Problems with nitrates - need an alternative solution

[jane1187]

Ok so I've got problems with nitrates in my tanks. No matter what I do (proper cycling, filter media, using real plants, etc etc) It always stays quite high at about 40ish. Sometimes it will go down to about 10 to 20 but still... Not great. Thought it was old tank syndrome (most of my tanks were long-term set ups) but its been happening in my most recently set up tanks, even after months of cycling.

So far I've not had any animals suffer as a result, touch wood.

Took me a while to realise why this was... the water from the tap comes out with 35 ppm already in it (not only did I test it myself I double checked the local water report too, and yes, AVERAGE is 35ppm, so can be higher sometimes). So I'm sick of using tap water now, its not worth the effort and not worth it for my animals. Moved to a new area recently. and didn't have this problem before so never thought about it.

Bummer. So I need suggestions. A website recommended trying an 'alternative water source' but didn't specify. Any ideas? My partner suggests a water butt and collecting rainwater, but before I go out spending I want to see if anyone else has this problem and has any other solutions. I don't know how easily I could control what grows (algae, insects, bacteria, etc) in a water butt so I'm sceptical.

I'm open to all ideas!

 

[wandering]

Hi Jane,
I too have found high nitrate levels in my tapwater. Not been an issue with my fish (still only thinking of getting some axolotls)
Depends on how much water you need for your changes and how often: here's my brainstorming!
Friends or relatives might be able to fill some containers for you on a regular basis if their water is OK.
RO water from your local fish shop. (but this may be too pure?) or make your own.
Maybe you can buy tapwater from another area, any shop?
bottled water?
A mixture of the above.
In theory rainwater is pure but it picks up all sorts from the air as it drops and whatever is on your roof and in your gutters, so I can see how you would be cautious....
Interested to see how you get on,
Janet

 

[Jennewt]

Have you ruled out a faulty test kit? I'm rather surprised that there would be so much nitrate in tap water (though I learn surprising things every day, so I'm not ruling it out). Can you find a source of water that tests zero for nitrate (like distilled water, for example)? Just to be sure the test kit is not part of the problem.

 

[Jennewt]

I checked the report from our local waterworks. In the US, the maximum legal limit for nitrate in tap water is 10 ppm (and our local supply has about 0.4 ppm, which is higher than I had realized). If your water has 35 ppm, you are practically drinking fertilizer!

 

[jane1187]

Thanks for the replies so far. The test kit is reasonably newly purchased as my old one ran out so you never know. I did download the water test report for my local water supply which said an average of 35 ppm nitrates so I'm erring on the side of my nitrate kit being correct in the amount coming out of my tap. What I'm going to do is test rainwater and if that comes out as zero in the test kit it suggests the kit is working ok.

Unfortunately getting from a friends tap is going to be a problem as I don't really know anyone outside my area. I'll have a think about that.

Plus I do need a lot of water for changes, I have 5 large and three small tanks so buying water ins't really an option (if I can help it).

I do have a dehumidifier in one room in my house that fills quite quickly (don;t know if it'd be enough but hey) if there any reason anyone can think of that this water wouldn't be OK to use as I can store it when its full to use later.

 

[jane1187]

I checked the report from our local waterworks. In the US, the maximum legal limit for nitrate in tap water is 10 ppm (and our local supply has about 0.4 ppm, which is higher than I had realized). If your water has 35 ppm, you are practically drinking fertilizer!

In response to this post, yes we are! According to the water report the legal maximum for the EU is 50 ppm which is ridiculous. Maybe they think we need to grow more.

Have just thought though that its a good thing for my houseplants and I'm going to fertilise them less from now on to save money on fertiliser!

 

[Tappers]

I do have a dehumidifier in one room in my house that fills quite quickly (don;t know if it'd be enough but hey) if there any reason anyone can think of that this water wouldn't be OK to use as I can store it when its full to use later.

Hi Jane, I find that dehumidifiers often have bacteria growing in and can test high for ammonia or nitrite in the product water. RO water as sold for fishkeeping is a good option but needs a bit of buffering with either purpose made minerals or dilution with a splash of tapwater. I use rainwater here for the dartfrogs etc with no problems.

There is a cunning plan B though. As I use a lot of home-bred daphnia for feeding larvae, you could set up a container outside and fill this with tapwater (stay with me here!) let it bloom green thanks to the nitrates/phosphates then add daphnia to clear it. If you then use this water it will be low in nutrients and high in livefood..

