Crazy High Nitrates

[mommy89]

Ok fish people, I'm having a problem keeping my nitrates down in my freshwater tank. My mollies keep getting stress related illnesses so something is definitely wrong. Regardless of how many water changes I do, my test strips continue to read crazy high nitrates. On a hunch I tested some tap water straight from the faucet and some water from the faucet after I had treated it. The nitrate reading on both the water straight from the faucet and the water 20 minutes after I added water conditioner and treatment is literally off the chart. Now I'm completely stumped. Is tap water supposed to have those levels? Is there something wrong with my test strips?? I'm clueless.

[kagome]

Here's the thing about nitrate in tap water, levels of NO₃- below 45 ppm are considered safe to drink. Above that, and there is a danger of infants developing something called methemoglobinemia.

But, for the most part, municipalities can't/don't do that much about nitrates in the water until it causes a public health crisis.

Nitrates generally get into tap/well water due to agricultural run off from chemical fertilizers. In some areas, nitrates get contaminate people's wells because of lawn fertilizers.

The nitrates won't kill you, but their presence could also mean that the water carries other pollutants from agriculture, like bacteria and pesticides.

Do you have municipal water or well water?

Do you live in a rural area?

Sadly, if there's nitrate in the tap water, there's no handy way to get it out.

How big is your tank?

If your tank isn't huge, you can buy jugs of distilled water from the grocery store, add minerals to them and use that as your replacement water.

For a bigger tank, your best bet is to invest in a reverse osmosis unit. You would need to remineralize the water before adding it to your tank, but you'd have 0 nitrates and wouldn't have to run to the store every time you needed to do a water change.

EDIT: You can also use Seachem Purigen in your filters. It is a chemical filtration media that removes all kinds of nitrogenous compounds. You can use it in place of activated carbon (if you use carbon). The cool thing is that you can even recharge it by soaking it in bleach water.

www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Seachem.html#purigen

seachem.com/purigen.php

[devonjohnsgard]

How are you testing these nitrates?

What are the actual readings?

What are your other tank parameters, pH, KH, and GH?

Thank you!

[kagome]

Oh also, you might want to switch to liquid test kits. They're way more accurate than test strips. The strips can also go bad after a certain amount of time.

[Carl]

I would suggest reading this in depth article in full, as often nitrate issues are multifaceted and there is no one cause:
www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2007/07/aquarium-nitrates.html

It is important to go after causes of high nitrates, not just address the symptoms

A few quick thoughts as per product use, beside Purigen, you might consider AAP Bioplastics, or Algone (although this works best if used AFTER you lower nitrates after a water change)
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/TwoLittleFishies.html
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Algone.html

Carl