How do you lower nitrate

Live plants help lower nitrates. But, then you'll need special lighting. Also, the use of plants does not replace water changes. I have two 55 gallon freshwater tanks. I do 50% water changes every one to two weeks. Larger water changes have their own risk but I pump in the new water in slowly too reduce stress. One thing is to not have too many fish and do not overfeed them. Hope this helps

 

In addition to everyone’s help, since you are finishing now with fish in cycle, I suggest adding Seachem Prime and a beneficial bacteria, such as Seachem Stability or other live concentrated nitrifying bacteria that can be found in the refrigerator of your aquarium store.
Pothos is a great addition to your tank to help maintain the cycle. This is a roots only in the water plant, so the leaves remain above water. Before adding the plant to the tank, make sure it is well rinsed all soil and other little white balls. I will also keep in my treated water overnight before adding to the tank. Note that unless a heavily planted tank, most will show some nitrates, which is normal.

 

My 10 gallon tank has been up and running for around a month now. I am having a hard time getting my nitrates under 20, in fact they've never been under 20. I do 25% water changes 2x a week. Do I just need to do more frequent water changes? How else can I get the nitrates to drop? View attachment 558162

More real plants will eat up nitrate. Ut anything 20 to 40 should be normal and safe and water changes every week or two.

 

My 10 gallon tank has been up and running for around a month now. I am having a hard time getting my nitrates under 20, in fact they've never been under 20. I do 25% water changes 2x a week. Do I just need to do more frequent water changes? How else can I get the nitrates to drop? View attachment 558162

Are those live plants? Plants actually need a bit of nitrates. 20 really is nothing to worry about. I say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it

 

Unless it gets to 160+ and it literally starts burning them...

I had no idea...

 

I had no idea...

No it's ok, the reason nitrogen compounds: AMMO, NI, NA. are bad is because they're acidic, so the higher the concentration the more acidic it gets, NA may be the least toxic, but once it gets high it can do some real damage

 

My 10 gallon tank has been up and running for around a month now. I am having a hard time getting my nitrates under 20, in fact they've never been under 20. I do 25% water changes 2x a week. Do I just need to do more frequent water changes? How else can I get the nitrates to drop? View attachment 558162

As someone that has been in the hobby for a few years, my recommendation is to cut down on the water changes. Do one 20-30% water change a week.
Each time you do water change you'll:
A) cut down on the amount of nitrates the bacteria have to feed on. (the tank will only support enough nitrate processing bacteria as can be fed)
B) the chlorine in the new water will kill a bunch of bacteria that is in the system (the water purification additives take a while to start acting).

If, while waiting for the nitrate levels to go down, you see the fish constantly hiding/staying low/bring inactive, add the recommended dose of water purifier just like you are doing a water change. (without changing water obviously)

Good luck!

 

As someone that has been in the hobby for a few years, my recommendation is to cut down on the water changes. Do one 20-30% water change a week.
Each time you do water change you'll:
A) cut down on the amount of nitrates the bacteria have to feed on. (the tank will only support enough nitrate processing bacteria as can be fed)
B) the chlorine in the new water will kill a bunch of bacteria that is in the system (the water purification additives take a while to start acting).

If, while waiting for the nitrate levels to go down, you see the fish constantly hiding/staying low/bring inactive, add the recommended dose of water purifier just like you are doing a water change. (without changing water obviously)

Good luck!

This I really have to disagree with. Especially those of us don't use any dechlorinator. Clean fresh water is the easiest thing to do to keep your numbers down. We probably do get carried away at times but still. In theory if you changed enough water often enough you don't even a cycle. And water changes do so much more then just remove nitrates. Dissolved solids. Dissolved organics. Replenish trace minerals. I push my water to monthly. After that I notice a rise in dissolved solids and a decrease in dissolved oxygen. I can only assume that trend would continue.

 

This I really have to disagree with. Especially those of us don't use any dechlorinator. Clean fresh water is the easiest thing to do to keep your numbers down. We probably do get carried away at times but still. In theory if you changed enough water often enough you don't even a cycle. And water changes do so much more then just remove nitrates. Dissolved solids. Dissolved organics. Replenish trace minerals. I push my water to monthly. After that I notice a rise in dissolved solids and a decrease in dissolved oxygen. I can only assume that trend would continue.