 

[jane1187]

Thanks Tappers, the dehumiidier is cleaned regularly but I have yet to test the water coming out of it so I will do that and see what I come up with. I take your point though, the whole purpose of this is to find better not worse water so if the dehumidifier contains nasties I'll write it off as a source.

At the moment I don't have any daphnia culture and not a lot of room outside but I suppose I could look into setting up something. I just don't want to go out buying minimum 100 liters of water every week or so, that's going to rack up the cost of my hobby big time! Maybe I could find some sort of lidless container or even a small paddling pool but there's no guarantee I could keep the dog out of it! Thanks for the idea, I'll look into it.

How do you collect your rainwater for your dartfrogs? In a water butt attached to the drain or do you collect it another way?

Update: just tested the dehumidifier water and it came out between 0 and 5ppm nitrate (am waiting on my friend to come by with ammonia test kit), thats got to be better than the 35ppm from the tap surely?

 

[Tappers]

How do you collect your rainwater for your dartfrogs? In a water butt attached to the drain or do you collect it another way?

Just the standard diverted downpipe. When I lived near Farnborough the biannual Airshow meant that I would add a stocking full of carbon to the downpipe but out here that's not an issue. That said, a small internal filter with high-grade carbon would give you peace of mind and improved water clarity before use. A source of carbonate buffering in the tank such as a few bits of coral gravel or cockleshell would help prevent pH crashes and give stability.

 

[jane1187]

Thats really helpful Tappers thanks, you're convincing me towards rainwater collection. I'll look into prices of water butts and the attachments for a downpipe. It'll work out much cheaper than my other options which were a water distiller or reverse osmosis doo-dad-thingy. We did want to install a water butt just to collect water for the plants but it appears my tap water is more nutricious!

Unfortunately Britain has finally blessed us with nice weather and no rain so can't collect just now, oh well.

 

[wandering]

I have a water butt that I put my waste water from my tanks in for watering my plants. All those lovely nutrients and mulm. I check it before running the water off and find the occasional escapee; a cherry shrimp last week, a small fish the week before.

Quite like the idea of using rain water in the tanks, sort of puts the tanks between the roof and the garden.

Following your thread with interest..........

 

[Jennewt]

With the problems you face, I would suggest looking into setting up your own RO water purification. It's a bit of hassle to set up, but easier than harvesting rain water in mid winter!

 

[jane1187]

With the problems you face, I would suggest looking into setting up your own RO water purification. It's a bit of hassle to set up, but easier than harvesting rain water in mid winter!

Very true. I'd be really stuck if the water butt froze! I have been looking around and found a reasonably priced RO unit on e-bay but have no idea how to set it up and if I need any additional parts. I'm going to have to make a decision soon as the newts have been acting normally but I don;t know what the long term effects may be of such high nitrates.

Also I did check the water supply at work (which is where I used to live... near there not AT work!) and their nitrates are 4ppm according to the report. So in theory I could steal water from work. Don't go back to work until September though (trainee teacher = awesome holidays) so I need a solution.

Of course with an RO machine there is the issue of long-term and inexpensive additives to put in the water to re-add water hardness or similar to buffer the pH... I'll have a look around for products but does anyone have any experience with this?

Is there anything else I should be considering re-adding to RO water to benefit my creatures? Don't forget I have two fish tanks as well so I'll need to take them into account.

 

[jane1187]

Ok so I think I'm going with the RO system provided the quote I'm given from a company selling them isn't way out of my budget. I've been using shop-bought spring water (8.5p per liter) for my larvae and shrimp tanks (which luckily are small) but the adults are still in high nitrates and it isn't a long term solution.

I'm still stuck as to how to buffer the water. The RO system retail man said I can mix it with purified water (also generated by the system to remove chlorine) but this will still contain nitrates. So assuming the nitrates in the purified water are the same as tap water (35 to 40 ppm) then if I mix at a 50:50 ratio like he suggested I still come out with 20ppm nitrates... still too high. So no mixing, I'll have to use JUST RO water alone.

Alternatively the water at my boyfriend's work is potentially 20ppm according to the report (but he needs to ring me back a sample to test first), so if I mixed this with RO water at a 50:50 ratio I'd have 10ppm... is that still way to high or is that just about acceptable? (obviously 0 is ideal but no-one's perfect)

Any ideas how to buffer? Please help a desperate woman