25 ppm nitrate from tap... what to do?

[SandNukka15]

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.

I honestly believe that I may also be slightly overfeeding but it's hard to tell... I've never really done smaller SA cichlids in the past.. mostly sticking to larger predatory fish including Ray's and had a good grasp on how much to feed with shrimp, tilapia, massive pelts, krill, silversides and so on but I'm feeding all these guys 6 out of 7 days with small nls pellets and san fransisco bay freshwater multi pack frozen food.

I'm feeding approx 1.5 teaspoons of 1mm new life spectrum pellets with 4 cubes of the san fransisco bay multipack frozen food. And 1 large algae pellet

16 columbian tetras 1.5-2 inches
9 peppered cories 1.5-2 inches
7 red head geophagus 3 inches
4 bolivian rams 2 inches
4 pictus catfish 3 inches
3 angelfish 6.5 inches
2 electric blue acaras 5 inches
1 blue phantom pleco 7 inch

Those MLS pellets are so small I cant tell if they all get eatten when they shift them in or slowly just disintegrate into the water

 

[Oscar Mike]

25ppm out of the tap isn't normal, the EPA Max Contaminate Level for nitrate is 10ppm with an average of 1-4ppm. I would check your local water quality report unless you're using a well.

 

[Baitfishmania]

So randomly I like to check my tap water to see exactly what's changing and I havent tested it in quite some time. It turns out my tap is coming out at 25 ppm nitrate and within 5 days or so it rises up to 40ppm with the stock I have. I age my water in a 100 gallon stock tank and do 50% water changes once a week with this stock.

180 gallon

16 columbian tetras
9 peppered cories
7 red head geophagus
4 bolivian rams
4 pictus catfish
3 angelfish
2 electric blue acaras
1 blue phantom pleco

Filtration is ehiem 2217 and ehiem 2262

Tank has java fern and pothos

Planning on switching the ehiem 2217 to an fx6 soon.

I just cleaned the ehiem 2217 today and plan to do 50% water changes every 5th day.

Any ideas on what to do????

lView attachment 1425410

Have you tried to add neural regulator then testing the tap water agian? The stuff that brings your ph to 7, or you can get an RO machine for like 50$ and a trash can at home depot. My water isn't that bad but it's still pretty ****ty from the tap idk if this helps gl

 

[fishhead0103666]

The responses gathered in this thread are top notch, I can’t improve upon any of them or give a better answer, all I can do and will do is wish you luck my friend.

 

[SandNukka15]

25ppm out of the tap isn't normal, the EPA Max Contaminate Level for nitrate is 10ppm with an average of 1-4ppm. I would check your local water quality report unless you're using a well.

This is the most recent water quality report