michael.qian Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 Hi all, currently my nitrAte is at 30ppm. ammonia & nitrite 0ppm. I would like nitrAte to be as low as possible, perferably 0ppm, even though 30ppm is safe but I would still like to reduce it as much as I can. Got a LOT of small malayan trumpets snails, taken out about 100 in the past 4 days, probably still lots to go, could they be contributing to my nitrate levels a lot? The number of fish I have is definitely ok and plus I have got lots of plants as well and they should help absorb nitrate. Planning to add a few corys and a pair of dwarf gourami. Also I have sold 4X neon tetras and selling 5X leopard danios. Any other method of reducing nitrate? apart from weekly water change which I'm doing 25% each week. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ianab Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 The snails are a living animal, so they will contribute some bioload to the tank, but if they are small it wont be much. The simplist way to reduce nitrate is to increase the water changes. Also measure the nitrate level of the tap water you are using, thats basically as low as you can go. If your tap water has a nitrate of 10 or 15 that limits how low you can get it. Cheers Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 I know its not really what you asked, but why?? If its not getting over 30ppm between water changes its well within acceptable levels. 25% weekly is enough of a water change for the kind of tank you're keeping so I wouldn't bother doing any more. I think the only way to get it down to 0ppm would be to get rid of the fish, because if there's any fish they will produce amonia and nitrite, which the bio filtration will turn into nitrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 Ok so 30ppm is 100% safe? Because then I can get a pair of gourami sooner, but will wait until the neons are picked up and the leopard danios are sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayci Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 what are you fertilizer the plants with? If the plants are growing, the nitrates should drop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr pleco Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 if you want nitrates to lower increase amount or frequency of water changes simple as that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 You can use resins that remove nitrate as well, but the safest and most effective method is to just plant heavily and stock lightly. I don't let any of my tanks get over 10ppm nitrate (I don't do weekly water changes either, it's usually biweekly or longer) and in fact my more heavily planted ones stay at 0 no matter how long I leave them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 if you want nitrates to lower increase amount or frequency of water changes simple as that No its not really. If the water is coming out of the tap with 15ppm you're going to have to do a lot more water changed to make a little difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 30ppm is not that high. I would not aim for 0ppm as your plants will not do well, Maybe get a RO unit which will remove everything from your tap water I had my nitrates and phostphates at 0ppm, tank looked very clean but the plants did not grow at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HummingBird Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 That's a good point reef, I do actually add nitrate to my planted tanks in the form of potassium nitrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael.qian Posted August 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 Just tested both my tap water and tank water. Tank water is still at 30ppm, or maybe increased a little since I tested it 3 days ago, but not at 40ppm. Tap was is 0ppm, so definitely room for improvements. I'm trying to get to something around 10-20ppm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr pleco Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 Just tested both my tap water and tank water. Tank water is still at 30ppm, or maybe increased a little since I tested it 3 days ago, but not at 40ppm. Tap was is 0ppm, so definitely room for improvements. I'm trying to get to something around 10-20ppm. see david it is as simple as that dont know of anyone who has more than 0.0 ppm nitrate in the tap but im sure you will tell me if they do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 I would be surprised if Auckland water was actually zero nitrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr pleco Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 checked it tonite alan 0 nitrate and zero ammonia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 If you are really concerned about it. Don't have to be. & you don't want to do extra water changes. & you don't want to increase plants. You can use a seachem product called purigen. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 see david it is as simple as that dont know of anyone who has more than 0.0 ppm nitrate in the tap but im sure you will tell me if they do Sorry, I forgot you had used your psycic powers to measure the nitrates in her tap water before making that post. :roll: Even with 0ppm in your tap water you'll need a lot of plants, lots of water changes and very few fish to keep it undetectable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted August 19, 2007 Report Share Posted August 19, 2007 If you are really concerned about it. Don't have to be. & you don't want to do extra water changes. & you don't want to increase plants. You can use a seachem product called purigen. Frenchy http://www.seachem.com/products/product ... rigen.html The good thing about this product is that you can regenerate it and use it again and again for a considerable amount of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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