All excited for discus, but possible problem.

[nfored]

So I have been getting help from an Awesome guy Jose about setting up my first discus tank. I decided to go with domestics to avoid the costly expense of reconstituting R/O water. Then I saw it Discus sensitive to nitrAte, and there is my problem, My tap is 20ppm nitrate so even if I did 100% daily water changes 20ppm would be the lowest I could get. On my current setups I keep it at around 40ppm with weekly 50% WC, dropped to maybe 35% when I setup a 1GPH drip.

I would be interested in hearing form someone else how has high nitrates in their tap, about what they did. I am considering setting up an algae scrubber. I would like to go with an Ozone but I am just to scared, its one thing if it fails and I loss fish but I would never forgive myself if it failed and hurt my family.

[atitagain]

Have you tried aging your water and then dosing it with some prime and testing it again? Prime detoxifies Nitrates

[Jhhnn]

Have you tried aging your water and then dosing it with some prime and testing it again? Prime detoxifies Nitrates

Nitrates aren't particularly toxic- nitrites are.

I'm certainly no expert, but from what I can gather, European discus keepers often have much higher nitrate levels than most American hobbyists, right out of the tap. They seem to be able to do fine with it.

Normally, high nitrate measurements indicate the buildup of other organic chemicals in the aquarium, if the hobbyist has low nitrates in their tap water. It's something we can measure, an indicator of what else is going on. 20ppm isn't really a high level at all- it just means you'll start accumulating more nitrates & associated chemistry from a higher baseline, so you'll need to pay better attention than many.

I've been intrigued by algae scrubbers, but have no experience with them. Another way to reduce nitrates & everything else in your water is with reverse osmosis. Very pure water is created, and generally blended back with tap water to achieve the desired water parameters. Using pure RO water usually isn't a good idea, simply because it has no buffering capacity, allowing PH to crash to dangerously low levels...

[Sean Buehrle]

Where do you live? 20 ppm nitrate water has got to be bad to drink. Sheesh I live in the farm belt and nitrates are high but yours are 3 times mine.


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[hillmar78]

Don't quote me on this, but doesn't seachem purigen decrease nitrates?

[Latro]

20 ppm nitrate in tap is kinda terrifying. Do you drink that? I wouldn't...

[Len]

That is kinda high out of a tap, but if it is accurate, maybe try some floating plants or simple plants like java fern on some drift wood. Plants consume nitrates so that would be a more natural way of keeping them in check without more chemicals, but as previously stated, nitrates aren't particularly harmful - nitrites are.

[judy]

Plants do consume some nitrates. I'd be inclined to go with distilled water mixed half and half with tap, and using lots of fast-growing plants, like floating limnophilia, cabomba (whihc does better in cooler water and tends to melt in discus tank temps) or even hornwort (though I don't like hornwort because it sheds and I think its ugly). Slow growing plants like java fern are of little use as nutrient absorbers-- they grow too slowly. Fast growers will help with nitrates but are not a total answer. Using some distilled, some plants, and a nitrate absorption resin like Nitrazorb in an HOB should resolve any issues there for you.