Ammonia & Nitrates in Tap Water

[DawnDeuce]

Good morning fellow AQers

I've recently done an Ammonia and Nitrate test on tap water in Tampines, and found that the levels are not threat great.
Ammonia 0.5ppm
Nitrate 50ppm

What do you do after doing a major water change to lower the ammonia and nitrates? Is there anything you can do besides waiting for the nitrogen cycle to do it's thing?

I saw this Baxter 3-in-1 (anti-chlorine, anti-chloramine & anti-ammonia). Does this stuff work? Does it really get rid of the ammonia in your tank?

[Urban Aquaria]

50ppm nitrates in your tap water? That seems unusually high... i tested my tap water at West area and its only around 0-5ppm (shows mostly yellowish color with API freshwater master test kit).

Are you using a chemical reagent based test kit or those test strip ones?

Most water treatment solutions nowadays remove both chlorine and chloramine (the process produces ammonia though), so they also usually have features to detoxify ammonia too. The ammonia is still present but in non-toxic form, which allows your beneficial bacteria enough time to consume and process it.

[memzsa]

now this is an interesting topic, I am facing dilemma on how to manage this.

apologies, not attempting to hijack this thread but here after doing a parameter test, I'm faced with high Nirate (even after 20% water change and retesting)

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1390298526.885856.jpg

ph-ok, ammonia-ok, ntirite-ok, but nitrate- fail at 40ppm

will seachem prime solve this ?

[DawnDeuce]

Yes I used the same API test kit to check as well. Like in memzsa's picture.

So basically Baxter 3-in-1 is just like Ammo-lock... Using Prime now, but thinking of switching.


I think Prime would not solve Nitrates. I understand that Nitrates are absorbed by plants and removed through water changes. It could mean that your tank is over stocked or caused due to over feeding. I did a 50% followed by a 25% to fix my nitrate problem.

[Phillipians]

Yup, you need more plants for the absorption of nitrates.
I am starting an office tank and after 3 weeks of cycling I still have 0.5ppm ammonia but nitrates and nitrate almost 0.... I wonder if i should put my first fish in now.....

[DawnDeuce]

Sounds good!

My office just banned rearing fishes in the office because one of my colleague's filter leaked and caused a power failure in the whole office. LOL

Now I have to bring my 2FT and 1FT tanks home.... oh no....... ㅠ_ㅜ

[memzsa]

my 1ft tank is filled with 3/4 frogbits and a driftwood tied with plants and still high nitrate.. mind boggling

my shrimplets are surviving but adults, each day one casualty..

[Urban Aquaria]

now this is an interesting topic, I am facing dilemma on how to manage this.

apologies, not attempting to hijack this thread but here after doing a parameter test, I'm faced with high Nirate (even after 20% water change and retesting)

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1390298526.885856.jpg

ph-ok, ammonia-ok, ntirite-ok, but nitrate- fail at 40ppm

will seachem prime solve this ?

Seachem Prime is able to bind and de-toxify ammonia, nitrites and nitrates for up to 24-48 hours, after which they will revert back to their toxic forms... so in a way, Prime can help to alleviate the issue temporarily, but your nitrate levels will still be present (and rising) unless you solve the underlying tank management issues.

You can read more about the effects of Seachem Prime here: http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/showthread.php?t=3983

my 1ft tank is filled with 3/4 frogbits and a driftwood tied with plants and still high nitrate.. mind boggling

my shrimplets are surviving but adults, each day one casualty..

Even if the tank fully covered with frogbits and plants, if there has been constant overfeeding or the bio-load is too high... there will still be a limit to how much nitrates the plants can consume, so all the excess nitrates start to accumulate over time.

In this case, its an indication to either feed less, reduce bio-load or do more frequent water changes.

[memzsa]

Found this write up to be useful on removing nitrates

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=61804

[Urban Aquaria]

...after doing a parameter test, I'm faced with high Nirate (even after 20% water change and retesting)

ph-ok, ammonia-ok, ntirite-ok, but nitrate- fail at 40ppm

Forgot to highlight a point... 20% water change will only remove 20% of the nitrates, so if you have say 50ppm nitrates and the test show red... doing 20% water change will only reduce it to 40ppm, so the test will still show red.

To reduce nitrates noticeably, you need to do multiple small water changes over the course of a few days to steadily reduce the nitrate level then can see the effect (best not to do large water changes, especially for fishes and shrimps). Remember that any reduction is via percentage of the previous test reading (doesn't mean 5 x separate 20% water change = 100% nitrate removal... its works out to more like 68% removal), and you have to factor in new nitrates being generated over the few days too.

[Dodofish]

You can try to use zeolite if you have space to accommodate some. I personally find them useful although I didn't test for ammonia and nitrite in my tanks. But I am not sure of its exact impact to nitrate level, or whether it affects plants growth.

[Urban Aquaria]

Seachem de*nitrate could be an alternative too... but for the nitrate reduction process to work, it has to be used in a filter that runs at below 200 l/ph.

Here is then product link: http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...denitrate.html

Maybe you can try adding a 2nd filter with very low flow rate, then fill it with de*nitrate and see if it helps to reduce nitrates for your setup.

[memzsa]

Seachem de*nitrate could be an alternative too... but for the nitrate reduction process to work, it has to be used in a filter that runs at below 200 l/ph.

Here is then product link: http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...denitrate.html

Maybe you can try adding a 2nd filter with very low flow rate, then fill it with de*nitrate and see if it helps to reduce nitrates for your setup.

Thanks Urban, will lookout for it at C328 today. Thanks man !!