How can I remove nitrates?

[h0ckeyfreek20]

My town is currently ‘working’ on the water supply.
My tap water Nitrate reading is 40-50ppm. I don’t know why it’s so high. (I believe safe tap water is under 10ppm)

Yesterday My tank water was over 80ppm so I did a 75% water change and overdosed with Seachem Safe/Prime. Did not help.

My rays are showing serious signs of stress and stopped eating.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I’ll do whatever it takes to save my tank.

Thank you all in advance!

 

[Rocksor]

Do you know if you have hard water (GH value)? The rays could be stressed from that.

There are resins that you can use to remove the nitrates, but that would have to be done in a separate container prior to adding to your tank. A better option is mixing Reverse Osmosis water with your current tap water. This would need an understanding of GH KH, and TDS values.

While you research RO water creation and re-mineralization, you could do enough water changes so that your tank water is no more than 10-15ppm higher in nitrates than your tap water. I would get a more accurate nitrate test than API since it jumps from 40ppm to 80ppm. You could also add quality granulated activated carbon like chemi-pure to reduce the amount of organic compounds being turned into nitrate. Addition of pothos plants (only roots submerged) could further slow down the production of nitrates.

 

[h0ckeyfreek20]

Do you know if you have hard water (GH value)? The rays could be stressed from that.

There are resins that you can use to remove the nitrates, but that would have to be done in a separate container prior to adding to your tank. A better option is mixing Reverse Osmosis water with your current tap water. This would need an understanding of GH KH, and TDS values.

While you research RO water creation and re-mineralization, you could do enough water changes so that your tank water is no more than 10-15ppm higher in nitrates than your tap water. I would get a more accurate nitrate test than API since it jumps from 40ppm to 80ppm. You could also add quality granulated activated carbon like chemi-pure to reduce the amount of organic compounds being turned into nitrate. Addition of pothos plants (only roots submerged) could further slow down the production of nitrates.

Thank you for the response!
We have relatively soft water that I raise with crushed coral to maintain near 7.0.

RO/DI system would be ideal for this situation but I don’t know if the fish can wait that long.

I do use the API kit and agree I wish it was more precise with its measurements.

I currently have carbon in the sump, ChemiPure Elite and Seachem carbon.

I’m lost on what to do about this tap water. I always test the tap and have never seen readings like this.

 

[squint]

Maybe place a huge order for bottled water?

 

[h0ckeyfreek20]

Maybe place a huge order for bottled water?

Haha I’m almost at that point

 

[kno4te]

Could try nitrazorb/purigen till things are corrected. Get some distilled water from the store and remineralize it. Maybe an option for water changes.

 

[h0ckeyfreek20]

Could try nitrazorb/purigen till things are corrected. Get some distilled water from the store and remineralize it. Maybe an option for water changes.

I’ve tried Purigen in a reactor before but the flow rate has to be so low that I don’t know if it’ll make a difference in a 500g system. Maybe I’ll grab some very fine mesh bags and throw it directly in the sump. I’ll have to look into nitra zorb!
Thank you for the response!!

 

[Ulu]

We have 20ppm nitrates in our water, so it's a struggle.
I'd put a stack of nitrate reactor pads in the sump.
I haven't used them since I started gowing pothos and live plants to eat nitrates.

Someone here recently posted about the drip-coil method.

You get a big coil of black dripline tube and push the water through slowly.
Oxygen in the water is supposed to react with the nitrates to break them down, deep inside the coil.
I've never tried this myself, but I intend to.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Tons of pothos is a good suggestion. In the meantime, amazon prime shipping is two days usually, and a decent RO system can be had for relatively cheap. I personally use an "RO BUDDY" 100gpd 3-stage, but that may not be large enough for you if you have larger tanks and need lots of water. I would get something like this:

Amazon.com: Aquatic Life 5-Stage 200 GPD Hydroponic Reverse Osmosis Filtration System: Home & Kitchen

Buy Aquatic Life 5-Stage 200 GPD Hydroponic Reverse Osmosis Filtration System: Under-Sink & Countertop Filtration - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[Ulu]

My only issue with the pothos is my fish want to pig out on the roots. I have to use baskets & really need a separate refugium.