high nitrate

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andysmith

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 18, 2010
258
0
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uk
i am having a few problems with my nitrate it is sat between 80 and 160 on my test kit but checking it from the tap it is coming out at 40.
i am going to get an inline nitrate remover so that should solve the problem from the tap but everything i have tried has not reduced it in the tank.

all my water has tested fine apart from the nitrates it is a 1300 litre tank and i have 2 fx5's running on it i have tried water changes filer bags with nitrate removers i have added plants but nothing seems to work i have cut down on feeds i did have a ph crash a few weeks back but have sorted it and now has been stable which i know can make the nitrate jump up but dont know what else i can do so any advice or help would be appreciated.
 
Nitrates at 40 right out of your tap is the maximum allowed by law. Not a good sign. Do you have children? That level is right at the edge of what can cause major health problems in infants.

How much water are you changing? Clearly you aren't going to have much luck getting your nitrates below 40, but you should be able to keep them at 50-60.

More plants and more water changes. Change at least 50% of your water each week, more if needed.
 
i do have a child and i am going to call the water company to find out what they are putting in the water.

i have been doing about 20% water changes every other day but it is not making any difference and it is hard to put many plants in as my rays and dats just pull them about i have a few floating plants but with the current and my powerhead they just get sucked under.
 
Fewer large volume water changes do a LOT more for you than lots of small water changes.

Its not what they put in the water, its what they aren't removing from the water. Nitrates are natural, but in large quantities cause problems with immune systems and and with oxygen bonding in the blood. Infants are especially prone to the oxygen problem. Its expensive to remove nitrates from the water. It takes time, lots of time. It is done with a reaction chamber where life forms (there are several that do it ranging from plants to bacteria) pull the nitrates from the water. The problem is the water has to sit in a chamber long enough for the life forms to do their things. If the water treatment facility is in a densely populated area (Almost all of Europe qualifies!) the demand for clean water is so high that they don't have time to let the chambers sit for very long.

The min requirement is 10ppm of nitrogen as measured by nitrate. A reading of 40ppm nitrate is the same as 10ppm of Nitrogen. Agriculture in an area intensifies the struggle as cows/ sheep/ pigs and fertilized fields also add nitrates to the tap water getting sent to the facility.

When demands for water are lower, the water can sit in the chambers longer and the nitrates will be lower, but when demand is high, as soon as the nitrates reach the legal limit the water is pumped out.
 
i will try doing a 50% tonight as it needs a change and see if that does anything.
thanks for your advice
 
Bio media doesn't reduce nitrates?
 
If you live in England and your water company draws water from the Thames, 40PPMs out of the tap is normal (unfortunately).
 
i have the filter pads that come with it and al***rog and in the other i have the filter pads and then i have some al***rog and the filter pads you would get in the tetra tec ex1200 it was my mature media.

i dont beleive my water is from the thames as i am more midlands based but it is high but i dont think i used to be that high but i am unsure as i never tested it as i have never had problems for the past 3 years.
 
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