My advise is ideal for someone new to the hobby, and setting up their brand new tank. If something else works for you, fantastic! There's more than one way to do things.

To be honest, the best option would be to pump water in from a freshwater lake and set up an out flow back into it. Unfortunately, not all of us have the capacity to do that.

I can't afford to buy dechlorinated water every time I'm doing a water change. Especially considering I have over a hundred gallons of water to change weekly. So I use tap water with Prime.

 

Prime works instantly so no it doesn't kill your bacteria. It would effect your fish fish before your bacteria. And most tanks only have nitrification bacteria and not denitrification bacteria so there are no need for nitrates. So no a new hobbiest would kill their fish before they figured out the denitrification thing.

 

Prime works instantly so no it doesn't kill your bacteria. It would effect your fish fish before your bacteria. And most tanks only have nitrification bacteria and not denitrification bacteria so there are no need for nitrates. So no a new hobbiest would kill their fish before they figured out the denitrification thing.

Agree with you there. I've said this for a while, if you can hold your media up and see through it, it won't harbor denitrification or anaerobic bacteria. Just look at the label and see if it even says anything about anaerobic bacteria or nitrate removal. Most tanks... I would say a good 80% or more can not do denitrification bacteria because they are using the wrong media.

 

Add some live plants. I have live plants in my tanks, and my nitrates always read zero. I still do water changes, but mainly to replenish minerals. If you only have fish and bacteria in your tank, you only have part of the ecosystem. Let nature do its thing.

 

Get a little plastic tube and make a floating circle and put some duck weed in it to eat nitrates. (cheaply ordered online)

Anaerobic bacteria will soon take care of it in the substrate. You could get some fine sand to fill the gaps between your gravel to create a habitat that can home even more anaerobic bacteria to eat nitrates, but your gravel looks pretty fine anyway so I'd probably not bother myself as it might be small enough, but no harm filling the gap anyway with finer sand just incase.

Anaerobic bacteria only grow in undisturbed deep (3"-4") substrate beds. It takes careful oversight and can take years to establish so don't count on that. Plants help some, but unless you have a heavily planted tank, not enough. Your best bet is weekly water changes to keep your nitrates under 40ppm.

 

Check your tap water for nitrates....... you never know

My tap water is 80 ppm ! Who knew ? So I guess changing the water is pretty pointless … any suggestions gratefully received

 

My tap water is 80 ppm ! Who knew ? So I guess changing the water is pretty pointless … any suggestions gratefully received

Lots of plants, or go into the filters section of the forum and look at Cichlidude 's DIY nitrate reducing filter

 

Thanks … any suggestions for plants please. I’m using juwel nitrate filters for my tank

 

My tap water is 80 ppm ! Who knew ? So I guess changing the water is pretty pointless … any suggestions gratefully received

Something is wrong here. This is city water? You may need to call them.

 

Something is wrong here. This is city water? You may need to call them.

But isn't there a conversion to how they test water vs how we do?

 

My 10 gallon tank has been up and running for around a month now. I am having a hard time getting my nitrates under 20, in fact they've never been under 20. I do 25% water changes 2x a week. Do I just need to do more frequent water changes? How else can I get the nitrates to drop?

What test kit are you using?

 

But isn't there a conversion to how they test water vs how we do?

Well I download our water quality report for my city and the math is the same, ppm is ppm I'm pretty sure. Just think he needs to follow up with those numbers.

 

Our ppm measurement from the API kit isn't the same as the one the EPA will get, though I don't remember what the conversion is. toosie ?

 

Our ppm measurement from the API kit isn't the same as the one the EPA will get, though I don't remember what the conversion is. toosie ?

Maybe it is mg/L? One thousandth of a gram is one milligram and 1000 ml is one liter, so that 1 ppm = 1 mg per liter = mg/Liter.

 

Mg/l = ppm/g it had something to do with we test for nitrate nitrogen and they only test nitrates. It was something like that.

 

Here is our water quality from the counties PDF.

 

My tap water is 80 ppm ! Who knew ? So I guess changing the water is pretty pointless … any suggestions gratefully received

I have heard people quote these levels from central London and Rotterdam. Where are you?

