nitrates in tap water confusion..

[mrvillicus]

Hi guys n gals, im in birmingham England and here we have hard tap water, i tested the tap water today for nitrates as I couldnt figure out why mine were always high and hey presto, 40ppm straight from the tap. My question is...I know nitrates can be detrimental to fish health after exposure to it but im not sure whats best to do, stick to my weekly maintenance routine? use R/O water?use a "chemical" to de-toxify the nitrate (if there is such a thing)? will my fishes be ok with a constant level of 40ppm nitrate plus what my nicenitrogen munching bacteria pumps out?

Thanks Ben

[emc7]

Some fish tolerate nitrate better than others and they are worse in soft, acid water. For African cichlids, you won't see an issue, for discus, its a no-no. You can cut the tap water with RO or rainwater, but don't use straight RO. You can use Prime or whatever the equivalent is over there. It does seem to make nitrates less killer. Keep an eye on the pH with high nitrates as they are acidic. You are like the 3rd person to mention nitrates in water this year. They usually come from agriculture and really shouldn't be there. You can also buy water or look into tap water filters other than RO.

[weedkiller]

im in surrey england, my nitrates are 50+ from the tap, use a 50/50 mix r.o tap that will halve your nitrates.
you must also consider your nitrates will climb through the tanks cycle so add seachem matrix or de-nitrate if you have an external filter (de-nitrate if its slow moving water matrix if its faster) add some plants too and your nitrates will be 0 in a couple of months.
AND NO CHEMS!

[emc7]

Ah, England sucks. Really, my water system has a EPA suggest "goal" of < 10 ppm of they haven't detected over 1 ppm in 5 years. SeaChem is awesome, but US based. Does it cost a lot to get the stuff over there?

[mrvillicus]

thanks for the replies guys,emc prime is not too bad, for example a 100ml bottle is about 9 pounds 14 dollars....

[emc7]

That would buy me at least a half liter.

You may have some awesome products available I never heard of. Look for local groups as well as the net for help

I will always recommend what I know. Since they've close to me, I've met a few SeaChem people and they always seem to have a product for what I need and know what is in the products and how to use them.

[mrvillicus]

well i used prime before but i did some research on its effect to nitrates which isnt much at all so i will attack the problem at source and ill use half r/o water as it is only £0.20 a litre

[weedkiller]

got 1 litre of seachem matrix for £16, you need about 1/2 litre for a 50gal and it never has to be replaced
my nitrates are 0 or just above since i added matrix about 1 1/2 months ago