25 ppm nitrate from tap... what to do?
- Thread starter SandNukka15
- Start date
Although Pothos seems to be the aquarists plant du jour these days there are any number of other tropical plants you could use to reduce nitrate.
The umbrella palm would grow in the back of the tank, as long as the leaves are not submerged and do a great job reducing nitrate. I used them in the US and are now using them here.
I don't use any ferts, and they grow like crazy.
I also useed cuttings of Dieffenbachia which are growing out of my 180, they are tolerant of low light are suck nitrates like a Hoover.
The fish in your tank all seem to be the type fish that would appreciate soft water, so the collection of rain water may be a solution as something to dilute the high tap nitrates.
I do that here, because the water situation is sometimes tenuous.
When in the states I had double rain barrels to collect for rain water for killifish I bred, that appreciated the soft rain water, mixed in with my high pH hard tap water.
Below is a tank with Umbrella palm (Papyrus) that grew tall enough to send leaves above the water line, above its in the lower right of the pond.
If you acquire one Papyrus plant from a pond or garden center, in 6 months you may be giving many away. I had it in tanks, ponds, and even dry as house plants.
The umbrella palm would grow in the back of the tank, as long as the leaves are not submerged and do a great job reducing nitrate. I used them in the US and are now using them here.
I don't use any ferts, and they grow like crazy.
I also useed cuttings of Dieffenbachia which are growing out of my 180, they are tolerant of low light are suck nitrates like a Hoover.
The fish in your tank all seem to be the type fish that would appreciate soft water, so the collection of rain water may be a solution as something to dilute the high tap nitrates.
I do that here, because the water situation is sometimes tenuous.
When in the states I had double rain barrels to collect for rain water for killifish I bred, that appreciated the soft rain water, mixed in with my high pH hard tap water.
Below is a tank with Umbrella palm (Papyrus) that grew tall enough to send leaves above the water line, above its in the lower right of the pond.
If you acquire one Papyrus plant from a pond or garden center, in 6 months you may be giving many away. I had it in tanks, ponds, and even dry as house plants.
Although Pothos seems to be the aquarists plant du jour these days there are any number of other tropical plants you could use to reduce nitrate.
The umbrella palm would grow in the back of the tank, as long as the leaves are not submerged and do a great job reducing nitrate. I used them in the US and are now using them here.
View attachment 1425472
I don't use any ferts, and they grow like crazy.
I also useed cuttings of Dieffenbachia which are growing out of my 180, they are tolerant of low light are suck nitrates like a Hoover.
View attachment 1425473
View attachment 1425474
The fish in your tank all seem to be the type fish that would appreciate soft water, so the collection of rain water may be a solution as something to dilute the high tap nitrates.
I do that here, because the water situation is sometimes tenuous.
When in the states I had double rain barrels to collect for rain water for killifish I bred, that appreciated the soft rain water, mixed in with my high pH hard tap water.
Below is a tank with Umbrella palm (Papyrus) that grew tall enough to send leaves above the water line, above its in the lower right of the pond.
If you acquire one Papyrus plant from a pond or garden center, in 6 months you may be giving many away. I had it in tanks, ponds, and even dry as house plants.
Thanks for the heads up and detailed post on more options for plants... I'll def look into them!
RO water may be a worthy investment for you. Not sure if you're familiar with RO filters. You run the filter system which fills a container, water change normally out, and have a pump to bring RO water from container to the tank. Or just bring buckets from the can to the tank. For freshwater fish you would want to remineralize the water, there are many products that can do this, seachem makes one called replenish. You may also want to buffer the pH, or use a neutral regulator.
The RO filter basically will give you water with very low tds and high purity. You could add DI to get the tds down to zero, but for freshwater fish I don't think it's necessary.
I have been using RO water in my freshwater tanks for a couple years, and when I worked at absolutely fish in NJ, this is what they used for all of their freshwater fish as well. Worth noting that they waste a lot of water so may make your bill go up a bit if you're making water for a 180 gallon. Never invested in one for myself until I started keeping a reef, but in your situation I think it would be a viable option
The RO filter basically will give you water with very low tds and high purity. You could add DI to get the tds down to zero, but for freshwater fish I don't think it's necessary.
I have been using RO water in my freshwater tanks for a couple years, and when I worked at absolutely fish in NJ, this is what they used for all of their freshwater fish as well. Worth noting that they waste a lot of water so may make your bill go up a bit if you're making water for a 180 gallon. Never invested in one for myself until I started keeping a reef, but in your situation I think it would be a viable option
I've used an rodi unit for a saltwater set up years ago... I do have my carbon filter unit for my old drip system from the filter guys I'm sure I could find a way to alter. I prefer not to use RO water bc it seems like more of a headache to make for a 180 and mix in with my aging water in a stock tank... I'd like to try to keep it consistent.
The fish all seem healthy, colorful and eating well even with the 40ppm nitrate.
Mixing with tap water is one way, but you can also just use pure RO with the remineralizer/ph buffer, so don't have to figure out what percentage is tap and RO. It certainly is a bit more of a hassle than just aging water straight from the tap, you're right about that. If you want to eliminate nitrate in the source water, I think that's probably your best bet, if you want to leave it high and try reducing agents like pothos and/or more aquatic plant density, that is another path you could try
well, in my tanks I usually try to keep it below 20ppm. That's not to say your fish couldn't be doing well at a higher level. I have tested water for many people who have had it sky high, and claimed there was no problem with the fish, or hadn't had any deaths. Sometimes I'd be skeptical that they would know what problems looked like, but you I believe would recognize signs of stress.
