just try getting some fast growing surface plants? I couldn't tell if your tank is planted or not?

 

[AbbeysDad]

If you're running a cannister filter deNitrate by Seachem or the Fluval Clearmax pouches both work well at removing Nitrate. Or you could just try getting some fast growing surface plants? I couldn't tell if your tank is planted or not?

Seachem Matrix and De*Nitrate are merely pumice stone (a type of lava rock) with Matrix being larger in size than De*Nitrate. The marketing claim is that tiny micro pores will allow the culture of anaerobic bacteria to convert nitrates into harmless nitrogen gas. I tried for over two years to get a fair amount of Matrix/De*Nitrate to lower tank nitrates and was unsuccessful.
Fluval Clearmax is marketed as a phosphate remover - not any help for nitrates. API's Nitra-Zorb is the much better choice.
Fast growing floating plants will help, but not enough alone when the source water is 20ppm nitrates. A many prong approach is required.

 

[Martyn87]

I’ve used Denitrate to good effect in a canister, but it’s only supposed to be used in filters circulating up to 350l ph. My tank was a low tech tank and it helped remove my 20ppm tap water down to 10ppm over a period of around a month. It worked for me. Clearmax removes both nitrate and phosphate and removing the nutrients from the water here is part of the goal in tackling algae. I’ve had good success with this too. Just my experiences and I can’t comment on Nitra-zorb.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I’ve used Denitrate to good effect in a canister, but it’s only supposed to be used in filters circulating up to 350l ph. My tank was a low tech tank and it helped remove my 20ppm tap water down to 10ppm over a period of around a month. It worked for me. Clearmax removes both nitrate and phosphate and removing the nutrients from the water here is part of the goal in tackling algae. I’ve had good success with this too. Just my experiences and I can’t comment on Nitra-zorb.

I have my doubts - Seachem De*Nitrate is rather small and requires a large amount and a very slow flow to have any chance of supporting anaerobic bacteria that coverts nitrates into nitrogen gas. The high flow rate of a canister filter would require the much larger Matrix or Pond Matrix...and even then the micro pores are all too often compromised with detritus and rendered ineffective.
You are correct...further research indicates that Fluval claims that Clearmax removes phosphate, nitrite, and nitrate. However, like activated carbon, its useful life is limited and it can not be recharged. Not a good long term solution for high nitrates in source water.

 

[Tttay89]

OK thanks all.

So I think my best bet is to use a higher percentage of RO Water but add some minerals in there to increase hardness? What exactly would I need to add to the water?
Also I just tested my RO water for Nitrate and reading was Coming in at 5.0 ppm.. Could this be right? Or is my API test kit failing. 20-25ppm tap water does sound extreme.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

There are some easy way to remove nitrate... 1( Add live plants to your tank, 2( Use a product like “ALGONE”, 3( Reduce feeding, and 4( Reduce the stock of your tank.

 

[Tttay89]

It's my source water I was concerned about (20ppm)

 

[Tttay89]

OK so emergency! (I think)
As it was a freebie I decided to use the nitrax sponge aswell as using more RO. However I did not realise inside the sponge were two capsules? These managed to escape the sponge as I had to cut it down to fit in my filter, this has caused the capsule to be blasted into the tank like a food form and all of the fish have eaten it, I didn't even notice them spitting any out which is surprising. Have I just killed my fish? What even is the capsule for? I assume It has to go into the tank gradually?