What Causes Nitrates In Aquarium Water

If your aquarium is under control a water change should be all that is needed to adequately reduce nitrates to safe levels.

What causes nitrates in aquarium water.

When you remove a volume of water from your aquarium you remove all the nitrate in that volume. When too much is present in your tank s water this chemical compound can be toxic to your fish and other life. To lower excess levels of nitrate doing a water change is necessary to physically get rid of the contamination in the quickest possible way. If you use tap water for your water change test for nitrates before putting it in your tank.

If you choose to increase the volume of water don t add new members to the aquarium. The addition of a half ounce 1 tablespoon of salt per gallon of water will prevent methemoglobin toxicity by blocking the nitrite absorption through the fish s gills. Reliable nitrate readings can be quickly and easily obtained using a quality test kit such as the api nitrate fresh and salt water aquarium test kit. Nitrate occurs naturally in your aquarium as a byproduct of the breakdown of waste be it feces uneaten food or decaying organic matter.

Before adding water to your aquarium test it for nitrate to discover if the levels are unusually high in your water source. Assuming there is 40 ppm of nitrate before a 20 water change 80 or 32 ppm will remain post water change. Performing a water change will buy time until you can use another method listed below to get your nitrites under control. If high levels of nitrates are found consider using a different water source like reverse osmosis ro water.

How to remove aquarium nitrate. Any aquarium salt or marine salt mix can be used. In reality however water changes are more of a nitrate dilution then removal. The simplest solution is a water change.

Also algae like nitrate because it fuels their growth. A common practice used to lower aquarium nitrates is the water change. You are swapping out nitrite filled water for water that is nitrite free. Do not use iodized table salt.

Change 5 to 10 of aquarium water every hour. Changing more than 20 of the water per week will affect the colonies of bacteria in the tank. First perform water changes with dechlorinated water to reduce the nitrite level. What you are essentially doing is diluting the amount of nitrites that are present in your aquarium.

This will cause the levels of nitrites to increase. These are essential to transform toxic ammonia and nitrites into nitrates. In the united states drinking water may have nitrates as high as 40 parts per million ppm. Nitrate adsorbing filter media and anaerobic denitrifying biofilters will remove dissolved nitrate but they will do nothing to eliminate the cause of the problem.