In the mean time, I suggest you find a different source of water - cheap mineral water is an alternative for the short term.

 

Do you use Seachem Prime? I use it on my 10 gallon betta tank to lower ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. It keeps my nitrates under 20.

 

Do you use Seachem Prime? I use it on my 10 gallon betta tank to lower ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. It keeps my nitrates under 20.

It doesn't remove any of those. Acording to seachem it only detoxifies ammonia. Detoxifiying the others is only antidoctional evidence.

 

Our ppm measurement from the API kit isn't the same as the one the EPA will get, though I don't remember what the conversion is. toosie ?

The conversion is 4.43

Mg/l = ppm/g it had something to do with we test for nitrate nitrogen and they only test nitrates. It was something like that.

1 mg/L = 1 ppm. You're right but.. The EPA and many professional labs express nitrates on water reports as nitrate as nitrogen, and the API test measures nitrate as nitrate.

So divide the API test result by 4.43 to convert it to nitrate as nitrogen, as used by the EPA

IF a very high API test result is shown, it sometimes helps to find a bottled water that tests at 0 nitrates and use half tap and half bottled water to get half the test result. Sometimes the lower colors on the color chart are easier to compare than the colors higher in the chart. Just remember to double the result afterwards.

 

The nitrates come from the breakdown of organic matter, one way of reducing them is to get rid of that organic matter before it breaks down (regular cleaning of the mechanical media in your filter to get rid of it before it turns to ammonia).

Around 85% of the nitrogen excreted by fish is ammonia via the gills. Not in urine or feces. There shouldn't be much contribution from decaying organic matter unless one allows it to accumulate.

I had the same issue. I keep Glassfish that are sensitive to nitrates. couldn't understand why I could never get the nitrates down. Then checked the tap water. Despite the water company insisting their levels were lower, they are consistently over 80ppm. I now condition my tap water with NitraEx before mixing with the RO for water changes. It's a faf but it works.

The water company uses different units. The limit is 44.3 ppm nitrate in the US and 50 ppm nitrate in the UK. Hobby test kits may not be accurate enough to discern between 50 and 80 ppm.

If you complain they'll come out and test your water if they're nice. If they're not nice they'll just tell you off. People who have thought their water was over the legal limit per their hobby test kits have found they're actually under the limit when the much better test method of the water treatment plant is used.

Their tests are much, much better. The equipment costs $1,500-150,000 and each test costs $2-200.

No it's ok, the reason nitrogen compounds: AMMO, NI, NA. are bad is because they're acidic, so the higher the concentration the more acidic it gets, NA may be the least toxic, but once it gets high it can do some real damage

Nitrous and nitric acid are produced during nitrification. A pH crash would kill the fish long before they reached concentrations that could burn them.

 

I have heard people quote these levels from central London and Rotterdam. Where are you?

In the mean time, I suggest you find a different source of water - cheap mineral water is an alternative for the short term.

I’m in London

 

No, people from this forum suggested API master kit, so that is what I use. But before that I was using strips. It is actually RO water and it is well water.

If you are using RO water and is also coming from a well, then I'm guessing you don't have chlorines/chloramines nor any other chemicals. Why don't you try to see if your substrate is adding any nitrogen by putting the same type into a bucket filled with the same water you use for your tank, add a pump and let it circulate the water for about a day and test the water.

Other things to consider are:
* Plants decay
* Are you using any type of fertilizer for your plants, including root tabs?
* Have you add any supplement to your substrat?
* When you do you water changes, do you vacuum your gravel (there is no need to vacuum too close to the plants where you expect them to have their root system grow).
* Is worth mentioning, are you using the Nitrate test properly. Most people don't as it requires more steps and waiting time that the other test in the kit.
* Are you using plants that will feed mainly from their root systems or from the water column. Is better to research each plant how they work for your setting.
* Also worth mentioning, could it be that you are overfeeding?

As some have mentioned before, there is no need to look for cero Nitrate and 20ppm is not that high for hardy fishes.

 

Something is wrong here. This is city water? You may need to call them.

It’s London tap water

 

That explains it, that seems to be about the norm there correct?

 

That explains it, that seems to be about the norm there correct?

