High nitrates in all my tanks?

[jmf]

Yet another question lol

All my tanks have high nitrates (60ppm-80ppm). Even lightly stocked tanks have high nitrates. Whilst I'm not as strict as I used to be on wc (due to a knee injury), the longest the tanks go for is 2 weeks without one.

Is there any way to lower them? I know plants can help but I don't have lights on most of my tanks.

 

[kiwiraka]

What're the parameters from your tap? Might be a high nitrate from the source problem.

 

[Galantspeedz]

Try ferns which require minimal light

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I was following a different thread last week about high nitrates. That thread went on for a few pages. Turned out the nitrates were not so high, it was the test kit chemicals. The member showed a side by side picture of the results with an old test kit and with a new kit.

Some have suggested even the old chemicals are often still good enough and can be used if they are shaken up a lot before use. So before we go too deep into trying to cure high nitrates it may just be that the test chemicals need a couple of minutes of strong shaking to work properly.

If the nitrates are actually high there have been a few threads on reducing them, so a search may be of use.

 

[duanes]

I find that doing many small water changes throughout the week (not as taxing, or as time consuming) and vacuuming with each water change helped me hold my nitrate level between 2-5ppm. I usually do 30% every other day.
Also the use of Pothos, papyrus and other semi aquatic plants in sumps, and tanks seemed to help a little, in nitrate reduction.


And being a chemist, I find the use of non-expired reagents, and the strict cleaning of glassware, (the practice of rinsing of test tubes) at least 3 times between tests with DI water can go a long way to getting non-skewed results .
When you're dealing in Parts per million, even a slight residue in a test tube can easily give any test outlandishly incorrect results.
If your tap water contains chloramine, rinsing in tap water will definitely skew results.