Hi,

I slackened off water changes whilst the Kribensis fry were still tiny in my 
community tank. I've lost a pair of rams, no thought I'd better test the 
water. Nitrite and Ammonia zero,
but Nitrate is running off the clock, somewhere above 150ppm. The Kribs are 
big enough now so I've done 25% water changes every 4 days, thats 3 *25%. 
The nitrate is still off the clock.

I mentioned this to LFS who said to check the tapwater, as numerous 
customers were reporting high nitrate tapwater.

My tapwater reading varies day to day, but the lowest reading over the past 
4 days is 80ppm. So water changes will have very little effect, (probably 
caused the problem in the first place). Anyone else have high nitrate 
tapwater? what do you suggest ?

Rich

Rich wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I slackened off water changes whilst the Kribensis fry were still tiny in my 
> community tank. I've lost a pair of rams, no thought I'd better test the 
> water. Nitrite and Ammonia zero,
> but Nitrate is running off the clock, somewhere above 150ppm. The Kribs are 
> big enough now so I've done 25% water changes every 4 days, thats 3 *25%. 
> The nitrate is still off the clock.
> 
> I mentioned this to LFS who said to check the tapwater, as numerous 
> customers were reporting high nitrate tapwater.
> 
> My tapwater reading varies day to day, but the lowest reading over the past 
> 4 days is 80ppm. So water changes will have very little effect, (probably 
> caused the problem in the first place). Anyone else have high nitrate 
> tapwater? what do you suggest ?
> 
> Rich
> 
> 
> 
How many live plants do you have in the tank? I would tackle it by over 
planting (get some stuff that grows like wildfire that is relatively 
cheap). I'm not sure what level of nitrates I have in my tap water but 
the planted tanks rarely get above 10ppm.

Gill

Gill

> My tapwater reading varies day to day, but the lowest reading over the 
> past 4 days is 80ppm. So water changes will have very little effect, 
> (probably caused the problem in the first place). Anyone else have high 
> nitrate tapwater? what do you suggest ?
>
>
There are a variety of ways to lower nitrate in the tank, but you need to 
ensure that you are not putting more in, as it would seem you are. At 80ppm, 
that would seem to be above the legal limit which I believe is 50ppm and in 
the first instance I would contact your water company, then Ofwat.If there 
is a supply problem, the water company are legally obliged to provide you 
with an alternative water supply, sometimes bottled, usually a bowser in the 
street.

The cheapest way I can think of for reducing tap water nitrates is a 
Nitragon. This is rechargeable with salt, so really cost effective at about 
£25 (I think). This will drastically reduce what you are putting into your 
tank.

What filtration do you have? Unfortunately, the end product of filtration in 
our aquariums is nitrate, so it is a continual battle. If you have a 
canister, maybe put some Siporax/ Biohome/ Alfagrog in it. Although not a 
miracle cure, over time the bacteria required to reduce nitrate to nitrogen 
will colonise and help to complete the cycle. You could also reduce the 
amount of food you are giving. Less food = less waste = less nitrate 
produced in the cycle. Plants are also reasonably good a removing 
nitrogenous compounds, maybe some fast growing surface plants that are 
easily scooped out as they reproduce? That said, in PFK a couple of years 
ago it was said that plants prefer to feed on the free ammonia and only take 
nitrate as a last resort. Hopefully you have no ammonia, nitrite reading in 
your tank, but if you plant, then they may remove it before there is a 
chance for it to be converted to nitrate.

Regards

Mark
www.marksfish.me.uk

Rich wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I slackened off water changes whilst the Kribensis fry were still tiny in my 
> community tank. I've lost a pair of rams, no thought I'd better test the 
> water. Nitrite and Ammonia zero,
> but Nitrate is running off the clock, somewhere above 150ppm. The Kribs are 
> big enough now so I've done 25% water changes every 4 days, thats 3 *25%. 
> The nitrate is still off the clock.
> 
> I mentioned this to LFS who said to check the tapwater, as numerous 
> customers were reporting high nitrate tapwater.
> 
> My tapwater reading varies day to day, but the lowest reading over the past 
> 4 days is 80ppm. So water changes will have very little effect, (probably 
> caused the problem in the first place). Anyone else have high nitrate 
> tapwater? what do you suggest ?
> 
> Rich

Try distilled water and see what result you get.  I don't know about 
Europe, but US standards limit tap water nitrate to 45 ppm N03- (10 ppm 
nitrate-N), and readings of over 10 ppm outside of farming communities 
are rare.  Your test kit reading of nearly double that concentration 
means that the kit is probably reading somewhat high.

Here's some info on nitrate kits and how unreliable the readings can be.
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=96

-- 
Put the word aquaria in the subject to reply.
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On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 18:02:39 +0000 (UTC), "Rich" 
wrote:

>Anyone else have high nitrate 
>tapwater? what do you suggest ?

While your tap water is no use collect rainwater.

steve@tropheus.demon.co.uk wrote:
> On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 18:02:39 +0000 (UTC), "Rich" 
> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Anyone else have high nitrate 
>>tapwater? what do you suggest ?
> 
> 
> While your tap water is no use collect rainwater. 
> 

Yes, but be careful depending on where you live for pollutants in the 
water...I'm guessing you live in the UK...where I live is on the 
stacking path for Heathrow, if they are not stacking they are making the 
final approach...I wouldn't put rain water in my tank even as a last 
resort....

Gill

I don't believe anybody's patwater hs 80ppm NO3. I do believe,
from observation, hobby NO3 testkits are not accurate.

It's my guess that this problem is more to do with old
tank syndrome than anythig else, that is a pH shift up
makes the small amounts of ammonia in the currently acidified
water turn very toxic.

-- 
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Richard Sexton       | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

"Gill Passman"  wrote in message 
news:44062934$0$1172$5a6aecb4@news.aaisp.net.uk...
> steve@tropheus.demon.co.uk wrote:
>> On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 18:02:39 +0000 (UTC), "Rich" 
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Anyone else have high nitrate tapwater? what do you suggest ?
>>
>>
>> While your tap water is no use collect rainwater.
>
> Yes, but be careful depending on where you live for pollutants in the 
> water...I'm guessing you live in the UK...where I live is on the stacking 
> path for Heathrow, if they are not stacking they are making the final 
> approach...I wouldn't put rain water in my tank even as a last resort....
>
> Gill

I've got more than one tank. My small tank consistently gives 10ppm 
nitrates, with the same test kit. (One problem is I want to move some 
swordtail fry to the large community tank but can't with nitrate so high)

The LFS have tested the local water with many different test kits, and found 
readings upto 180ppm in the tapwater. The levels apparently vary daily. It's 
rumoured that the problem is worse when it rains. (some of the water is 
drawn from bore holes ?)

I live in a very flat agricultural region in East Anglia. This has been 
taken up by other local residents :-

http://www.wisbech-standard.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=WISOnline&category=News&itemid=WEED10%20Feb%202006%2010:15:31:333&tBrand=WISOnline&tCategory=search

Rich