Nitrate Issues

[Bogwoodbruce]

I will stop in Bruce and talk to you all this weekend about that.

I did test my tap water, that's what's coming out at 40ppm, right out of the tap! Apparently that's my entire problem. Hence me looking now for some sort of filter.

Hopefully it should be some sort of temporary thing as weve never really had this trouble before, ill have to test my water as i believe im on a different supply.

[pufferpuggirl]

I suspect you are luckier than I am Bruce, and yours probably won't be this high. It's not always been like this, it used to be normal ..... I'd like to think it's only temporary, but I won't hold my breath.

[Bogwoodbruce]

I suspect you are luckier than I am Bruce, and yours probably won't be this high. It's not always been like this, it used to be normal ..... I'd like to think it's only temporary, but I won't hold my breath.

Ive had higher nitrates in some of my systems for longer and have been ok, but its somthing that i wouldnt worry too much about, i dont like talking about it to be honest as i think somthing bad will happen. Hopefully everything will be ok.... touch wood

[pufferpuggirl]

superstitious eh Bruce?

[LilGreenPuffer]

It may be temporary. I used to not have ammonia in my tap water, but I do now, and it's annoying as it means that nitrates add up faster. I'm hoping that it goes away soon, so that I can go back to the cheap water conditioner!

[Pufferpunk]

As far as I am aware, Purigen does nothing to remove nitrate. Also, if you do decide to get an RO filter, you will have to reconstitute your water with minerals by adding Osmoprep & then you can't use the Python to fill the tank either.

[pufferpuggirl]

It's never anything easy, is it? Always seems like you get one problem fixed and then another one comes along. Maybe that's to keep me on my toes.

So I'm guessing my best bet to naturally help the situation is floating plants?

I've been looking at water filters and really there doesn't seem to be any good alternative other than turning to RO, which, as you say, has it drawbacks.

[Agnate]

Did you check out the algae scrubber filter? Once you build it, it's an easy way to keep your nitrate at 0 and keep all forms of algae out of the main display.

[pufferpuggirl]

No, to be honest Agnate, I haven't looked at that yet, but I promise that I will give it a viewing. Just feeling a bit down because there doesn't seem to be any good alternatives except maybe RO, and then I've got to worry about storing that water.

I think maybe going totally natural is the key. I'm going to get more floating plants and see if that helps the situation any.

Thanks for your suggestions.

[Pufferpunk]

I'd try the VC 1st.

[pufferpuggirl]

I did not write "Commodore" Agnate, just to make that clear. Don't know how that came about, but someone changed it.

[LilGreenPuffer]

Agnate had a little bit too much fun with the word filter.

[coldmachineUK]

I have problems with nitrate levels too, I think it's a UK thing, at least in the North. Mine aren't as high as 40 though. I do try to plant up my tanks to reduce it but to be honest even long-term I've not noticed any particular negative effects. I'd go with the natural solutions first; floating plants (which will give your puffer(s) something to look at and play around too), and VC.
I'd avoid RO entirely for the reasons PufferPunk outlined.

[julianchan]

I can attest to the Vit C. Been treating my tank for the last 3 or so weeks 2 times a day, as prescribed by PP, and my nitrates are about 5ppm without waterchanges for the last 3 weeks. But I do have a skimmer on my SW tank. BUT, before I started the vit C, I was getting about 20-30 ppm Nitrates in a week.

[pufferpuggirl]

Thanks coldmachineUK, at least I know it's not just me that's got this problem, which doesn't make it better, but you know the old saying, "misery loves company".

Going with RO was looking like a hassle, so I am exploring as much as I can about going with natural solutions, and I am going to see if I can find any Vitamin C. With you being in the UK coldmachineUK, do you know where you can get any Vitamin C for use in the aquarium, or can you point me in the right direction? I've ordered my floating plants, so at least I have some help coming soon.

For all I know, my nitrates might have been this high all along and I may never have known it -- if that's the case, then I know my puffers are dealing with it and they all seem fine. I can't really say when the nitrates went up because I haven't been checking them.