Do nitrates reduce naturally during a cycle?

[Axel_Justice]

I'm doing a fishless cycle and it's going well, currently at around 1ppm of ammonia, 0.5ppm of nitrite but my nitrates are wacky levels of out of control, sitting at about 80ppm

I did a 50% water change but it didn't reduce them really, turns out my tap water has about 40ppm which in the UK is apparently OK. I've looked at getting an RO unit but my landlord will absolutely in no way allow me to touch the plumbing, not even to plug a thing in. My local garden supplier sells RO water by the litre but before I go and spend a bunch of money will nitrates go down in their own? If not and I need the RO water when should I do the change, I'm conscious of messing with it too much as today is the first day I'm seeing nitrite

 

[JM29]

Sorry but nitrates are the ultimate stage of nitrogen in a tank.
Unless you have lots of fast-growing live plants, water changes are the only way to reduce nitrates in your water.
But since aquatic plants usually prefer ammonium to nitrate, ther will be a competition between plants and filter.

 

[wolfen]

nitrates will only reduce through water changes/ plants/denitrifying bacteria, so in a axie tank your options are put plants in or use ro although if you are going to use ro then you need to add minerals back into the water as axies require moderate to hard water.

 

[Axel_Justice]

I thought as much, is it worth doing water changes now or should I let the cycle finish first?

 

[wolfen]

don't do a water change on a cycling tank until they are 110ppm or higher, the less disruption to the status quo the better, once the cycling is completed you can then do weekly water changes, if you then find that the nitrates are going sky high then it can be a case of either to much food or the tank is too small for the live stock.
you will probably find that once the axie is in the tank the nitrates will settle, uk water is a standard of 50ppm but even though ideal nitrate content for axolotls is 10ppm or lower, their tolerant level is 110ppm or lower.