How to remove nitrates if tap water has high nitrates?

Justepic

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Oct 23, 2018
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yo,

My tap water has 60 ppm nitrates, uber high. The only way I can think of removing this is RO system however, this costs £100 per year and £400 pounds per installation. My family hasn't put this out of their mind however if there are some alternatives can someone please suggest some. The nitrates in the tank are around 30-40, luckily the fish I have are quite hardy. I still would would like much better though, especially for breeding purposes.

Thanks,
 

kno4te

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yo,

My tap water has 60 ppm nitrates, uber high. The only way I can think of removing this is RO system however, this costs £100 per year and £400 pounds per installation. My family hasn't put this out of their mind however if there are some alternatives can someone please suggest some. The nitrates in the tank are around 30-40, luckily the fish I have are quite hardy. I still would would like much better though, especially for breeding purposes.

Thanks,
Think other option is a heavily planted aquarium.
 
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esoxlucius

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yo,

My tap water has 60 ppm nitrates, uber high. The only way I can think of removing this is RO system however, this costs £100 per year and £400 pounds per installation. My family hasn't put this out of their mind however if there are some alternatives can someone please suggest some. The nitrates in the tank are around 30-40, luckily the fish I have are quite hardy. I still would would like much better though, especially for breeding purposes.

Thanks,
I'm confused. If your tap nitrate is 60ppm (if it is, is that even legal?) then how can it be 30-40 ppm in your tank? If 60ppm is your starting base rate then surely your bio load, light or heavy, will increase the nitrate to 60ppm plus.

Or have you got something in place already which reduces your nitrate but you are looking for a way of reducing it even more?
 

Justepic

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I think the tap water changes recently to 60ppm because because before it was around 30 ppm. I have also have quite a lot of plants in my aquarium and the filter has been going on for a year.IMG_20200217_115953.jpgIMG_20200217_115953.jpg15845590126232205985796832758939.jpg
 

Raka

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Not an insult or trying to bring you down as it's a great looking tank, but thats not a lot of plants.

From a top down view your utilizing 10 to maybe 25% of your total area. You could add a lot more plants with the current lighting setup you have.

Here is an image of the tanks I have that maintain 0 nitrates. The top one is both planted and has top cover where as the bottom on is very lightly planted but has think fast growing top cover utilizing all 4 sq feet of light available.

More is betterer!

20200220_182337.jpg

20200124_180444.jpg
 
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Justepic

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Oct 23, 2018
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If your tap water nitrate is 60ppm, and the UK limit is 50ppm, then I would contact your water authority and see what the source of it is.
Sorry just checked properly again and it is 45ppm. Is this still bad and will it affect the fish?

And also, super planted tanks are cool but if went to get a 10 gallon and use it to breed plecos, I wouldnt get many plants to be in there and the plecos probably won't breed.
 

Justepic

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How it will effect fish and when it will effect them will vary among different species.
Well I want to keep a lot species but right now , I have Rosy Barb's, giant danios, a ropefish and a rainbow shark. I am also gonna try to start breeding super red bristlenose plecos soon.
 

Raka

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Well I want to keep a lot species but right now , I have Rosy Barb's, giant danios, a ropefish and a rainbow shark. I am also gonna try to start breeding super red bristlenose plecos soon.
Highly recommend more than a 10gal. I wish I had gone 33L personally.

I was growing out 6 in a 29 and was doing water changes 50% plus 3 times a week to keep up at the 1.5 in mark. Having doubled the adults in my 55 recently I pretty sure Ive lost the ability for my duckweed to keep up with 6 adults.
 
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