# Reducing Nitrate



## jordan2smith (Mar 16, 2009)

Hey

I was wondering if anyone can help, for some time in my tanks I have had problems with high nitrate levels, even though the ammonia and nitrite are almost constantly at 0. Even after doing my partial water changes the nitrate would still be above 40ppm. I then decided to test the tap water, 

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate - 40ppm

So as ya can see my tap water is considerably high in nitrate, I was wondering if there is a way I can treat my tap water prior to using it in my fish tanks that isn't going to be too expensive for me!

Many Thanks

Jordan


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## Guest (May 6, 2009)

To be honest your nitrate level isn't exactly critical, however if it does concern you or if you have an algae invasion then you could try these methods...

Reverse omsosis- Reverse osmosis or RO removes almost 99.9% of everything from water, including all trace elements, hardness, chlorine, bacteria, heavy metals and also nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate. Reverse osmosis water can be obtained by either purchasing it from an aquatic store in large containers or buying your own unit and producing your own. However it does have it's drawbacks, the membrane and filters inside the unit will need to be replaced depending on the quality of your tapwater and these can be expensive. The units are quite expensive to purchase and they waste an awful lot of water, for approximately every 5 gallons of water put into the unit, only 1 gallon of pure RO water is produced, the rest goes to waste. Also due to the purity of the water you can't simply add it to the aquarium without treating it, the pH, oxygen, hardness and other trace elements will be more or less non-existent. If you did add it to the aquarium in its pure state then it would quite easily send the fish into a state of osmotic shock, which eventually results in death.

Nitrate filters- Not the filters which connect inline with the main aquarium filter, but the tapwater filters known as Nitragons. These aren't seen as often now, mainly due to most fishkeepers switching to reverse osmosis, however they are cheap to run. The main drawback is the recharging the unit, you have to test the product water periodically for nitrate. As soon as any nitrate is detected you will need to flush the filter with a solution of dishwater salts, this isn't very easy.


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## jordan2smith (Mar 16, 2009)

So even though in my tank the nitrate is almost definately at 40ppm it sholdn't be a problem?


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## bingbangboom (Nov 4, 2008)

In the UK, I think the legal limit for nitrate in tap water is 50ppm, anything over this, and I think the water company has issues.

40ppm in the tank shouldn't cause to many issues, regular water changes should keep this low, and also having live plants in the tank can help aswell as they an help reduce nitrates.


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## Guest (May 16, 2009)

bingbangboom said:


> In the UK, I think the legal limit for nitrate in tap water is 50ppm, anything over this, and I think the water company has issues.
> 
> 40ppm in the tank shouldn't cause to many issues, regular water changes should keep this low, and also having live plants in the tank can help aswell as they an help reduce nitrates.


There isn't any legal limit to nitrate, for instance I've heard of many people who are supplied by Severn Trent water and they're recording nitrate as high as 120ppm.


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## bingbangboom (Nov 4, 2008)

Pleccy said:


> There isn't any legal limit to nitrate, for instance I've heard of many people who are supplied by Severn Trent water and they're recording nitrate as high as 120ppm.


If you got to this site:

UK Drinking Water Inspectorate Information for England & Wales

Also more info here:

http://www.dwi.gov.uk/consumer/consumer/nitrate.htm

Scroll down it tells you amounts of chemicals allowed in drinking water. Where nitrate is it says 50mg/l which I think is 50ppm.

Because people don't generally test drinking water, I guess it goes unnoticed most times, but fishkeepers who test water can tell when somethings wrong. If people find higher amounts (more than 50ppm-50mg/l) of nitrate, this should be reported as there is an issue with the water supply along the line, whether it is at the treatment works, or in the supply chain leaving the treatment works.


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## jordan2smith (Mar 16, 2009)

If I was to purchase a reverse osmosis unit because I do have a few tank setups and prefer my fish to have the best water conditions I can offer, plus it must be more beneficial to have the lowest amount of nitrate in the water I can provide. How would I have it setup, i've heard of people having them setup outside and the water that comes out of the reverse osmosis unit going straight into a water butt, is it ok to store this water, what would I have to add bak to the water to then make it suitable for the fish. Thanks


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## Guest (May 27, 2009)

bingbangboom said:


> If you got to this site:
> 
> UK Drinking Water Inspectorate Information for England & Wales
> 
> ...


A few people have complained to the water authorities, however they haven't done much about it.


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