Nitrates in tapwater

[Fishy91]

I just recently moved and learned I now have nitrates in my tap water. (Well water). I'm currently running two tanks. A 90 gallon rb piranha tank and a 30 gallon brackish water tank with a f8 puffer. This first picture is a nitrate test with water right out of the tap. Looks high to me

The 2nd pic is premixed water for my brackish tank that sat for a couple days. It's not at zero but definitely lower.

Why is this? How/why did aging the water lower the nitrates? Also what is my best course of action to take? I have some pothos on top of the 90 gallon but they have yet to make a difference. Putting plants inside the tank really isn't an option because the fish mess with them and the tank is very dimly lit. Don't really have room for another barrel of water either. I have java firn in the brackish tank and just added some pothos to that but I have no clue how they'll do with the salinity of the water. I

 

[skjl47]

Hello; The initial logic suggests a couple of possibilities. Very speculative at first thought. One is that some sort of commercial fertilizer is used in the area such as on lawns or crops. That there is some path into your well for this stuff.
Another is that organic material such as ammonia has found a way into the well and has undergone the nitrogen cycle much as in our aquariums.

Another thought is that the test equipment is somehow contaminated. Perhaps rinsing the vials with distilled water and retesting.
I also seem to recall using distilled water as a standard. By that I would run my water parameter tests on distilled water to get a base line as to how accurate the test kit may be.

May I ask what sort of well you have, where it is and what the surrounding land is like? Modern wells are drilled so that there is a small diameter "bore hole" (thanks Hendre) with a pips down a ways and usually have some sort of well head. To contaminate such a well should not be so easy as the older type wells with open tops.

My last thought is that ground water in many places is now contaminated which means many of us can have bad wells. I lived in Harlan County KY for a long time. Had a well and was happy with it. Had to stop using my well as did many in the area and it is now a federal superfund site due to industrial contamination of the ground water.

Have the well water tested by a certified lab. In the USA I think each state has such an option. They should be able to test for many things beyond the standard home water test kit.

Good luck and drink bottled water until you get the test results back

 

[eddiegunks]

My well water has 20-30 of nitrates.

It has been like that for a long time. We have several tanka yhat have been running for years and the fish are doing well. Fat and happy.....

Water changes to keep them from going higher. I am trying a DIY nitrate filter . Pothos plants etc etc