So my tank is still cycling but I decide to test the tap water in the menatime to see if the parameteres were still OK as I think my cycle is almost done. It came out with 40 ppm of nitrates. What should I do now? I cant's use that water for my changes once I have my fish in, or can I?

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New to this and loving it! 29G all live plants, woood and rocks, 5 denison barbs, 2 synodonstis zebra hybrids and 8 guppies.

You can use it, just don't let the nitrates get any higher. Other wise get some bottled water.

You need to get someone out to check your water lines as something is leaching into the tank. Also call your water co to find out if they are getting the same readings.

Stuff a bunch of fast growing stems in there and they would alsl help lower the nitrates.

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SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

Before you do anything too drastic I would read up a bit more on cycling The Fishless Cycle

I will quote from the post that says when your cycle is done, "Your cycle has completed when you can dose the ammonia up to 4ppm and after 24 hours when you test the results are zero ammonia, zero nitrites and X ppm nitrates."

As for what to do with high nitrates , water changes reduce them, but you said your tap water does have high nitrates.

Maybe you could buy your water or something like that I am not really sure, but someone on the forum would know.

EDIT: And someone already clarified that buying bottled water would be a good idea.

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Well best thing to do is add live plants to consume the nitrates.

If you already have a planted tank this is normal until the aerobic bacteria build up and consume the ammonia instead of the plants. When that happens the nitrates will come down.


my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

We have a water well in our building as the water supply from the water company is not very reliable, in quality or quantity. Ah, the challenges of living in a developing country! I've read somewhere about nitrazorb. ANy thoughts on using that?

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New to this and loving it! 29G all live plants, woood and rocks, 5 denison barbs, 2 synodonstis zebra hybrids and 8 guppies.

I have the same problem with Nitrates, plus Ammonia, from the chloramine the water company adds (supposed to be more stable than chlorine). In the internet research I did on the matter, there was a recommendation to enure that you use a water additive like Prime, which should take care of the chloramine. As was said before, the nitrate should be taken care of by plants and the filter/substrate beneficial bacteria you already have in your tank.

Grant

I agree with others here, plants are the way to go if you have nitrate problems.

On a side note I don't know if you are able to do anything about it but I would be concerned about what is causing the nitrates in your drinking water for health reasons. High nitrates indicate contamination which could be from fertilizers or decaying matter like sewage.

EDIT: this explains it better than me: Nitrate in Drinking Water