What Causes Nitrates In Aquarium Water

If you use tap water for your water change test for nitrates before putting it in your tank.

What causes nitrates in aquarium water.

Any aquarium salt or marine salt mix can be used. That being said to fix the high nitrate levels in your aquarium water follow these exact steps. In reality however water changes are more of a nitrate dilution then removal. When too much is present in your tank s water this chemical compound can be toxic to your fish and other life.

Performing a water change will buy time until you can use another method listed below to get your nitrites under control. 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. To lower excess levels of nitrate doing a water change is necessary to physically get rid of the contamination in the quickest possible way. Before adding water to your aquarium test it for nitrate to discover if the levels are unusually high in your water source.

When you remove a volume of water from your aquarium you remove all the nitrate in that volume. Nitrate adsorbing filter media and anaerobic denitrifying biofilters will remove dissolved nitrate but they will do nothing to eliminate the cause of the problem. You are swapping out nitrite filled water for water that is nitrite free. These are essential to transform toxic ammonia and nitrites into nitrates.

Additionally tap water used to fill the aquarium may contain nitrate in it. First perform water changes with dechlorinated water to reduce the nitrite level. If high levels of nitrates are found consider using a different water source like reverse osmosis ro water. In the united states drinking water may have nitrates as high as 40 parts per million ppm.

If your aquarium is under control a water change should be all that is needed to adequately reduce nitrates to safe levels. The simplest solution is a water change. Assuming there is 40 ppm of nitrate before a 20 water change 80 or 32 ppm will remain post water change. 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. Nitrate occurs naturally in your aquarium as a byproduct of the breakdown of waste be it feces uneaten food or decaying organic matter. 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. Change 5 to 10 of aquarium water every hour.

If your nitrate levels are above say 10 or 15 parts per million ppm you ve got some stuff to do. If you choose to increase the volume of water don t add new members to the aquarium. Do not use iodized table salt. Changing more than 20 of the water per week will affect the colonies of bacteria in the tank.