Nitrites and nitrates in tap water

HI All,

My tap water originally contains nitrites and nitrates. Nitrites nearly 1ppm while nitrates is at 10ppm. May I know how will you guys deal with this issue before putting it into the tank during water change?

I was thinking of using Seachem Prime but I read that both will be ‘unlocked’ back to their original state after 48 hours.

 

HI All,

My tap water originally contains nitrites and nitrates. Nitrites nearly 1ppm while nitrates is at 10ppm. May I know how will you guys deal with this issue before putting it into the tank during water change?

I was thinking of using Seachem Prime but I read that both will be ‘unlocked’ back to their original state after 48 hours.

If your tank is cycled, it will convert nitrites to nitrates in a few hours. Nitrates aren't a problem if you keep overall tank nitrates less than 40.
If your tank is cycled, I'd say treat new water with Prime aand retest the tank in 24 hours just to be sure bacteria is converting the nitrites.

 

To tell you the truth, I'm not 100% sure Prime really does detox nitrites. The FAQ on their website says (and I'm paraphrasing) that they didn't expect Prime to detox nitrites and they don't know how is does, but they got feedback from user who claimed they used Prime when experiencing a nitrite spike and lost must less fish. Seems to me like the chemists at SeaChem can't verify that Prime will detox nitrites, but a bunch of Prime fanboys (and fangirls) claims it does. Seems like a dubious claim, but who knows.

You could use a product like Purigen which will I believe will remove nitrites and nitrates from the water, but I've never used any of those types of products.

Okay, now after all of that, if it were me, this is what I would do:
Use Prime (in case it really does work). This would keep the fish safe from nitrite exposure for 24-48 hours. Assuming you were performing 50% water changes, this would mean you would have .5ppm of nitrite in your tank. A fully cycled tank should be able to easily process .5ppm of nitrites within 24 hours. So even if the Prime doesn't actually detox the nitrites, with the nitrites being processed so quickly, it shouldn't effect your fish.

As for nitrates, you could try using live plants. Some are better at soaking up nitrates than others, but since all my plants are plastic, I'm not sure which ones will. Hopefully some one who does will join the discussion. If not post a new thread with a title such as "What Plants Remove the Most Nitrates" and someone will tell you.

Other than that, just keep on top of your water changes to try to keep the nitrate level under 40ppm. Fish are actually more effected by rapid changes in nitrate levels than high nitrate levels, so if you don't wait too long between water changes, your nitrates shouldn't get so high that when you do a water change the drop becomes very extreme.

Best of luck!

EDIT: I see I got ninja'd by Momgoose56. She pretty much said the same thing I did, but beat me to the punch do to her ability to say what takes me 1000 words in 25 words. I will say I am just a little jealous of that ability.

 

Get an RODI system. You won't regret it.

 

If your tank is cycled, it will convert nitrites to nitrates in a few hours. Nitrates aren't a problem if you keep overall tank nitrates less than 40.
If your tank is cycled, I'd say treat new water with Prime aand retest the tank in 24 hours just to be sure bacteria is converting the nitrites.

Yes my tank is cycled, and should be able to easily convert the nitrites to nitrates in a few hours. I thought of that too, but will that few hours of conversion by the BB in the tank do harm to the fish?

I’m also curious how Seachem Prime ‘lock’ those nitrites and nitrates and then unlock them in 24-48 hours’ time. Isn’t this only delaying and not removing? I was thinking along the way that it can slowly unlock those nitrites so that the BB can convert them slowly thus help to protect the fish.

Just my 2-cents thoughts.

Thanks

Get an RODI system. You won't regret it.

but that’s something that’s out of my budget.

 

Yes my tank is cycled, and should be able to easily convert the nitrites to nitrates in a few hours. I thought of that too, but will that few hours of conversion by the BB in the tank do harm to the fish?

I’m also curious how Seachem Prime ‘lock’ those nitrites and nitrates and then unlock them in 24-48 hours’ time. Isn’t this only delaying and not removing? I was thinking along the way that it can slowly unlock those nitrites so that the BB can convert them slowly thus help to protect the fish.

Just my 2-cents thoughts.

