how to remove no3 from your 55 gallon tank besides changing water?

Question

i have done all the water changes, tested my well water and the problem is still in my tanks. any thing i can add to my water to bring it down into range, im about a 40 now but need to get lower.everything else is okay, no2 is 0,alk. is 80,ph is 6.8 . i need help all fish are dead and im trying to get water where i can put some back in my tank. thanks

Answer 1

Assuming your well water contains no nitrates, you may wish to test it for ammonia and nitrites as well. Even trace amounts could cause an increase in nitrates and be undetectable in the tank after only a few hours.

Assuming all that is clear water changes are still your best bet, but remember it could take several large changes. If you are at 40ppm and do a 50% change it will only drop the nitrates to 20 ppm.

There are an assortment of nitrate absorbing materials available on the market, most work to some degree or the other but I would personally be more concerned with finding the source of the problem. If not your tap water, and with no fish in the tank, something is creating or releasing ammonia, nitrites or nitrates. Until found and dealt with your tank will never be truly safe.

Plants will also absorb and use nitrates from the water, but again, that would just be a patch to control the symptoms instead of dealing with the cause directly.

MM

Answer 2

40 is only high enough to cause ugly algae. Its not really high enough to kill most fish. it can stress some fish and contribute to long term health problems, but not many will up & die from 40. (off of the top of my head, ghost cats will die in those conditions though)

If your tap water has nitrates, nitrites, or ammonina in it, this can pump up your levels. Its like washing a car with dirty water.

The only time I had this problem was in my big oscar tank. At the time it had inadequate lighting, so I had about $200 worth of rotting aquatic vegetation in the tank. As the lower leaves on the plants fell apart, the nitrates would increase. I could do water changes until I was blue in the face, but the nitrates would increase in a very short time or not seem to change much at all. I solved it by pruning the plants aggressively, removing all the dead crap from the tank and adding new lighting.

Using the above story... Since nitrate is the end of the biological decay process... you should check for things that could be rotting in your tank, like a dead fish under the gravel or half dead plants, etc. Excess food in the gravel will do this also. Only after these sources of decaying material are removed will the water changes have a lasting effect.

I did read somewhere online about specific household plants that you can dip the roots in the tank water & it would act like a nitrate sponge if they were well lit. Its an esoteric solution if you're up for some reading, but I would recommend finding a good water supply and ensure that your gravel is cleaned of any decaying materials.

Much like the poster above, I doubt that 40 ppm would kill your fish though and you may want to look to some parameter other than no3, such as copper in the water for your source of death.

And Like MM, I don't think removing the nitrates is the primary concern. Since they're caused by something rotting, its better to eliminate that. Those adsorbing bags of filter material are overpriced, only marginally effective, and not a good long term solution.

Answer 3

Good answers here and thumbs up to both. Fish dying I don't think this is related to Nitrate though. Nitrate would take in most cases a very high amount present to begin causing trouble, 40 ppm is the accepted threshold for changes in it. MM is definetly a great person to be asking these things to as well. I'd focus more on the fish themselves as it appears your water chemistry is not the problem. As MM did say though checking your ammonia and nitrite is only going to help the analysis more. Your PH is a little low so if ammonia is present it should not be as toxic to your fish at a 6.8 as it would be say at 8.0 or higher. I'd more want to know if there were anything unusual in your fish they did before they died and thier conditions. My guess again is not water chemistry and would be confirmed with an ammonia and nitrite testing, but rather I am thinking there maybe a pathogen in your water.

JV

Answer 4

I don't think that killed the fish off. It used to be recommended under 40 ppm, now they've changed it to under 20 ppm recommended. I think most fish can handle a 40, just lower is better obviously.

But, really the only way to remove it is through water changes. Did you do a large one? Try at least 50%, and be sure to vacuum the gravel/substrate real good as well. What kind of filter are you using? If by chance you have an under gravel filter, those are bad for water quality, if you are using one, try removing that. Plants help lower nitrates, java plants are supposed to be good, but I wouldn't rely on that solely to remove it. Also, they do make a pad thing, think it's called Nitra-zorb or something like that. Supposed to help remove nitrates. I wouldn't recommend that though, you're better off finding out the source of the nitrates.

Also, what kind of test kit are you using? If it's the dipstick kind, I'd recommend paying the extra money and get the dropper test kits. The dropper tests are much more accurate. I've had problems with the dipstick ones showing inaccurate readings before. Good luck!