Is this a good idea to bring down my nitrate's in my 10 gallon fish tank?

Question

i do water changes 2 times a week i probably change like about 3 gallons everytime ( 30 % ) but i was thinking if it would be a good idea if i add drinking water to it ( mix it with tap waters ) that maybe it will help to reduce the nitrate. wut do you guys think? my nitrate levels are kind of high and i don't wunt them to get to the point were there at risk..

Answer 1

I will guide you on a way to lower them, which is a process that has worked for me in the same situation.

First, do a 50% water change (I am assuming they are higher than is healthy for the fish) Make sure you use your gravel vacuum well to suck up all the waste in the substrate. Trim any live plants you might have, and remove decaying plant matter. Removing wastes will help reduce nitrate.

Then every day for a week do a 25% water change and siphon the gravel. You can also buy a product made by fluval which lowers nitrates. Keep that in your filter and your nitrates should decrease.

Finally, try to not over feed your fish. Feed only what they can consume in 2-3 minutes. If they don't finish it, remove it with a net asap. Keeping wastes like decaying food to a minimum will help to prevent high nitrates. I would only suggest to you to only do one water change a week instead of 2, it is better for your fish and the biological load your tank has. Good luck and I hope this helps.

No don't use bottled water. It basically contains no minerals, and has no hardness to it. By adding this to the tank you will be lowering the hardness and pH of the water. And it will cause pH changes that could be harmful to your fish. RO or reverse osmosis water is used generally only in salt water tanks, or tanks where fish require lower KH and pH.

Answer 2

Some ways to beat nitrate levels:

1. Amquel Plus: It removes Nitrate and Ammonia from water during water changes since a lot of tap water contains the bad stuff.

2. The best way: Aging water. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I take milk jugs and rinse them out. I fill them with tap water and add the appropriate ammounts of Amquel, Novaqua, and aquarium salt to the jugs and shake them up some. Then I leave them alone until I need them (anywhere from a few hours to a few days.) By letting the water sit, the nitrate evaporates from the water and is released. I thought this was pretty cool, convienent to just dump the water in whenever, and it is extremely beneficial to the fish.

Answer 3

This sounds like a new set up. If it is, you need to let the nitrates peak in order to establish you bio load and stablize your filters. The constant water changes aren't allowing you bio load to stablize. Also cut down on your feeding a bit. Now if your tank has cycled, then your overfeeding and the left over food is causing the spike. Do not change more than 30% let it go for a week, then retest. Tap water should be dechorolnated. You can get some from local pet store (dechoronator).

Answer 4

Generally, high nitrate levels are caused by overstocking your tank and/or overfeeding.  Make sure that you are vacuuming your substrate at least twice monthly.

You can use bottled water with tap water but it's still recommended to use tap water conditioner because most bottled "drinking" water is merely "filtered" tap water anyway.  Avoid reverse osmosis (RO) and distilled water because it lacks many of the trace minerals fish need and can also change your pH too much.

Your best bet is to ensure your 10 gallon tank isn't overstocked and that you are not overfeeding.  With a 10 gallon tank, you should only need to do 10-15% water changes each week.  If your nitrates are more than 40ppm you're overstocked or overfeeding.

Answer 5

Plants will help lower the nitrates.  Different water probably won't help.  You must have a huge bioload that is causing such a large production of nitrate.  Is you tank overstocked by chance?

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