Thanks

but that’s something that’s out of my budget.

I would think that in a well cycled tank the nitrites from your tap, diluted by the water in your tank, would be oxidized within an hour or two and at diluted levels, would have little effect on your fish in that time.
Seachem says (and so far it seems true) that the ammonia and nitrites are still available to bacteria in their altered state. In that case, since your tank is cycled, the nitrites will be oxidized to nitrates before they return to their original form. Prime converts ammonia (NH3) to ammonium (NH4) for 48 hours- bacteria use ammonium the same as ammonia. Seachem doesn't know (or won't say) exactly how it makes nitrites harmless.

 

I;m wondering why there are nitrites and nitrates in your tap water.

 

I would think that in a well cycled tank the nitrites from your tap, diluted by the water in your tank, would be oxidized within an hour or two and at diluted levels, would have little effect on your fish in that time.
Seachem says (and so far it seems true) that the ammonia and nitrites are still available to bacteria in their altered state. In that case, since your tank is cycled, the nitrites will be oxidized to nitrates before they return to their original form. Prime converts ammonia (NH3) to ammonium (NH4) for 48 hours- bacteria use ammonium the same as ammonia. Seachem doesn't know (or won't say) exactly how it makes nitrites harmless.

I see...that’s very helpful information Momgoose56. I thought any fish cannot tolerate nitrites at any one time.

I have ever added dechlorinated water (not Prime treated though) into the tank during my PWC fishless cycle and the tank is able to convert all remnants of nitrites to nitrates overnight. Now that the tank is cycled, I’d like the best for my fish. So do you think it is better to continue using my current normal dechlorinator or switch to Prime to be on the safe side?

I will think Seachem won’t say how they make nitrite harmless due to trade secret?

I;m wondering why there are nitrites and nitrates in your tap water.

In Singapore, municipal water supply contains a mixture of water from reservoirs, desalination plants and highly treated water from reclaimed water called NEWater. I have not had records from water before NEWater but most of us feel that water last time is from a purer source as they are from nature and not reclaimed, and uses much less chemical to bring water to a drinkable state. We may be wrong though as NEWater has won many awards internationally.

 

Just got my bottle of Prime. Do you guys use the new water immediately after adding Prime?

 

Just got my bottle of Prime. Do you guys use the new water immediately after adding Prime?

Yes, treat new water with Prime. It is a dechlorinator and protects fish from ammonia and nitrites.

 

I see...that’s very helpful information Momgoose56. I thought any fish cannot tolerate nitrites at any one time.

I have ever added dechlorinated water (not Prime treated though) into the tank during my PWC fishless cycle and the tank is able to convert all remnants of nitrites to nitrates overnight. Now that the tank is cycled, I’d like the best for my fish. So do you think it is better to continue using my current normal dechlorinator or switch to Prime to be on the safe side?

I will think Seachem won’t say how they make nitrite harmless due to trade secret?


In Singapore, municipal water supply contains a mixture of water from reservoirs, desalination plants and highly treated water from reclaimed water called NEWater. I have not had records from water before NEWater but most of us feel that water last time is from a purer source as they are from nature and not reclaimed, and uses much less chemical to bring water to a drinkable state. We may be wrong though as NEWater has won many awards internationally.

I’d suspect the NEWwater has won awards because it’s recycled water and environmentally friendly. I’d wonder where that recycled water came from and what would happen if human nature happened and a guy fell asleep at the wheel so to speak.
I’d assume fresh water would taste better
I too would not worry about the small amount of nitrates and nitrites in the water change water. I’d guess you’re doing 20-25% changes weekly? If no you could adjust to do less water changes more often.

 

I’d suspect the NEWwater has won awards because it’s recycled water and environmentally friendly. I’d wonder where that recycled water came from and what would happen if human nature happened and a guy fell asleep at the wheel so to speak.
I’d assume fresh water would taste better
I too would not worry about the small amount of nitrates and nitrites in the water change water. I’d guess you’re doing 20-25% changes weekly? If no you could adjust to do less water changes more often.

Agree! I’ll still prefer fresh water from Mother Nature! You won’t wanna know where those water come from.

