tap water has nitrates?

[sevenoaks]

i just tested my tap water . it has nitrates. is this normal. then i put seachem prime in it and it still reads the same nitrates. is this why i cant seem to get my nitrates under control . i find im up to 60 ppm in two weeks in a heavily pop tank. everything else reads zero. what am i doing wrong

 

[swk]

It's fairly common for some water supplies to have nitrates, especially if you're on a well. Depending on the nitrate level in your water source, you may want to change water every week instead of every 2 weeks. You could use purigen as well.

Also prime will not remove nitrates. It will bind ammonia and nitrite but will not affect nitrate levels

 

[sevenoaks]

i thought prime was good to remove chlorine from my tap that would kill off my beneficial bact. in the filter. that is why i used it. my tap reads .1 of chlorine and no chloromine. i wasnt aware tap water had nitrates. maybe ill break out the old reverse osmosis. i hate it because it takes so long to get 50 gals. are my nitrate buildup problem in the tank could be because of not enough media or becasue my tap has nitrates. ?

 

[swede]

live plants use nitrates as ferts..... if that gives you any ideas

 

[swk]

prime is a dechlorinator but also binds ammonia and nitrite. What's the nitrite level in the tap? Your problem could be many things, but the level in your tap is a good starting point

 

[sevenoaks]

all else is zero in tap. except chlorine which is .1 no cholomine
i feel like im not even doing a water change if i am just putting nitrates back into tank. what does everyone else do?

 

[swk]

So....I'm confused. You have nitrates in your tap water, right??? What's the level of nitrates in your tap water?

oops, my bad. I said nitrItes above....meant nitrates

 

[sevenoaks]

sorry, im just paniced that all this while ive been adding nitrates when doing a water change instead of taking them out. i have city water. it is about 12 ppm nitrates. nitrites and ammonia zero , chlorine .1

 

[swk]

It's not ideal, but shouldn't be a huge problem. Here's where it gets long and involved....

tank size?
filters?
fish?
new tank or up and running for a few months?
foods fed and frequency?
water change routine...amount changed and how often?

 

[sevenoaks]

i have two tanks. ill pick the one with the most problem of nitrates
80 gals of water
2- eheim 2217
one 7" turtle
running one filter for 2 yrs the other 9 months
fed out of tank
change 50 gals every two weeks.
tank parameters. everything zero except nitrates. they go up to 80 ppm in two weeks