It’s recycled a lot so it’s not so pure

 

It’s recycled a lot so it’s not so pure

Gotcha, there are three things I would suggest. What I previously said: Lots of plants, or a nitrate reducing filter.
New suggestion: Invest in an RO unit and mix tap water with the RO water.

 

If the UK uses chloramine then RO is going to be more trouble than it's worth.

 

No it's ok, the reason nitrogen compounds: AMMO, NI, NA. are bad is because they're acidic, so the higher the concentration the more acidic it gets, NA may be the least toxic, but once it gets high it can do some real damage

Actually, it's not the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates that are acidic. Acids are produced during nitrification. For instance... just as ammonia and ammonium are in balance and shift from one to another according to pH, so does nitrite have a counterpart, which is nitrous acid. Except Nitrite becomes more toxic in lower pH. And I think the counterpart for nitrates is nitric acid.

They are all conjugate pairs. So that is maybe a better way of saying it. The conjugate acid of ammonia is ammonium. The conjugate acid of nitrite is nitrous acid. And the conjugate acid of nitrate is nitric acid.

 

Unless it gets to 160+ and it literally starts burning them...

Unrelated to the nitrate topic but I love your quote about empathy.

 

Odd your tap is 6.4 pH. Is it city water?

It is actually RO water and it is well water.

I missed if anyone addressed this already, and if so, I apologize. But the 6.4 pH and your mention of using RO water...are you remineralizing the RO with a percentage of the well water, or with a product used for that purpose? RO water doesn't leave enough minerals (measured with GH) in the water to keep fish and plants healthy, and the pH ... without a good buffering capacity (KH) isn't likely to stay stable long.

If you are adding minerals back into the RO water...all is good.

 

Anaerobic bacteria only grow in undisturbed deep (3"-4") substrate beds. It takes careful oversight and can take years to establish so don't count on that. Plants help some, but unless you have a heavily planted tank, not enough. Your best bet is weekly water changes to keep your nitrates under 40ppm.

I didn't know that about anaerobic bacteria! I always stir my sand substrate around because I was told it isn't good for air bubbles to build up inside.

What test kit are you using?

API master kit

Do you use Seachem Prime? I use it on my 10 gallon betta tank to lower ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels. It keeps my nitrates under 20.

I don't use any water conditioners.

If you are using RO water and is also coming from a well, then I'm guessing you don't have chlorines/chloramines nor any other chemicals. Why don't you try to see if your substrate is adding any nitrogen by putting the same type into a bucket filled with the same water you use for your tank, add a pump and let it circulate the water for about a day and test the water.

Other things to consider are:
* Plants decay
* Are you using any type of fertilizer for your plants, including root tabs?
* Have you add any supplement to your substrat?
* When you do you water changes, do you vacuum your gravel (there is no need to vacuum too close to the plants where you expect them to have their root system grow).
* Is worth mentioning, are you using the Nitrate test properly. Most people don't as it requires more steps and waiting time that the other test in the kit.
* Are you using plants that will feed mainly from their root systems or from the water column. Is better to research each plant how they work for your setting.
* Also worth mentioning, could it be that you are overfeeding?

As some have mentioned before, there is no need to look for cero Nitrate and 20ppm is not that high for hardy fishes.

I use Thrive root capsules.
Every week I vacuum my gravel to get rid of debris.
And, yes, I do follow the instructions on the API test kit; including all the steps and proper waiting time.
I probably was overfeeding a bit when I started, but I've cut down the amount I feed, so I don't think I am anymore. My fish are nice and slI'm (besides my pregnant platy ).
I will test my gravel today.

I missed if anyone addressed this already, and if so, I apologize. But the 6.4 pH and your mention of using RO water...are you remineralizing the RO with a percentage of the well water, or with a product used for that purpose? RO water doesn't leave enough minerals (measured with GH) in the water to keep fish and plants healthy, and the pH ... without a good buffering capacity (KH) isn't likely to stay stable long.

If you are adding minerals back into the RO water...all is good.

I didn't realize RO removed most of the minerals. No, I have not been remineralizing my tank water. If that is the case, should I slowly replace the RO with my tap water? The tap I have has no chlorine, and water is hard.
The pH is high 8.4