As for the water change, I will most likely be going for at least 50%. As what Sorg67 pointed out, nitrates will increase to a higher level in weeks to come if percentage in PWC is too low. I tend to agree with him on this, as mathematically it sounds logical to me.

Tomorrow will be my first change of water after introducing life stock for 1 week. I’ll see how the stats go first before deciding how much to change out. Will be adding Prime for the first time before adding into the tank.

 

The math in your other thread was assuming new water with zero nitrates. If you will be using water with 10 ppm nitrates, it will make the water change math more challenging.

If you are at 20 ppm and do a 50% water change with 10 ppm new water, you will only reduce your nitrates to 15 ppm. Momgoose56 says nitrates okay below 40 ppm. She is probably right. I have heard others cite that benchmark as well. I do not know personally. I have heard others say lower is always better and zero is best. But I do not know how much benefit there is going lower than 40.

 

The math in your other thread was assuming new water with zero nitrates. If you will be using water with 10 ppm nitrates, it will make the water change math more challenging.

If you are at 20 ppm and do a 50% water change with 10 ppm new water, you will only reduce your nitrates to 15 ppm. Momgoose56 says nitrates okay below 40 ppm. She is probably right. I have heard others cite that benchmark as well. I do not know personally. I have heard others say lower is always better and zero is best. But I do not know how much benefit there is going lower than 40.

That’s the reason why I decided to use Prime! At least I can get the 3 nasty elements to zero or negligible before adding to the tank for simplicity sake.

Tetra’s standard for safe nitrate level is 0-50ppm. So I guess anything between 0-40 should be pretty safe.

 

That’s the reason why I decided to use Prime! At least I can get the 3 nasty elements to zero or negligible before adding to the tank for simplicity sake.

I also use Prime to condition new water even though my water tests triple zero. My understanding is that it removes chlorine and chloramine. And it detoxifies ammonia and nitrites. The water would still test positive.

Prime would be good to address the nitrites in your water until the cycle takes care of them. But I do not think it does anything to nitrates.

 

To tell you the truth, I'm not 100% sure Prime really does detox nitrites. The FAQ on their website says (and I'm paraphrasing) that they didn't expect Prime to detox nitrites and they don't know how is does, but they got feedback from user who claimed they used Prime when experiencing a nitrite spike and lost must less fish. Seems to me like the chemists at SeaChem can't verify that Prime will detox nitrites, but a bunch of Prime fanboys (and fangirls) claims it does. Seems like a dubious claim, but who knows.

You are correct. It does not, never has.

 

Agree.

I also use Prime to condition new water even though my water tests triple zero. My understanding is that it removes chlorine and chloramine. And it detoxifies ammonia and nitrites. The water would still test positive.

Prime would be good to address the nitrites in your water until the cycle takes care of them. But I do not think it does anything to nitrates.

For nitrates I’m relying plants to tackle some of it.

 

This is what my tap water register. From left, ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and PH.

Surprised?

 

I don't know enough about tap water to be surprised. But it would seem that keeping good aquarium water with that source water will be challenging.

I read that nitrates in tap water often comes from agriculture or septic systems leaching into the ground water and can be accompanied by other contaminants. Is your tap water safe to drink?

 

If you are able, an RO/DI system is your best bet. They range from small under sink models to ones like the one I put together. This gives you complete control over water quality...Just remember to remineralize the water.

I Finally Got Around To Doing A Writeup On My System. | Reverse Osmosis - Deionization 367737

 

I don't know enough about tap water to be surprised. But it would seem that keeping good aquarium water with that source water will be challenging.

I read that nitrates in tap water often comes from agriculture or septic systems leaching into the ground water and can be accompanied by other contaminants. Is your tap water safe to drink?

Yes. Water from Singapore is safe to drink right from the tap. For me and my family we’ll always boil it before consuming.

If you are able, an RO/DI system is your best bet. They range from small under sink models to ones like the one I put together. This gives you complete control over water quality...Just remember to remineralize the water.

I Finally Got Around To Doing A Writeup On My System. | Reverse Osmosis - Deionization 367737

I will seriously consider it if my tap water doesn’t work out. Thanks!