high nitrate in tap water

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NoahEm

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 23, 2011
25
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lancaster pa
I i recently found out that we have high nitrates in our well water. around 40ppm! so i'm looking for a way to fix this! I know RO water filters can help. but i have 180 gallon talk and these filters seem to only produce 50-100 gallons A DAY. is there some way i can filter my tap water with out having a holding tank with clean water? and without having a water source and drain dedicated to only the RO water filter? I have also done some research on aquripure nitrate filter. but have only heard bad things about these. i also tryed to buy a tap water filter but i had to do a 50% water change since the nitrate levels were so high. and this took 4 hours to do since the hose for the tap water filter was sooo small! i can't see myself doing that weekly. I am pretty new to all this and really need help so i don't have to get rid of my fish :( i have one sick fish already do to the high nitrate. and help is needed asap!!! :(
 
Howdy,

You're legal. The EPA level for drinking water is 10 mg/L nitrate as nitrogen = 44 ppm = 44 mg/L (does not apply to well water. If you have well water you're SOL).

Really 40 ppm isn't all that much, and definitely not the reason why your fish is sick! It just means you need to keep a close eye on nitrates and maybe change water a bit more often. It also helps to have live plants. I had to dose nitrates to a planted tank of mine! Worry when it gets over 80-100 ppm.

HarleyK
 
Howdy,

What species?

HarleyK
 
Use chemi-pure elite in your filters, great product!
 
HarleyK said:
Howdy,

You're legal. The EPA level for drinking water is 10 mg/L nitrate as nitrogen = 44 ppm = 44 mg/L (does not apply to well water. If you have well water you're SOL).

Really 40 ppm isn't all that much, and definitely not the reason why your fish is sick! It just means you need to keep a close eye on nitrates and maybe change water a bit more often. It also helps to have live plants. I had to dose nitrates to a planted tank of mine! Worry when it gets over 80-100 ppm.

HarleyK
Click to expand...

Sorry, I have to disagree. Nitrate is basically a poison. The fact that there are 0-1ppm of nitrates in the wild where these fish comes from makes me conclude it's a bad thing to have. It's probably like being exposed to second hand smoke all your life. You may not experience any effects right away, but it will surely catch up with your down the road.

OP, the only effective way to get rid of nitrates in your tap water is with an RO filter, as the RO membrane strips everything out of the water. It really isn't that hard to set up if you have the space to setup a few 55g plastic barrels as holding tanks, then you pump that into the tank when doing water changes.

The other thing you could do is build an algae scrubber and add it to the tank. If you build it right, that will chew right through your nitrate problem. There's a giant thread on here, search for 'algae scrubber'.

Also, if you have a sump, consider adding some fast growing pond plants like floating hyacinth. Add some strong lights under your canopy and fill up the sump with floating plants, that will help too.
 
jcardona1 said:
Sorry, I have to disagree. Nitrate is basically a poison. The fact that there are 0-1ppm of nitrates in the wild where these fish comes from makes me conclude it's a bad thing to have. It's probably like being exposed to second hand smoke all your life. You may not experience any effects right away, but it will surely catch up with your down the road.

OP, the only effective way to get rid of nitrates in your tap water is with an RO filter, as the RO membrane strips everything out of the water. It really isn't that hard to set up if you have the space to setup a few 55g plastic barrels as holding tanks, then you pump that into the tank when doing water changes.

The other thing you could do is build an algae scrubber and add it to the tank. If you build it right, that will chew right through your nitrate problem. There's a giant thread on here, search for 'algae scrubber'.

Also, if you have a sump, consider adding some fast growing pond plants like floating hyacinth. Add some strong lights under your canopy and fill up the sump with floating plants, that will help too.
Click to expand...

Never thought of an algae scrubber for a FW tank. I run a home built unit on my only SW tank, been using it for 25 yrs!
 
I have heard some talk regarding high phosphates in the municipal water supplies in NJ. Word is it is associated to the heavy rains and the run off containing phosphates.
 
Jcardona1 is right on target with the R.O. and algae scrubber to get rid of nitrates. These would be the easiest to do at home on a small scale.

Cicho, I am sure NJ WWT plants are having a hard time with all the flooding that has happend to you guys. a sudden overload of ammonia,nitrate or phosphates can reek havoc on a WW plants bacteria colony. hope you guys are getting back to normal up there.
 
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